Keeping Formica rufa

[RuinedDrone]

Does any one keep the above and what special requirments do they need. I know in the wild there nests are large and often a colony has more than one nest and many queens.

I keep seeing them about local to me and they are a good looking ant

[texmaspro]

they throw formic acid when attacked and their queens are parasitic which means they go into other species nests like formica fusca and act as a queen there also they go near colonies of the same species and if the workers accept them they will drag her into the nest if you , but you cant start a colony from a single queen there are some websites that give you tipes to raise parasitic queens like formica rufa but not all of the methods work

[NKantsalberta]

Does any one keep the above and what special requirments do they need. I know in the wild there nests are large and often a colony has more than one nest and many queens.

I keep seeing them about local to me and they are a good looking ant

Your best bet for raising a parasitic queen will be to gather pupae and callow workers present after the Lasius flights. Most brood at this time in large nests will be reproductives. The positive to formica fusca group pupae is many of them do not spin cocoons so you can generally tell the workers apart from alates. You will want ALOT of worker pupae and callows, as the queen will be very demanding. I would say at minimum 50-100. I would suggest not using a test tube, and have a proper nest ready, connected to some sort of outworld. Have the pupae and callows in that nest and allow the queen to find them herself. once she has settled, and more workers have eclosed, add more pupae. Feed plenty of sugars and protein to boost the queen's strength and increase chance of egg laying and success. Parasitic queens are difficult to raise, and the success rate even with experienced keepers is low. Once biological workers are present, provide many different types of material they can use to build up a mound, and ensure a nice sized outworld as they will be very active once the colony grows.

[texmaspro]

yes that is a good method to keep them

[RuinedDrone]

Hi,

Thansk so much for all the info, i thught they would need a large out world having seen them active outside but didnt know about the parasiti part.

So the idea is to "give" the queen to a bunch of Lasius workers and they will support her and her brood (Assuming she is laying ) untill her own workers take over?

I have a Lasius nest but still quite small at the moment so can getr access to some pupa and workers. I dont have a Formic queen so no rush to get this up and running, I jsut happen to see a lot of them around here and they are a nice looking active ant that i have been thinking one day I might want to keep.

Again cheers for all the info intresting stuff.

Aaron

[RuinedDrone]

I assume that if the queen is acepted in to a non same species nest her own colony will evently over take the nest and kill of the workers and queen once there own number have grown enough to be self sustaning?

And if they are taken in to a nest of the same species do they become part of that nest and live in a large colony with mutiply queens?

[texmaspro]

ummm i think you are right in the second one