12 replies to this topic

[Solenoqueen]

CA ONLY!

I currently have a Solenopsis amblychila queen I'd like to care for, however in the immediate area in which I live, there is only S. invicta and L. humile. Please DM me for offers, I also take colonies entire if that's included, but just pupae and callows would be preferred. Thank you!

[M_Ants]

Are you close to Mission Trails?

[Solenoqueen]

Are you close to Mission Trails?

Yes actually, I am. I know that they’re there but I’m pretty bad at navigating the whole thing. I’d also be happier receiving them in person or through the mail so it saves me trouble, hahaha.

Then again, I’m open to digging them up if that’s your recommendation, as long as I know where it is.

Edited by Solenoqueen, August 10 2020 - 7:18 PM.

[M_Ants]

You won't have to dig. There are workers outside the nest you can take.

[Solenoqueen]

Really? I didn't know that you could just take wild workers for these guys, in fear of the established workers ganging up on the parasitic queen. I'm assuming I have to give them a continuous source of workers, but then again, there has to be a time in which they can be self sufficient, I suppose.

[M_Ants]

I don't really know what I'm doing btw. I gave my queen a worker from Mission Trails and a worker from a colony I have. So far it's working...

[Kaelwizard]

Calloway don’t really have much of a scent yet and are less hostile so those would be preferable. For any parasite that is.

[Froggy]

If you kill a S. xyloni worker and give it to the amblychila queen, would she gain that colonys scent and then you could introduce new workers from the same colony to her?

[M_Ants]

Once again I'm not an expert but I gave my queen 2 random workers from 2 different colonies and as of now she has eggs and they are all peaceful to each other.

[Solenoqueen]

Thank you all for your input! I will probably go out to collect some and place them in with her, however I’m still rather unsure about just putting in wild workers because I don’t want to take too many chances, since I only have one. I’d still appreciate it if someone with pupae and callows could chime in and help me out, if it’s not too much to ask. Maybe an expert on amblychila can drop in and confirm what would be best suited for an amblychila queen, not to discredit any of the suggestions above. To be fair, entire founding test tube colonies of confirmed xyloni could work as well since I can just transfer the pupae and callows into the amblychila tube. Thank you.

[TechAnt]

Maybe when introducing wild workers (if you do) you could refrigerate the queen and worker for 5 minutes so they would calm down. This method has been used in the past for some parasitic ants, not sure if it would work here.

[Antkid12]

Maybe when introducing wild workers (if you do) you could refrigerate the queen and worker for 5 minutes so they would calm down. This method has been used in the past for some parasitic ants, not sure if it would work here.

It would probably raise the chances of them accepting each other. 

[Solenoqueen]

UPDATE: Sorry, queen died. No longer accepting.