Camponotus pennsylvanicus queen replacement

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DanielB

Camponotus pennsylvanicus queen replacement

Post: # 6326Post DanielB
Fri May 27, 2016 1:35 am

Hey everyone. I recently collected a large colony of carpenter ants but not surprisingly I don't think I got the queen....but I did get about 10 new winged queens and several winged males. So I'm wondering if anyone knows if there is any chance that any of the flighted queens might mate with the males and stay in the colony as a new queen. I'm assuming it's a bit of long shot but figured someone here might have an idea.

AntsRule
Posts: 813
Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2016 2:02 pm
Location: Chester County Pennslyvania

Re: Camponotus pennsylvanicus queen replacement

Post: # 6332Post AntsRule
Fri May 27, 2016 10:08 am

I'm going to say very very unlikely. Most pet colony's do not produce wing alates probably because the outdoor temp/humidity are not playing as big of a role. So they will probably not mate. :D
With all the things ants can do, you wonder, who rules the planet :?

Keeper of:
Camponotus Pennsylvanicus
Pheidole sp.

Solenopsisace

Re: Camponotus pennsylvanicus queen replacement

Post: # 6334Post Solenopsisace
Fri May 27, 2016 11:26 am

Its worth a shot .put them in the fridge together for a bit.see if they'll even be friendly to one another.

DanielB

Re: Camponotus pennsylvanicus queen replacement

Post: # 6336Post DanielB
Fri May 27, 2016 12:55 pm

AntsRule wrote:I'm going to say very very unlikely. Most pet colony's do not produce wing alates probably because the outdoor temp/humidity are not playing as big of a role. So they will probably not mate. :D
This is a colony that I collected for an educational display that will be up for several months so it had quite a large number of winged alates, both male and female. There are a lot of eggs, larva, and pupa so I'm thinking the colony should be alright in terms of numbers for the next few months but would like to have a queen in there too for people to see if possible. Maybe I'll give Solenopsisace's advice a try and see what happens. Thanks for the reply.

DanielB

Re: Camponotus pennsylvanicus queen replacement

Post: # 6337Post DanielB
Fri May 27, 2016 12:58 pm

Solenopsisace wrote:Its worth a shot .put them in the fridge together for a bit.see if they'll even be friendly to one another.
Good idea, it seems like taking them out of the colony might be my best shot. I don't have a ton of experience with ants but my biology background tells me that it's unlikely that they would mate within the colony. Why do you suggest putting the in the fridge? Wouldn't their mating flights be happening this time of year when it's warm out? Also, what do people think of catching males from another pennsylvanicus colony and putting the together to mate and then trying to put the mated queen back in the colony? I don't have much to lose since I don't have the queen now so I'm open to experimenting a bit.

AntsRule
Posts: 813
Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2016 2:02 pm
Location: Chester County Pennslyvania

Re: Camponotus pennsylvanicus queen replacement

Post: # 6338Post AntsRule
Fri May 27, 2016 1:40 pm

DanielB wrote:
Solenopsisace wrote:Its worth a shot .put them in the fridge together for a bit.see if they'll even be friendly to one another.
Good idea, it seems like taking them out of the colony might be my best shot. I don't have a ton of experience with ants but my biology background tells me that it's unlikely that they would mate within the colony. Why do you suggest putting the in the fridge? Wouldn't their mating flights be happening this time of year when it's warm out? Also, what do people think of catching males from another pennsylvanicus colony and putting the together to mate and then trying to put the mated queen back in the colony? I don't have much to lose since I don't have the queen now so I'm open to experimenting a bit.
It is worth a shot! Why not? :D
With all the things ants can do, you wonder, who rules the planet :?

Keeper of:
Camponotus Pennsylvanicus
Pheidole sp.

Solenopsisace

Re: Camponotus pennsylvanicus queen replacement

Post: # 6386Post Solenopsisace
Sat May 28, 2016 3:18 pm

DanielB wrote:
Solenopsisace wrote:Its worth a shot .put them in the fridge together for a bit.see if they'll even be friendly to one another.
Good idea, it seems like taking them out of the colony might be my best shot. I don't have a ton of experience with ants but my biology background tells me that it's unlikely that they would mate within the colony. Why do you suggest putting the in the fridge? Wouldn't their mating flights be happening this time of year when it's warm out? Also, what do people think of catching males from another pennsylvanicus colony and putting the together to mate and then trying to put the mated queen back in the colony? I don't have much to lose since I don't have the queen now so I'm open to experimenting a bit.
Putting them in the fridge for a few minutes slows them down an makes them less aggressive. As for the mateing, some species will not even me unless they're high up in the air. But my phiedole males in the colony on the other hand, are very horny and they love to jump on anyone you'd Queen outside of the colony 8-)

Solenopsisace

Re: Camponotus pennsylvanicus queen replacement

Post: # 6387Post Solenopsisace
Sat May 28, 2016 3:20 pm

Putting them in the fridge is just the start to see if they will even be compatible with one another it is not for meeting. But the first things to do is put them in a test tube. Not in a test tube together but in like a bowl or something with a lid that way there pheromones might become the same. Then it will be a better chance of them being compatible and not tearing each other apart

JDSweetMeat
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat May 25, 2019 1:41 pm
Location: Centralia, Illinois

Re: Camponotus pennsylvanicus queen replacement

Post: # 59518Post JDSweetMeat
Sun Jun 16, 2019 7:48 pm

Somebody on YouTube got ants to mate in captivity. I would do the following to increase the odds of it occurring:

1.) Get a very very large plastic container.
2.) Create a humid environment in the container.
3.) Set it up so that the ants have as much room as possible to "fly."
4.) Turn all the lights off except for one very weak light. Place that weak light above the container.
5.) Place all of your alates in that container (make sure you have male AND female allates or it will be kind of pointless).
6.) If possible, collect male allates of the same species from a different colony and put them in that container (ants of many monogynous species are hesitant to mate with siblings of the same colony for obvious evolutionary reasons).

This should cause a build-up of sex hormones that may make the ants more inclined to mate. Wait 16-24 hours to check on them. If all goes well, most of the males should be mated and dead, and most of the female allates should be deallates. Keep all of the allates/deallates in test tubes. Keep them until the females raise their eggs to larvae stage.

Also, keep in mind that infusing a new queen into the colony may not be possible. Ants aren't honeybees. Anything could happen. It might take several tries even if it does succeed. The colony might kill the first few impregnated queens you try to introduce.

Even though the allates are born of the same colony, by the time they probably have their own colony scent, meaning the workers of their parent colony will attack and kill them.

You *might* be able to bypass this by refrigerating your colony for 30 minutes to an hour and introducing a mated queen to the colony while they are in the refrigerator. Give them another hour after introduction before taking them out. This will cause the workers to be less aggressive, and they may cluster together. If the introduced queen clusters into the group for long enough, she might absorb the colony's scent and become the new queen.

It might be simpler, easier, and more humane to the ants in the long term to go see if you can't find their original queen at their original nest site. If the colony has allates and no queen, it is probably a satellite nest for a nearby main nest. Even if it was the main nest, the workers you failed to capture probably started movibg the queen to a nearby satellite nest the second the main nest was compromised.

Carpenter ants (specially C. Pennsylavnicus) are known for having lots of satellite nests, so I'd look around (within a 5 foot radius) near the original nest site for what's left of the colony. If you found them in a log, search nearby logs for the queen and her remaining workers and brood.

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