4 replies to this topic

[Derpy]

Is it possible to introduce a queen of the same species to a mature queenless colony? Lets say I have a colony of Camponotus Maritimus and the queen dies. Is there any way I could introduce a new queen to the colony, in hopes to keep the colony alive? If you repeat this could you technically have an immortal colony? I know that in most cases they will fight, but I have seen some journals, in which the merge was succesful.

[YsTheAnt]

Not sure about mature but I have done it with a small Camponotus hyatti colony.

[Serafine]

Yes, but you need a few months (so the scent of the original queen can fade out) and there's never a guarantee that it actually works with a specific queen and colony (it's a bit of a gamble).

[dermy]

A mature colony seems a little risky. I know with newer colonies you can try to add a new queen to them and they will sometimes accept her. It really works well for young colonies whose workers are still young enough that they haven't developed a colony scent yet (like callow workers that haven't fully darkened up).

 

 

I guess you could try to chill them down a bit before you introduce a new queen after a few weeks/months of them being queenless and see if that helps out the situation out any, but I wouldn't hold your breath too much..... Most of the people [notably http://www.formicult...er/12-Crystals/] who have added new queens to a colony that has lost their Queen do so in the first year or two when the colony is still small.

 

I know from my own experience that adding new queens to Myrmica colonies is sometimes successful.

[Derpy]

thanks for all the replies!