Lasius social parasite

[AntsDakota]

I found a Lasius social parasite queen that I believe to be Lasius claviger. I am hoping to acquire a Lasius colony from a friend to start the colony.

[ClashOwenBash]

I found a Lasius social parasite queen that I believe to be Lasius claviger. I am hoping to acquire a Lasius colony from a friend to start the colony.

(*slightly jealous*)

[Hunter36o]

I'm 50-50 on getting a future parasite queen. Like it is perfectly natural for them to take over existing small colonies but I'm torn at the idea of doing it myself just to add a new species to the ranks

[ClashOwenBash]

I'm 50-50 on getting a future parasite queen. Like it is perfectly natural for them to take over existing small colonies but I'm torn at the idea of doing it myself just to add a new species to the ranks

It's rare but sometimes certain ant shops have parasitic queens already with host workers, if that helps.

[Hunter36o]

No GAN or Irish based ant shop. I would have to ship one from England and although not illegal, it is still not something I would go for as we all know it does not guarantee ants will survive and I'm not one to put a creatures life on the line for my own gain.
I will just have to try convince myself at some point it's a natural part of ant life and just bite the bullet with a small young colony. Or maybe wild workers slowed via a few seconds in a mid temp fridge?? I dono

[antnest8]

When I tried with this i just took workers from the outside. some brood to start with might help also.

[Hunter36o]

What approach did you take to introduce them?
I see most people try slow the workers down but should the queen be chilled out also? Also is there a way to ease them into it rather then just openly putting them straight into the same container and hoping for the best?

[AntsDakota]

Unfortunately, the cold killed her. Now I know not to put anything that isn't Camponotus in the garage over the winter. Oh well- there's always this year.

[JoeHostile1]

Unfortunately, the cold killed her. Now I know not to put anything that isn't Camponotus in the garage over the winter. Oh well- there's always this year.

If the cold didn’t kill the camponotus than it’s unlikely it killed the claviger Queen. Those queens fly in October in Canada right before winter and then just sit somewhere until spring comes and then they look for a host colony. They could literally survive -20C just sitting under a piece of bark or a rock. Could be that your queen just didn’t make it. Or maybe it wasn’t claviger but another Lasius parasite that look almost identical because there are a few different species of parasitic Lasius that look alike.

[AntsDakota]

Unfortunately, the cold killed her. Now I know not to put anything that isn't Camponotus in the garage over the winter. Oh well- there's always this year.

If the cold didn’t kill the camponotus than it’s unlikely it killed the claviger Queen. Those queens fly in October in Canada right before winter and then just sit somewhere until spring comes and then they look for a host colony. They could literally survive -20C just sitting under a piece of bark or a rock. Could be that your queen just didn’t make it. Or maybe it wasn’t claviger but another Lasius parasite that look almost identical because there are a few different species of parasitic Lasius that look alike.

I believe she may have drowned, then. However I thought that was strange, as although there was a puddle of water beneath her, the majority of her body was exposed to the air.