The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

I have had a Tetramorium queen for 39 Days, and so far she already has pupae. it was REALLY fast.

Yeah they grow quick, i have had mine for a little longer than that and they have workers! Congrats

JoeHostile wrote:...I have a retro prom queen now...

Sorry, this is just too funny. I had to point it out.

well, its been almost three months since capture and I have almost 30 workers already in one colony!!! This colney also got a big brood boost from another tetramorium queen that died. can you imagine?? 30 workers in 3 months???? My other colony is not doing well, so I might release her. she only has a few wokers and most of the time she is curled up so she will probably die or get released. I tried moving my prosperous colony into my lasius hybrid nest, but all the workers did was forage for food in it. so they are still in the tube setup. the water is starting to get pretty low in the test tube so my plan is that when it starts drying out in there I will try to move them again.

My colony is successfully moved into my hybrid!

At this point, I estimate about 100 workers!

Well, It was almost time to move my colony out of hibernation when it snowed again. Oh well. But they are doing well in their hybrid nest! They take up about two chambers during hibernation. Lots of brood and workers. Still hibernating. I'm so glad that the most dangerous founding stage is over! Now I just have to decide if I want more coloney's or not.

All of that sounds great. I'm glad you did that queen experiment, it's something I would have tried too, and now I don't need to. One queen is good, two queens are fine, four queens brings out a horror movie. 100 tiny workers all running around doing ant things sounds great. Maybe a colony of bigger ants would interest you now if you can find a queen.

SpeciesK wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 11, 2017 2:57 am

All of that sounds great. I'm glad you did that queen experiment, it's something I would have tried too, and now I don't need to. One queen is good, two queens are fine, four queens brings out a horror movie. 100 tiny workers all running around doing ant things sounds great. Maybe a colony of bigger ants would interest you now if you can find a queen.

I still wonder what would have happened to the colony with two queens if it hadn't flooded and i threw them out. Maybe I'll have to retry this year. Or you could experiment with that since my results were sabotaged with flooding. I think I will go queen hunting again this year, but it would have to be another small species because I made a grout nest last year that is suitable only for small species. Maybe lasius would be cool. My tetramorium colony is almost a year old so it's pretty young. based on Mikey's videos on tetramorium they can grow to be very large! I think I will grow them to fit the hybrid nest and then try to keep them there unless I decide to release.

My tetramorium colony is doing great! they are eating well, lots of brood and rising in numbers!