Introducing eggs from one colony to another?

[Jharrell23867]

Curious to know what would happen if i introduced brood from one species of ant to another? would they adopt them as workers or eat the eggs? The host species is not a social parasite species known for taking over or adopting other species so...

[Batspiderfish]

Perhaps they would adopt pupae, but probably not eggs or larvae.

[Jharrell23867]

Perhaps they would adopt pupae, but probably not eggs or larvae.

Cool was wondering if i could recruit workers to help my queen out since her colony is growing rather slowly by stealing some from the pesky ants that keep invading my flower pots & planters... or would the wild ants smell on them be enough to trigger some sort of aggression to unhatched ants of another species...

[AntsMclama]

I think it would be very similar to AC's brood boosting tutorial.

[Batspiderfish]

Don't brood boost unless you actually have to (i.e. social parasites).

Be patient, and let your captive colony do its thing. If your colony is failing, then giving them brood isn't going to fix any of the problems they are facing -- it will only be destructive to whichever colony you are stealing them from. Brood boosting is usually more harm than good.

[Jharrell23867]

Yeah this is just a slow growing colony not a social parasite... after 5 months she only has 4 workers & has not laid any more eggs as i think they are getting ready for hybernation which worries me as they have not foraged for food even tho i have presented them with food several times...

The colony i was thinking of stealing from is actually no offense to any ant lovers is just a pest that i have been trying to get rid of for weeks now that invades my home consistently & i can not find their queen at all to put in a tube. No matter how many times i remove the nest & brood they bounce right back in force like it never happened & it even seems to help them grow faster like what does not kill the colony makes it stronger literally.