4 replies to this topic

[MegaMyrmex]

I caught a small handful of Formica subsericea and one Formica pergandei. I know that the queen is a social parasite, I cooled down the Formica subsericea workers down and introduced the queen, but nothing's happening. Rather, chaos is ensing and the queen is being rejected and, well, you get the idea. They don't seem to be attacking each other, thank goodness,, but I'm not going to firmly say that they're dancing around with each other. What do I do? Somebody please help!

[Batspiderfish]

Sanguinea-group Formica social parasites typically steal the pupae of their host and raise those, chasing off or killing the adult members of the colony. Give her some pupae and she should be fine.

[MegaMyrmex]

Oh ok I believe that would work...the only problem is, I have no idea where the nest of f. subsericea workers are. I tried tracing the foragers back but I always lose them eventually.

[Batspiderfish]

Any Formica species is better than none. Otherwise, it may be a good idea to let her go.

[MegaMyrmex]

Yeah, I might let her go if the situation seems hopeless...in the meantime, I'll have to keep crossing my fingers