Weaver ant queen!

[SYUTEO]

My dad found an Oecophylla smaragdina queen and she has already laid eggs! If you have one and don't know what to do, heres some information that should help you (also works if you have their sister species O. longinoda):

-Don't raise the queens in a test tube, though it is possible to raise this species in a test tube, it can sometimes be dangerous as the queen might accidentally kill herself with her own formic acid. Instead, raise them in a plastic container or bottle and place some wet pieces of tissue paper or cotton for water.

-Don't place your queen in the dark, it might sound funny but it's true. Most queens need to found in the dark but Oecophylla queens usually found in the light. In the wild, they usually find a slightly bent leaf and sit underneath it to found their colonies so they are completely used to light. That said, don't place them in direct sunlight as it can still kill your queen (in the wild, most of the sunlight is shaded by other leaves). You can also follow the time of day and place her in the dark at night.

-They are fully-claustral. Which means the don't need food during the founding stage but you can offer your queen a tiny drop of honey or sugar water if you like.

-Eggs hatch in 4-5 days, if your queen's eggs didn't hatch in a long time then either she is eating them or she's infertile.

-Queens usually fly very early in the morning, sometimes before sunrise. You can look for them during 6-7am one or two days afetr rain. They mostly fly in the beggining and the middle of the year from February to July.

Raise your queens well!

[SolenopsisKeeper]

My dad found an Oecophylla smaragdina queen and she has already laid eggs! If you have one and don't know what to do, heres some information that should help you (also works if you have their sister species O. longinoda):

-Don't raise the queens in a test tube, though it is possible to raise this species in a test tube, it can sometimes be dangerous as the queen might accidentally kill herself with her own formic acid. Instead, raise them in a plastic container or bottle and place some wet pieces of tissue paper or cotton for water.

-Don't place your queen in the dark, it might sound funny but it's true. Most queens need to found in the dark but Oecophylla queens usually found in the light. In the wild, they usually find a slightly bent leaf and sit underneath it to found their colonies so they are completely used to light. That said, don't place them in direct sunlight as it can still kill your queen (in the wild, most of the sunlight is shaded by other leaves). You can also follow the time of day and place her in the dark at night.

-They are fully-claustral. Which means the don't need food during the founding stage but you can offer your queen a tiny drop of honey or sugar water if you like.

-Eggs hatch in 4-5 days, if your queen's eggs didn't hatch in a long time then either she is eating them or she's infertile.

-Queens usually fly very early in the morning, sometimes before sunrise. You can look for them during 6-7am one or two days afetr rain. They mostly fly in the beggining and the middle of the year from February to July.

Raise your queens well!

I know they raise brood on underside of leaves, but you would think this would increase chance of predatory rates, I wonder how many alates they produce and how common colonies are

[SYUTEO]

My dad found an Oecophylla smaragdina queen and she has already laid eggs! If you have one and don't know what to do, heres some information that should help you (also works if you have their sister species O. longinoda):

-Don't raise the queens in a test tube, though it is possible to raise this species in a test tube, it can sometimes be dangerous as the queen might accidentally kill herself with her own formic acid. Instead, raise them in a plastic container or bottle and place some wet pieces of tissue paper or cotton for water.

-Don't place your queen in the dark, it might sound funny but it's true. Most queens need to found in the dark but Oecophylla queens usually found in the light. In the wild, they usually find a slightly bent leaf and sit underneath it to found their colonies so they are completely used to light. That said, don't place them in direct sunlight as it can still kill your queen (in the wild, most of the sunlight is shaded by other leaves). You can also follow the time of day and place her in the dark at night.

-They are fully-claustral. Which means the don't need food during the founding stage but you can offer your queen a tiny drop of honey or sugar water if you like.

-Eggs hatch in 4-5 days, if your queen's eggs didn't hatch in a long time then either she is eating them or she's infertile.

-Queens usually fly very early in the morning, sometimes before sunrise. You can look for them during 6-7am one or two days afetr rain. They mostly fly in the beggining and the middle of the year from February to July.

Raise your queens well!

I know they raise brood on underside of leaves, but you would think this would increase chance of predatory rates, I wonder how many alates they produce and how common colonies are

Here, weaver ants are everywhere. They're the most common arboreal ant here and you can see them almost everywhere you go. Their colonies can have up to 50,000 workers or more and have over 100 nests occupying several trees and some colonies can have multiple egg-laying queens. A large colony can produce several hundred or even thousand alates. And depending on the location the queens can have different behaviours when encountering another queen of the same species.