Been a while! Updates

Discussions about the care and keeping of ants

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AntChuck
Posts: 135
Joined: Fri Jul 12, 2019 7:32 pm

Been a while! Updates

Post: # 92556Post AntChuck
Fri May 20, 2022 11:51 pm

Due to work my ant adventures died off a bit. I continued to maintain a close to 2 year old Tetramorium Immigrans colony however. I chose to hibernate them this winter and it ended in disaster. Due to upgrades to my house my basement didn't get nearly as cold and that coupled with not realizing the colony was far larger than anticipated (hard to say but guessing in the 2000 range) ended in distaster. It appears that their 4 water tubes ran dry before winter ended and quite literally all except for around 10 workers and the queen survived. I chose to release them however I doubt they have survived (the queen was part of an attempt at a multi-queen colony and had only 3 of her legs).

However much to my surprise the other test tube I had attempted to hibernate with the same species grew during winter. The founding members were again multiple Tetramorium Immigrans queens. When the first nanatics arrived they killed all but 2 before winter as expected but about 10 months later I still have 2 queens, large brood count and around 200 workers.

I planted several budding colonies around my yard 2 years ago and actually used these to brood boost my current colony... At present in addition to a large cluster of eggs and the 200ish workers(mostly nanatics) I added a few hundred pupae to the colony. I suspect at some point soon they will kill one of the queens but I am holding out hope that the introduction of regular workers soon as well as nanatics dying off will allow my 2 queens to co-exist.
Keeper of:
1 x Lasius Flavus
1 x Aphaenogaster Fulva
1 x Tetramorium Immigrans
1 x Prenolepsis Imparis

AntsLuxembourg
Posts: 1578
Joined: Sun Jun 24, 2018 7:17 am
Location: Luxembourg
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Re: Been a while! Updates

Post: # 92702Post AntsLuxembourg
Wed May 25, 2022 2:20 am

That is an interesting experiment you are doing. Do you have any questions tho?
Doing some proper research is the best way to start an antcolony.

Need help or want to help? https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=18153#p70566

Currently not keeping any ants anymore.

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