Multi queen colonies.

[MTKRailroad]

Caught 3 queen carpenter ants here in Ontario from the same area. From watching videos I've seen many multi queen carpenter ant colonies.
Now I'm wondering, can I toss all three in a test tube? Will they fight?

[Hawkeye]

Caught 3 queen carpenter ants here in Ontario from the same area. From watching videos I've seen many multi queen carpenter ant colonies.
Now I'm wondering, can I toss all three in a test tube? Will they fight?

I don't think Carpenter ants are polygyn to be honest, but it might differ from species to species. So, I guess you would need to work out the exacty species of your queens. Having said that, most ant queens will happily share their claustral chamber at first. Having multiple queens in there, increases their numbers and thus increases the protection against possible invaders. However at some point they will want to be the sole ruler of the colony to be and will fight the others to the death. While the surviving queen will have a head start with the added brood of the other 2 queens, she'll likely get injured in the process and risk losing limbs.

In general you'd like a healthy queen, so I would advise you to separate the queens into their own tubes. Also, check out the Camponotus Crew thread. (see signature)

[QJH2023]

carpenter ants are mainly can have only one queen but I have been able to get them to get along for a colony if you would like to try I will tell everything you need to know. but if you don't do it under specific conditions it wont work

[QJH2023]

works about 70% of the time