False Honeypot Ants/Queen Care. (Prenolepis imparis)

[tasched]

Should I feed them anything in particular? Or just sugars and protein generally?

I was planning on trying to feed them some diluted honey on a tray/cotton swap soon.


Thanks for the help.

[tasched]

I had found 3 of these queens a week and a half ago, slowly i had introduced them to each other and now they are all in a tube peacefully. I'll admit for the first 30 seconds it looked like they would nip at each other but that had quickly stopped. Fast forward 1 week and now they have started to lay eggs, probably only one of the queens are laying atm, but the others shouldn't be much longer either.

My queens were found in Connecticut, in case you wanted to know to compare to the "equator" rumor, though i still haven't found solid sources on this species to be polygyny.

How did you go about introducing your queens?

Should I just place both open tubes in the same container and wait for them to explore?

Should I try and move them into a new formicarium at the same time?

Should I try maninpulating a/both queens with a stick to isolate/introduce them to protect the queens and workers from each other?

The idea of introducing them is giving me anxiety and would appreciate some input. Thanks.

(Sorry for the double post.)

[Aquaexploder]

If your queens have eggs but no workers do not join them together. Wait for them to both have about 10 nanatics and them move them into the same formicarium at the same time. Keep in mind that when doing this their is a chance they will kill each other.

[Martialis]

If your queens have eggs but no workers do not join them together. Wait for them to both have about 10 nanatics and them move them into the same formicarium at the same time. Keep in mind that when doing this their is a chance they will kill each other.

This sounds like a way to get them killed.

I wouldn't attempt it.

[Aquaexploder]

If your queens have eggs but no workers do not join them together. Wait for them to both have about 10 nanatics and them move them into the same formicarium at the same time. Keep in mind that when doing this their is a chance they will kill each other.

This sounds like a way to get them killed.

I wouldn't attempt it.

This is not the best conditions, best conditions being they are both newly caught queens with no brood that can go in a test tube together for their founding stage, but other then the usual risks I don't see why this wouldn't work. I definitely would not recommend it if they both have brood and only brood because joining them together would be a death wish. They would be very protective and I am almost certain they will kill each other during this stage.

[tasched]

I have one queen whose brood is developing very slowly, is it likely she wasn't fertilized?

None of them look anywhere close to their pupa stage.

Much larger than they were at their initial laying, but relative to the others have developed insanely slow.

One queen already has 6 workers.

[RhodyAnts]

From RI, I have 8 P. imparis queens (my first queens). Caught them in April 10 and I have since proceeded to do everything your not supposed to do.

I paired up my queens with brood, and had only one loss. I just joined the test tubes together. Not sure if it was agression but when I checked on that pair one was standing over the others moldy corpse. Needless to say she will hencforth have her own accommodations. The others have managed well all but one pair have shacked up together. It was so successful i've decided to try another round of mergers.

In regards to tasched's comment about his colony not really developing quickl, it seems to be a winter ant theme. I think from all the journals i've been folowing it takes somewhere between 60-70 days to get nanitics. I think mine are starting to enter pupation.

Overall my opinion of my first go at ant keeping, though boring this is the species to start with. Nuptial flights are easy to predict (the first 3+ days around 60F and rising humidity of the year), and they seem almost indestructible. My room temperature dropped to 45 multiple times during an unexpected cold spells, I check on them too frequently, and believe myself to be a little rough handling them testubes, and they just keep calmly doing their thing.

Good luck all with your colonies.

[Aquaexploder]

From RI, I have 8 P. imparis queens (my first queens). Caught them in April 10 and I have since proceeded to do everything your not supposed to do.

I paired up my queens with brood, and had only one loss. I just joined the test tubes together. Not sure if it was agression but when I checked on that pair one was standing over the others moldy corpse. Needless to say she will hencforth have her own accommodations. The others have managed well all but one pair have shacked up together. It was so successful i've decided to try another round of mergers.

In regards to tasched's comment about his colony not really developing quickl, it seems to be a winter ant theme. I think from all the journals i've been folowing it takes somewhere between 60-70 days to get nanitics. I think mine are starting to enter pupation.

Overall my opinion of my first go at ant keeping, though boring this is the species to start with. Nuptial flights are easy to predict (the first 3+ days around 60F and rising humidity of the year), and they seem almost indestructible. My room temperature dropped to 45 multiple times during an unexpected cold spells, I check on them too frequently, and believe myself to be a little rough handling them testubes, and they just keep calmly doing their thing.

Good luck all with your colonies.

It's nice to finally meet another Rhody Anter! (Sorry for being off topic)

[RhodyAnts]

No prob. Feel the same way.

[idahoantgirl]

You can move them from there test tube when they have at least 10 workers.

So I thought I'd let you know that 10 workers is a very low number. It's quite dangerous to move a colony of that size into a nest. It's actually recommended that 25 be the minimum. 25-50 is a safe range to introduce a young colony into a nest.