Lasius social parasite

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AntsDakota
Posts: 1283
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Location: South Dakota

Lasius social parasite

Post: # 52699Post AntsDakota
Fri Oct 19, 2018 4:35 pm

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.
"God made every kind of wild beasts and every kind of livestock and every kind of creeping things;" (including ants) "and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:25

ClashOwenBash
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Location: Oxfordshire, England

Re: Lasius social parasite

Post: # 52784Post ClashOwenBash
Sun Oct 21, 2018 1:38 pm

AntsDakota wrote:
Fri Oct 19, 2018 4:35 pm
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*)
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Hunter36o
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Location: Dublin, Ireland

Re: Lasius social parasite

Post: # 54711Post Hunter36o
Tue Dec 11, 2018 4:18 am

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 :(
Research is important before during and even after you have established a colony. There is always time to learn and to listen to others experiences. Live by this and your ants will thrive. Fail to do so and your experience may be brief.

ClashOwenBash
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Re: Lasius social parasite

Post: # 54812Post ClashOwenBash
Sat Dec 15, 2018 2:54 am

Hunter36o wrote:
Tue Dec 11, 2018 4:18 am
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.
Ant-keeper going into his 4th year of loving ants!

Hunter36o
Posts: 376
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Location: Dublin, Ireland

Re: Lasius social parasite

Post: # 54814Post Hunter36o
Sat Dec 15, 2018 4:06 am

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
Research is important before during and even after you have established a colony. There is always time to learn and to listen to others experiences. Live by this and your ants will thrive. Fail to do so and your experience may be brief.

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antnest8
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Re: Lasius social parasite

Post: # 54910Post antnest8
Thu Dec 20, 2018 10:37 am

When I tried with this i just took workers from the outside. some brood to start with might help also.
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Hunter36o
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Re: Lasius social parasite

Post: # 54941Post Hunter36o
Sat Dec 22, 2018 5:13 am

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?
Research is important before during and even after you have established a colony. There is always time to learn and to listen to others experiences. Live by this and your ants will thrive. Fail to do so and your experience may be brief.

AntsDakota
Posts: 1283
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2018 4:22 pm
Location: South Dakota

Re: Lasius social parasite

Post: # 57448Post AntsDakota
Fri Apr 19, 2019 4:25 pm

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.
"God made every kind of wild beasts and every kind of livestock and every kind of creeping things;" (including ants) "and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:25

JoeHostile1
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Re: Lasius social parasite

Post: # 57534Post JoeHostile1
Mon Apr 22, 2019 11:36 am

AntsDakota wrote:
Fri Apr 19, 2019 4:25 pm
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.
Keeping:
Tetramorium immigrans * Lasius Neoniger * Lasius Claviger * Messor Aciculatus * Myrmica Rubra * Camponotus Novaeboracensis * Camponotus Turkastanus * Pheidole Pallidula

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AntsDakota
Posts: 1283
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2018 4:22 pm
Location: South Dakota

Re: Lasius social parasite

Post: # 57631Post AntsDakota
Sat Apr 27, 2019 12:41 pm

JoeHostile1 wrote:
Mon Apr 22, 2019 11:36 am
AntsDakota wrote:
Fri Apr 19, 2019 4:25 pm
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.
"God made every kind of wild beasts and every kind of livestock and every kind of creeping things;" (including ants) "and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:25

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