ANTSTORE World of Ants

[ProXi]

Hello

I have a big Myrmica rubra colony for a couple of months now.
There are 3 queens, a lot of workers and a lot of brood. I also have some flying ants since this week.

But the last 3 weeks or so they act really strange.
They kill each other sometimes when they are in the outside world,
Only there and not in the nest itself.

Does anybody have this same experience.
I've heard this specie act sometimes strange.

( Hope you guys understand my english )

[Spore]

It could be the ants are killing each other because they'r infected with something or have parasites. It could also be because the coloniey has grown to big for the Formicarium. It could even be because the three queens produce differant workers, so the workers are killing each other for dominance. Finaly it could be because the living conditions for the ants are bad.

[JimmyVe]

We understand your English Proxi. (lol)

This is also a thread in the dutch part of the forum. (for the other users)

The only thing we know for now is that some people have that same experience with these ants in captivity. There is not a reason to be found. If any one else has the some experience ore know more about it, feel free to add. Thanks.

[SteveUK28]

Well my rubra colony is fairly big, and ive never seen any of the ants kill each other.. carry each other about yup, carry the dead yup... and even carry around larvae.. which i thought was very strange...

[ashhad1]

It could also be because the worker(s) being killed are getting to old or the other reasons spore said except the one for dominance and the dif queens, i dont believe thats true as this species is poly something (sorry i always forget the word) which means its normal for this ant species to have more then 1 queen.

But then again u never know what happens in the world of ants.

[SteveUK28]

Well ive got at least 6 queens so yeh def normal lol

[Mc_Lasius]

Can i Myrmica Rubra colonie manage to grow to an big size whit only one queen?

I found a HUGE nest yesterday but i could only find one queen, ill go look for anotherone today but if i don´t find any will my colonie still be able to get big?

Thanks for your answers
(And sorry if my english is bad)

[JimmyVe]

Hello Mc_Lasius and welcome.

Yes they can, they don't need to have more queens in a colony but most of the time the have.
The colony will get big it only takes a bit longer. And they will be a bit smaller than with more queens.

No problem, if i can understand i'm sure the other will to.

[Mc_Lasius]

Ok, thanks for the help.
Does anyone knows how long it takes for rubra to get to adult from egg?