13 replies to this topic

[T.C.]

[STORY] So, about 2 weeks ago I caught a few Lasius Neoniger queens. Yesterday I was doing some voluntaary yard work with a few others. We were about to use a tractor to til the soil. However first we had to move some rocks. I moved one to find a huge Lasius neoniger colony with a HUGE amount of cocoons. So I took them, since they were all going to get smashed anyway for my queen. No surprise i found the colony, as they are everywhere around here. Probably the most common species. So I put all these cocoons in a nest, and introduced the queen. At first she seemed rather skeptical of the whole deal, but I think once she soon realized it was just the cocoons and no workers or queen, she got rather excited and started moving them around and just appeared to be very content.

 

[lucas3431]

She must of felt as if she just won the lottery, that was a nice save congrats.

 

How many cocoons do you think you saved?

[T.C.]

She must of felt as if she just won the lottery, that was a nice save congrats.

 

How many cocoons do you think you saved?

   Not sure, couldn't fit them all in there. I ended up distributing some out to other colonies as well because I had so many.

[lucas3431]

 

She must of felt as if she just won the lottery, that was a nice save congrats.

 

How many cocoons do you think you saved?

    Not sure, couldn't fit them all in there. I ended up distributing some out to other colonies as well because I had so many.

 

Ok that's impressive, the colony must of been fairly old, I'll give a guess of about two years heading into it's third.

[FeedTheAnts]

Good to know I'm not the only one who does this kind of thing

[Hikari]

Nice save! I love how well Lasius (and Formica) take to adopted pupa. Once they realize they're not a threat, it's like 'yes, you are all my children now, and I love you'.

[Barristan]

I often read that new workers need some help to come out of the cocoons. A single queen won't be able to help all ants out of all the cocoons.

[FeedTheAnts]

I often read that new workers need some help to come out of the cocoons. A single queen won't be able to help all ants out of all the cocoons.

Maybe he can collect some callow workers and add them to the colony as well.

[T.C.]

I often read that new workers need some help to come out of the cocoons. A single queen won't be able to help all ants out of all the cocoons.

Done it before. Queen will bust open a few cocoons, and the workers take care of it from there. Of course i haven't done it quite this extreme but I do believe it will work out.

[Serafine]

I often read that new workers need some help to come out of the cocoons. A single queen won't be able to help all ants out of all the cocoons.

Usually ants that are close to eclosing make twitching noises that can be hard by ants from quite some distance. Once the queen has freed her first workers they will be very competent ant finding and opening the cocoons that need help. Also it is very unlikely that all of them hatch at the same time and even if they hatch in bulks the young at can stay alive for quite a few days inside the cocoons (callows usually don't eat or drink anyway, effectively they will just eclose more hardened and ready-to-go than usual).

[Mettcollsuss]

Nice save! I love how well Lasius (and Formica) take to adopted pupa. Once they realize they're not a threat, it's like 'yes, you are all my children now, and I love you'.

 

Tetramorium take well to brood boosting too. I just boosted my 8 worker colony. They smelled them for a minute, then dragged the pupa to their brood pile. No problems have occurred so far.

[T.C.]

For anyone who wishes to know the results, everything went fine. All workers hatched out. They did however put like 20 cocoons in the outworld that they showed no interest in.

[FeedTheAnts]

For anyone who wishes to know the results, everything went fine. All workers hatched out. They did however put like 20 cocoons in the outworld that they showed no interest in.

pic please!

[T.C.]

For anyone who wishes to know the results, everything went fine. All workers hatched out. They did however put like 20 cocoons in the outworld that they showed no interest in.

pic please!

Moved the colony to a dirt setup as I was getting mold. Wouldn't be able to get any good pictures.