13 replies to this topic

[Canadian anter]

My myrmica colony already has workers but the Queens still forage. I's this normal?Any other tips on starting them?

[dermy]

My colony has like 300 workers and my queen still goes out into the foraging area, they are Myrmica, that is basically all that I can say. They are different then most ants. I'd say don't worry about it just make sure you watch what you remove from the outworld.

[AntsMAN]

I have caught my first Myrmica queen this year, and don't know much about keeping them.

Are they semi claustral?

 

[XZero38]

judging by the size of the gaster i would say that they are semi.

[AntsMAN]

judging by the size of the gaster i would say that they are semi.

Good point, will be feeding her meal worms and honey today.

[noebl1]

Question about this too; do they forage immediately, or do they wait until they have a brood going?

Edited by noebl1, August 30 2016 - 5:42 AM.

[dermy]

Question about this too; do they forage immediately, or do they wait until they have a brood going?

I've never personally started one from scratch [I usually cheat and brood boost] but I'd say it'd be safe to wait until she has some small first instar larvae, then offer some honeywater [or whatever you feed them] and maybe a small part of an insect, like a cricket leg or something small.

[Canadian anter]

I'm starting one from scratch and it seems like you have to feed them sugar and they only need protein when they get brood(I'm not sure though)My area is so infested, I caught ~90 myrmica this year

Edited by Canadian anter, August 30 2016 - 12:42 PM.

[LC3]

I've noticed some Myrmica tend to fly very late during the year. I tend to find lot's of wandering queens during the spring and So I have a suspicion they hibernate for the winter, Myrmica are also rather tolerant to cold. Considering your stock you might want to put some in hibernation. They're also polygynous so you can try putting multiple queens together from scratch but most people report the queens eventually fighting each other. From my experience queens fight upon finding each other but it doesn't last long however the dominant queen will start killing the others when they get workers. I've only ever managed to get one colony from queen to workers. 

[Canadian anter]

Right now I have 30-40 queens in a tube and they don't shoe any signs of dominance

[LC3]

Oh wow that's a lot of queens

Do they have workers?

[Canadian anter]

They have 2 workers. Thanks are myrmica rubra and I actually sold some to GFX a few weeks ago

[LC3]

Myrmica rubra? Cool, so they sting readily. Those seem to be different from native Myrmica as they are very highly polygynous, especially the ones here in Canada. Workers have been observed to just pick up newly mated queens and bring them back to their nest.

[Canadian anter]

I also have 8 native myrmica though