5 replies to this topic

[Tmhernandez77]

Just as the title says, I found a small ant colony in a rotten log, maybe 12" long and 4" in diameter.  I broke the log up and found the queen and some workers, and intended to start a new colony in a formicarium with them.  Soon afterwards I noticed the workers seemed to be attacking the queen, so I removed her from them and have her in a test tube setup now.  Will she start a brand new colony, or is it better to go find a recently mated queen instead?  Thanks a ton.  I believe its an Argentine ant queen, though it could also be some sort of Dorymyrmex, it was found yesterday in an Oak forest in Southern California.  Elevation ~500 ft, 75 degrees Fahrenheit, she is about 4-5 mm in length.

[Antlover31]

Always best to start with a recently mated queen. I would try to refrigerate the workers for an hour or so. Then, place the queen in the test tube to see how she reacts with them.

[Loops117]

Are you sure they were attacking her and not just surrounding her? Workers can get pretty bossy with the queen when sh$% gets real.

Otherwise it depends on how many workers she had. If she's had enough for her to do absolutely nothing, then she won't survive. It's weird really, almost like queens forget how to care for themselves. If she's still in founding stages, she could have a fighting chance at starting over. She may need her energy replenished depending on what stage her colony was at. If she had only nanitics, she may not have enough stored energy to rear new brood to full term.

[Tmhernandez77]

I went back to her colony today, got about 25 workers and a few eggs, do you think she will be fine like this? Also, it looks like she already laid some eggs in her testtube.

[Antsinmycloset]

To second what Loop said, I once separated a young colony into two tubes. When reintroduced, a worker went up and grabbed the head of another and started thrashing about  and dragging him around. I was completely convinced I was going to have a battle royale inches from my queen.

Nooope, that's just how some ants "help" errant nanitics find their way home. That worker proceeded to grab every isolated worker by the face and drag them to the queen, one after another. The rationale behind ant behavior isn't always obvious.

Edited by Antsinmycloset, April 12 2017 - 2:45 PM.

[iXvXi]

I don't suggest digging up established colonies as it greatly reduces their chances of survival. Especially native species that are already struggling from invasive species, loss of habitat, insecticides etc.

Since it's Argentine ants; and in fact an invasive species, it has less of an impact so to say. If you left workers from another species they would die out and all the energy the queen spent laying them would be a waste.

Argentine ants are polygynous. I don't have much experience with them but if I'm not mistaken; Argentine ants are a "super colony" meaning Queens and Workers from different locations still get along. So essentially you could have workers that came from a different queen and the few workers already there "overpowered" them.
There's some members here with much more knowledge and experience with Argentine ants than me, that will hopefully chime in and correct any misinformation I may have provided.

That being said, if they are in fact Argentine ants, I wouldn't suggest releasing them after bringing them into captivity. Freezing them would be the best option if you cannot continue to care for them.

Edited by iXvXi, April 12 2017 - 5:12 PM.