Help with Queens in general.

Questions from those who are just starting or considering getting into the ant keeping hobby. If you’re intimidated or confused by the in-depth posts of the other sections of this forum, feel free to post here, and we'll start from square one!

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ZaneMazwellRussell

Help with Queens in general.

Post: # 4825Post ZaneMazwellRussell
Tue Feb 02, 2016 8:13 pm

Hi there everyone, my name is Zane. I've recently gotten into ant keeping but I've always been interested in ants and bugs ever since a I was a kid. I want to make this thread so I could get some help along the way. So all of this started when I found the AntsCanada channel on YouTube. So after extensive research on the ant species that live in Michigan (my place of residence btw) I went out into my back yard to explore and look under every nook and cranny in hopes to find some ant queens. In my back yard I know that 2 species resides there. Some black Carpenter ants in an old tree, and many Tetramorium colonies because I remember seeing them always fighting in huge territorial battles. But luck shined down on me that day because I was able to find 4 Tetramorium Queens! So I put them in test tube set ups and put them in my closet to do some more research. After about a week I put a drop of honey into each of their tubes to fatten them up and I put them in my basement wrapped in a towel to hibernate them. After about 3 months I took them out of hibernation and to my horror most of the cotton was dangerously moldy in 2 of the test tubes and in the other 2 most of the water was gone. So what I did was put them in the fridge for about 2 to 3 minutes to try to chill them so I could take them out and clean the tubes and put them back in. Surprisingly it all went smoothly with all of the Queens surviving and none of them seeming to be to stressed. Its been about 2 and a half weeks now and I've kept them in the darkness that is my closet wrapped in about 4 sweaters to keep them warm and they stay about 70 degrees F. But to my concern is that I just checked them and I see no eggs! I am very concerned and I would like someone to give me some advice because this is my first time ever attempting to grow a colony and Ill make some mistakes and I would love some help.
Sincerely,
Zane

P.S. Don't worry when I checked on the Queens I turned on my overhead light for the extra light for the pictures. And also the black lines are just sharpie marks to keep track of which Queen is which.
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Ants4fun
Posts: 119
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 10:44 am
Location: South Dakota

Re: Help with Queens in general.

Post: # 4826Post Ants4fun
Tue Feb 02, 2016 9:22 pm

Those are not Tetramorium queens. Those are parasitic Lasius queens. They will need the brood of another Lasius sp. Colony to get started.

ZaneMazwellRussell

Re: Help with Queens in general.

Post: # 4829Post ZaneMazwellRussell
Wed Feb 03, 2016 5:42 am

Thanks for the feed back! Looks like I must continent with the journey to find a a Queen of my own!

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