The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

well i would like to know how long can a solenopsis colony live without a queen. i believe i have 25 workers and some brood but no queen. they were taken from an ant hill in my back yard its been 2 or 3 months. I always see 1 to 2 workers at the opening of the home. i have them in a 50 gallon fish tank full of sand.

It's really hard to say, it depends on a few things. The conditions they live in, how old the existing ones are already and how much brood there is. Ants don'r live long, but colony's that have a queen live very long because the queen produces more new brood then the ants that die off so the colony's grows. With out the queen the existing will continue until they all just die off. Sadly this is the same thing with most Store bought any colony's that you buy it and order the ants and they ship them to you. They don't ship a queen so they just live until they die off.

Some one posted that they caught a solenopsis queen and introduced it to an existing colony and they accepted her as their new queen. this isn't a normal thing from what I read with solenopsis species. You could try that, they will do one of two things. #1 Accept her or #2 kill her.

If you lived in Alabama I would give you a mated queen you could try it with but thats against the rules (GAN and state laws). You might be able to find a GAN farmer in TX.

Click here for the AntsCanada GAN site -----> http://www.AntsCanada.com/queen-ants-for-sale/

Depends, is it a sileopsis invicta colony? My queen recently died and they fully accepted a new fertilized queen that I caught earlier this year. When I introduced the new queen, the colony took her in and treated her like the old queen. I would try doing this if its the same species. Worked great for me, and now my colony is back up and running. Thanks!

saddly i have no cash right now. well my little brother has a queen that i might be able to do it with. any instructions on how i should introduce them? i really don't want to kill her

deadl0v3 wrote:saddly i have no cash right now. well my little brother has a queen that i might be able to do it with. any instructions on how i should introduce them? i really don't want to kill her

How do you have them now? Are they in a nest?

MadVampy wrote:

deadl0v3 wrote:saddly i have no cash right now. well my little brother has a queen that i might be able to do it with. any instructions on how i should introduce them? i really don't want to kill her

How do you have them now? Are they in a nest?

they are all bunched up on the side with a spot that they like and they continue to build. since the day i put her in i have yet to see her.

If you have the queen, try placing a small small test tube full of some ants from the colony in to the fridge. Do the same with the queen. Then try introducing her to the workers. This works best, but you don't have to do it for the solenopsis invicta species of ant!

i have only seen one worker so far. there spot was destroyed i'm guessing they either relocated or they were eaten by the crematogaster but i have yet to see the two young colony's fight. they come out at different time.