10 replies to this topic

[Someone]

I have recently caught 2 M. Rubra queens and put them into 1 test tube set up.
Today while giving them some honey I found 1 of the queens sitting next to 1 egg. I found it a little bit weird, but I think it's already a good sign. Hopefully they both lay more.

I was just a little worried that there were more eggs, but the second queen could eat them.

 

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[Serafine]

Did you give them some fruit fly or another small arthropod? Myrmica rubra queens need food during their founding stage (not just sugars, they need protein).

[Someone]

Did you give them some fruit fly or another small arthropod? Myrmica rubra queens need food during their founding stage (not just sugars, they need protein).

 
I gave them a mosquito and they ate the body. But I need to give them a bit more

[RushmoreAnts]

I'd recommend going to your local pet store and buying some fruit flies. Wild-caught insects could quite possibly have pesticides. Around my area we had some of the worst flooding in a century, which created an unholy amount of still water, which bred an unholy amount of mosquitoes. I couldn't get hosts for my parasitic Formica queen because around grass and trees the mosquitoes were awful, like dozens coming at you at once, literally. Mosquito repellent did not help. I can assure you the city dumped unholy amounts of pesticides on our mosquito population, and many home and property owners also spray their properties as well. It's just safest to buy from a pet store.

Edited by AntsDakota, August 5 2024 - 6:43 PM.

[Someone]

I'd recommend going to your local pet store and buying some fruit flies. Wild-caught insects could quite possibly have pesticides. Around my area we had some of the worst flooding in a century, which created an unholy amount of still water, which bred an unholy amount of mosquitoes. I couldn't get hosts for my parasitic Formica queen because around grass and trees the mosquitoes were awful, like dozens coming at you at once, literally. Mosquito repellent did not help. I can assure you the city dumped unholy amounts of pesticides on our mosquito population, and many home and property owners also spray their properties as well. It's just safest to buy from a pet store.

 Thank you. Yeah, I need to buy a reliable protein source for them

[Stubyvast]

Yes, ants definitely love fruit flies, my Lasius niger go crazy for them! Plus, they're easy for ants to carry back to the nest. I find that for my Myrmica rubra, I cut up a mealworm and give the queens a half, and they'll burrow into the inside of it, sort of "mining" into it. This way they have a consistent supply of protein for a couple of days, that's still fresh. 

Edited by Stubyvast, August 7 2024 - 10:38 AM.

[Stubyvast]

I have recently caught 2 M. Rubra queens and put them into 1 test tube set up.
Today while giving them some honey I found 1 of the queens sitting next to 1 egg. I found it a little bit weird, but I think it's already a good sign. Hopefully they both lay more.

I was just a little worried that there were more eggs, but the second queen could eat them.

 

It's possible that your queen intends to "overwinter" with her eggs, which apparently myrmica rubra can do. This means that the eggs will not hatch until the next season, given that they survive. If you want, you can also boost the queen with workers from her mother's nest, as in the wild, the daughter queens will overwinter in their mother's nest, and seek out their own home next season to start their own colony. 

I've tried this, it takes a couple days for the workers to become friendly towards the queen if they are not introduced right after the queen is placed into her test-tube. I think this is because, if the queen is left inside her test-tube for a while, she creates a "nest smell" which workers will recognize as an enemy's smell. However, if workers are introduced into a fresh test-tube which the queen has just been given, they will acclimate almost instantly. 

[RushmoreAnts]

 

I have recently caught 2 M. Rubra queens and put them into 1 test tube set up.
Today while giving them some honey I found 1 of the queens sitting next to 1 egg. I found it a little bit weird, but I think it's already a good sign. Hopefully they both lay more.

I was just a little worried that there were more eggs, but the second queen could eat them.

 

It's possible that your queen intends to "overwinter" with her eggs, which apparently myrmica rubra can do. This means that the eggs will not hatch until the next season, given that they survive. If you want, you can also boost the queen with workers from her mother's nest, as in the wild, the daughter queens will overwinter in their mother's nest, and seek out their own home next season to start their own colony. 

I've tried this, it takes a couple days for the workers to become friendly towards the queen if they are not introduced right after the queen is placed into her test-tube. I think this is because, if the queen is left inside her test-tube for a while, she creates a "nest smell" which workers will recognize as an enemy's smell. However, if workers are introduced into a fresh test-tube which the queen has just been given, they will acclimate almost instantly. 

 

Usually overwintering occurs with larvae. The eggs hatch since they're not well-suited for cold temperatures. Larvae, being more mature and self-sustaining, can handle hibernation more easily. Pupae are as helpless as eggs, leaving larvae as the ideal stage of development for brood hibernation. Whenever I've had colonies that overwinter brood it's always been larvae. They eclose all of their pupae before hibernation, and all of the eggs hatch.

[Someone]

I saw a couple more eggs that the same queen guarded. The second queen most often just sits next to the first one. Yesterday I also found another M. Rubra queen and decided to put her with these two. There was no aggression from queens, they didn't fight. However for now first 2 queens sit together in 1 end of the test tube near the exite and the third sits in the opposite near the water

[IdioticMouse26]

Myrmica Rubra is polygnous, you have a good chance that the queens will accept a random worker from the wild. I did it with mine and even though they showed aggression at beginning, they soon joined. 

Preferebly, you should use workers caught from the area where you caught the queens. 

[Someone]

Thank you. I might try adding workers if I go to that area again. I didn't see eggs for some time after this post, but now I see some more, now in a pile. So hopefully they can raise these