2 replies to this topic

[Works4TheGood]

Has anyone ever tried to introduce a queen with workers from another colony during hibernation?  I've heard plenty of folks say that they've chilled their ants in order to get a queen to accept workers that weren't her own (which I also hear is pretty hit-or-miss).  My thinking is that if I already have a colony that's queenless, I can wait until hibernation time and then merge them with another colony that already has a queen.  Brilliant, or disastrous?

 

Instead of hibernating my ants for 4 months during the winter, what impact would it have if I instead hibernated them 1 out of every 3 months (2 months active, 1 month dormant)?  I'm mostly just curious.

[LC3]

Certain ant species seem to readily accept queens once queenless, but even that is a hit or miss.

Your idea of merging colonies together is disastrous if the ant species is not known for doing it naturally. What's most likely going to happen is that they'll be too sleepish to fight them off but once the colony wakes up there's going to be a high casualty count. Otherwise they might just outright slaughter them upon introduction.

 

If you were to hibernate you ants for 1 month every 3 months (assuming that's what you're trying to say) they're undoubtedly going to die of stress or be seriously afflicted. 

[Works4TheGood]

Interesting. I've never intentionally tried to mix queens/workers before.  Every time I see workers from different colonies interact, someone ends up dismembered.

 

So here's a question: how does a social parasite queen win over (most of the time) the loyalty of a host colony?  I had just presumed that they eventually got used to her slightly-different odor, which is really what prompted my hibernation question.

 

I suppose that for us to sleep in distinct 1-hour increments is not really the same as getting a full 8-hours of rest.  But this makes me wonder, why do ants require 4 months of hibernation?  What are they doing in the last 3 months that was incomplete after the first?  With humans, it's more obvious (protection from accidents in the dark, recovery from daily trauma, brain memory reinforcement, etc.), but ants must have different excuses.  I just don't understand ...

Edited by Works4TheGood, March 11 2017 - 7:37 AM.