Two queens in a formicarium?
Two queens in a formicarium?
Hello everyone, I'm new to ant keeping and recently purchased some stuff from AntsCanada. I'm looking at purchasing some pavement ants and someone said they would sell me 2 queens and workers. My question is..if I put two queens in a formicarium will they kill each other?
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- Posts: 136
- Joined: Mon Jun 05, 2017 11:48 am
- Location: Idaho
Re: Two queens in a formicarium?
Yes, tetramorium (pavement ants) are not polygynous, and will almost definitely kill each other if introduced to each other.
Keeping:
Tetramorium immigrans x2
Anything but tetramorium please
Tetramorium immigrans x2
Anything but tetramorium please
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- Posts: 136
- Joined: Mon Jun 05, 2017 11:48 am
- Location: Idaho
Re: Two queens in a formicarium?
I had never heard of anything but if they’re already together just keep them.
Keeping:
Tetramorium immigrans x2
Anything but tetramorium please
Tetramorium immigrans x2
Anything but tetramorium please
- idahoantgirl
- Posts: 1521
- Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2015 11:52 am
- Location: Idaho, USA
Re: Two queens in a formicarium?
Yeah, I did this experiment. They tolerate each other for a while, then somewhere along the line they kill each other. Here is my journal. The info you are looking for is in the first couple pages.
http://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=1173&hilit=tetramorium+journal+idahoantgirl
You could always try it out, my two queen colony's testube got flooded somewhere in the founding stage and I thought they were dead but it turns out they weren't but threw them away. So I don't know what would have hapenned in that situation.
Proverbs 6:6-8
Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.
Keeping Tetramorium immigrans, Tapinoma Sessile
Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.
Keeping Tetramorium immigrans, Tapinoma Sessile
Re: Two queens in a formicarium?
If the queens themselves don't kill each other, one queen will still have an unfortunate faith. The workers will choose the queen they like the most, and kill off the other one. I would separate the brood equally amongst both of the queens and put them in their own individual test tubes.
Good luck.
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- Posts: 416
- Joined: Tue Oct 04, 2016 9:03 am
- Location: Western Tennessee
Re: Two queens in a formicarium?
I did the same thing kinda with my Camponotus castenus colony...she had like 10 workers and I thought they had all died from flooding but after a day, the queen started moving again...they were alive! After I figured I'd not let the nutrients go to waste and have the "dead" workers and brood to my Crematogaster ashmedi colony. Now I just hope she will make it through hibernation so I can get some brood/callow workers from a friend so she can make it...idahoantgirl wrote: ↑Sat Oct 21, 2017 11:34 amYou could always try it out, my two queen colony's testube got flooded somewhere in the founding stage and I thought they were dead but it turns out they weren't but threw them away. So I don't know what would have hapenned in that situation.
Keeping:
Camponotus subbarbatus
Formica pallidefulva x2
Formica subsericea x4
Lasius sp
Tetramorium immigrans x2
Dorymyrmex bureni
Founding:
Formica pallidefulva
Unknown sp x2
Camponotus subbarbatus
Formica pallidefulva x2
Formica subsericea x4
Lasius sp
Tetramorium immigrans x2
Dorymyrmex bureni
Founding:
Formica pallidefulva
Unknown sp x2
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