Hi!
Earlier this spring I was on my balcony, watering the plants when I found a winged, large but not giant, ant queen. Near it were two majors. I had never seen ants on my balcony before and thus I came to the conclusion that these were her pals. Sent out from the colony to aid the princess in her journeys. I placed all three in a jar with soil and have for a couple months now battled mold and white mites to the point where I finally found a balance.
I haven't seen the queen ant a single time since I placed them in the jar. But I've seen the two majors a bunch of times, tending the eggs. A couple ant minors hatched last week and are now doing their thang.
Should I really have placed the majors with the queen ant? Did they kill her? Were they really her pals originally? Did they adopt her as their new queen?
I've been able to figure most ant related stuff on my own but these are some of the questions I battle!
I placed two random majors with a caught queen..
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Re: I placed two random majors with a caught queen..
It would be great if you could get an ID on them, but assuming she is fully clasustral.. no, the workers were not there to aid her. Yeah she should have been alone. I can't say why or if the workers tolerated her for so long.
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
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- Posts: 3
- Joined: Thu Aug 23, 2018 1:29 pm
- Location: Sweden
Re: I placed two random majors with a caught queen..
I'll see if I can upload images and get them ID'd! Looking at the newly hatched ants, I've started suspecting them to be the common Lasius niger. The two workers I added were however most definitely camponotus herculeanus. I've spent the past two months looking rigorously at images of them and feel sort of comfortable in that asumption. Could it be possible two ant workers of a completely different species aided my queen in tending to the eggs?
Strange start to my colony but they truly seem to be thriving.
Strange start to my colony but they truly seem to be thriving.
Re: I placed two random majors with a caught queen..
really it was a really risky thing you did but i guess you were lucky and the majors were a part of here species and were willing to accept her
Some of My Informative Sheets
https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=19099
Includes :
https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=19099
Includes :
- Ant Care Sheets
Queen Hunting
How To Identify Ants
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Re: I placed two random majors with a caught queen..
Seems like it! I think the hatched workers have killed the two majors now.
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