13 replies to this topic

[disasterants]

1 and a half weeks ago, I caught a prenelopis imparis queen where I live in upstate New York. I have never kept this species before and I haven't had the best of luck with ant queens in general although a lot of it has simply been bad luck. I would post a picture of it but I've heard that they're stressed out pretty easily and I don't want to stress her but I do have a you tube video of her that you can watch. 

 

 

I will try to post some pictures on here the Friday after this one which is going to be the next time I open up her test tube.

 

[Reevak]

The only advice to really give for them is to just leave them alone I suppose. Last year when I caught my Prenolepis, I checked on them all the time and they did just fine, but you do not have to feed them. Only have she has her first workers should you feed them. Also, they are really easy to care for (in my opinion) because they store so much more food than other ants. I stopped feeding my Prenolepis colonies for 2 months at one point last year and they still had food stored up. ATM this week, 4/5 of the colonies I still have (sold the other colonies) have already laid eggs again this year. The colony that hasn't has gone through a lot of problems (because I made a lot of mistakes trying to experiment with them) so they haven't laid eggs but they're still all together and fine. 

 

tl;dr   -   Easy to care for, just leave the queen alone for a week or 2 before so she can lay her eggs and then its probably best to leave her alone for another month because it took my Prenolepis about 2 months before she got workers.

[disasterants]

The only advice to really give for them is to just leave them alone I suppose. Last year when I caught my Prenolepis, I checked on them all the time and they did just fine, but you do not have to feed them. Only have she has her first workers should you feed them. Also, they are really easy to care for (in my opinion) because they store so much more food than other ants. I stopped feeding my Prenolepis colonies for 2 months at one point last year and they still had food stored up. ATM this week, 4/5 of the colonies I still have (sold the other colonies) have already laid eggs again this year. The colony that hasn't has gone through a lot of problems (because I made a lot of mistakes trying to experiment with them) so they haven't laid eggs but they're still all together and fine. 

 

tl;dr   -   Easy to care for, just leave the queen alone for a week or 2 before so she can lay her eggs and then its probably best to leave her alone for another month because it took my Prenolepis about 2 months before she got workers.

I subbed to your youtube a while ago, never knew you had a formiculture account as well; small world lol

[Skwiggledork]

I bought one of Reevak's Prenolepis colonies. So far so good. Keeping it at room temp usually 73-78F. Laid some eggs since I got them. Keep a little pice of aluminum foil in their tube with some honey and a cricket leg. I haven't seen them eating, but I haven't been watching too closely either. Thanks again Reevak.

[Connectimyrmex]

In my opinion, rearing Prenolepis is practically the same as rearing Lasius, with the only difference being that Prenolepis is NOT tolerant of rolling tubes or too many vibrations. Mine at her eggs after her tube rolled a tiny bit, but she laid more.

[disasterants]

In my opinion, rearing Prenolepis is practically the same as rearing Lasius, with the only difference being that Prenolepis is NOT tolerant of rolling tubes or too many vibrations. Mine at her eggs after her tube rolled a tiny bit, but she laid more.

thanks but one question: if your queen eats her eggs, should you feed her anything before she lays more?

[Karma]

 

In my opinion, rearing Prenolepis is practically the same as rearing Lasius, with the only difference being that Prenolepis is NOT tolerant of rolling tubes or too many vibrations. Mine at her eggs after her tube rolled a tiny bit, but she laid more.

thanks but one question: if your queen eats her eggs, should you feed her anything before she lays more?

 

 

For most fully claustral queens, it is okay to leave them undisturbed for 1 to 3 egg laying attempts (meaning they have laid eggs and either let them die or ate them) but then again all queens are different so it's entirely up to you. As far as risk goes, and in my personal experience, giving a queen a small insect or drop of honey either before laying eggs or after a failed attempt has never had a negative impact on the queen as far as I could tell.

 

So if you want to take the "risk" (just because personally I do not believe it presents a risk unless you are raising a verty sensitive species) go ahead.

 

Hope this helps.

[sirjordanncurtis]

Feed it tetramorium brood. (larvae and pupae) 

 

It actually works...

[disasterants]

Feed it tetramorium brood. (larvae and pupae) 

 

It actually works...

next time I find a wild tetramorium colony, ill keep this in mind

[disasterants]

UPDATE: i just opened up the queens now bigger test tube(minutes after filming the last video i moved her to a bigger test tube) and she laid eggs!!! i know that I said that I wouldn't open it until this Friday but my plans changed. Tuesday(today) I caught another winter ant queen under a rock in my backyard (while looking for a host colony for my lasius umbratus queen) and I mixed her with the other queen. they didn't fight and seemed to be muzzling each other but I am still having second thoughts about my decision. i would have just let the wild queen be but i got so excited when i found her that i accidentally dropped the rock on her damaging he gaster. i hope that she's okay; you can see that she's a lot skinnier than my old queen but that's because my queen has been fed honey a lot. minutes after I put the new queen in, the old queen starting giving her trophalaxis and I saw that the new queen was getting fatter and the old queen skinnier. i just closed them up to let them be and am still having second thoughts about my decision to mix the queens. here's the video: 

 

 

I am still having second thoughts about my decision to combine the 2 queens. do you think that I did the right thing?

Edited by disasterants, May 1 2018 - 12:18 PM.

[sirjordanncurtis]

UPDATE: i just opened up the queens now bigger test tube(minutes after filming the last video i moved her to a bigger test tube) and she laid eggs!!! i know that I said that I wouldn't open it until this Friday but my plans changed. Tuesday(today) I caught another winter ant queen under a rock in my backyard (while looking for a host colony for my lasius umbratus queen) and I mixed her with the other queen. they didn't fight and seemed to be muzzling each other but I am still having second thoughts about my decision. i would have just let the wild queen be but i got so excited when i found her that i accidentally dropped the rock on her damaging he gaster. i hope that she's okay; you can see that she's a lot skinnier than my old queen but that's because my queen has been fed honey a lot. minutes after I put the new queen in, the old queen starting giving her trophalaxis and I saw that the new queen was getting fatter and the old queen skinnier. i just closed them up to let them be and am still having second thoughts about my decision to mix the queens. here's the video: 

 

 

I am still having second thoughts about my decision to combine the 2 queens. do you think that I did the right thing?

 

Combining the two queens will definite increase their chances of survival together. As they are both int he founding stages, and as Prenolepis imparis is a polygynous species, you shouldn't have any trouble with them.

[disasterants]

I regret to inform you guys that both of my queens died... don't watch the video if you don't want to see dead queens. 

 

Edited by disasterants, May 11 2018 - 3:57 PM.

[Derpy]

Oh sorry for your loss. Maybe you will catch more next year!

[chi.antlog]

I’m sorry for your loss. Like Derpy I hope you find more next year! You can pair the queens up at the beginning and feeding won’t be necessary until after their first nanitics arrive.