7 replies to this topic

[Jonathan5608]

Is it ok to keep mated queens that your colony produced or will they not be healthy since there is no genetic diversity.

[logan.chats]

Is it ok to keep mated queens that your colony produced or will they not be healthy since there is no genetic diversity.

I don’t have experience raising a colony from queens like the ones you are describing but those queens will most likely found less healthy colonies than if they had been more genetically diverse. To what extent I’m not sure.

Relevant section from the abstract.
“more homozygous queens had lower colony-founding success and were more incestuously mated themselves, with potentially accumulating effects on colony fitness.”

According to this article https://www.journals.../10.1086/683799


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[ANTdrew]

Very few species will mate within the same colony. Unmated queens do use up quite a bit of a colony’s resources, so it is a good idea to remove them if you can. If you are just getting started keeping ants, dealing with queen alates isn’t something you need to worry about.

[Jonathan5608]

I thought it would be a cool project to get captive queens. I guess you would have to have two colonies and attach a butterfly blow up so they can fly. Has anyone tried captive breeding ants or is it to much of a hassle.

Edited by Jonathan5608, August 4 2022 - 7:45 AM.

[Serafine]

My Camponotus use their (rare) virgin queens as storage containers, similar to repletes.

The occasional males usually live for a few weeks, sometimes a few months - not sure if they get disposed or are just that short-lived, but they don't cause problem so i just let them be.

[FloridaAnts]

With species that mate on the ground you may be able to mate with wild males and females during nuptial flights(Alates must be exposed to the right conditions). I don’t recommend this, because this can lead to a bunch of unmated queens.

[Jonathan5608]

There will be unmated queens in captivity regardless. I'm guessing you would have to simulate some sort of humidity in order to trigger a nuptial flight and there would have to be a reasonable amount of space for a flight to occur.

[Mettcollsuss]

I thought it would be a cool project to get captive queens. I guess you would have to have two colonies and attach a butterfly blow up so they can fly. Has anyone tried captive breeding ants or is it to much of a hassle.

There are select species that will mate in captivity, but for the most part no.