Sam_the_Ant
Nurse Ant
Posts: 104
Country: United Kingdom
Pets: 2 x dog, 1 cat, 4 mantids, tropical fish.
Favourite Ant: Camponotus Herculeanus
Likes: 2
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Post by Sam_the_Ant on Dec 7, 2011 19:26:11 GMT
I've had my Lasius Niger colony for about 4-5 months now, and I know that my queen can live up to 12-15 years old. My question is when my my queen dies, will their be a successor to take her place, or will the colony die without an heir to the throne?? Big thank you ^.^ xx
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Post by Jenny on Dec 7, 2011 19:44:24 GMT
When a Queen dies from a Monogyne colony, (1 Queen per colony), there will be no other Queen to replace her. If another Queen is introduced to that colony, the workers will kill her. The colony is doomed, and so the workers will slowly die out.
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Sam_the_Ant
Nurse Ant
Posts: 104
Country: United Kingdom
Pets: 2 x dog, 1 cat, 4 mantids, tropical fish.
Favourite Ant: Camponotus Herculeanus
Likes: 2
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Post by Sam_the_Ant on Dec 7, 2011 20:08:37 GMT
If my queen ant produces a queen and drone ant, could I breed them from the same colony? Or do ants have knowledge about "no mating in the family" hehe.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Dec 7, 2011 21:05:42 GMT
If my queen ant produces a queen and drone ant, could I breed them from the same colony? Or do ants have knowledge about "no mating in the family" hehe. It is highly unlikely that a captive colony will produce alates unless they are males, and mating is very improbable. Monogyne queens are often very long lived compared to polygyne queens, and a Lasius niger queen has been known to live for just over 30 years in captivity. Although it is more normal for a Lasius queen to live less, your own queen could reach the grand old age of 20 meaning that your colony will be around for a long time to come. Ant species that have only 1 queen per colony rarely ever replace a dead or dying queen, unlike those species which have several queens in a nest such as Formica or Myrmica; but polygyne queens tend to live a shorter life span on the whole as the old queens are often constantly renewed by adding newly mated ones at regular intervals.
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Post by batspiderfish on Dec 7, 2011 21:25:35 GMT
You could attempt to introduce an orphaned colony to a L. niger queen that you find outside, but it's fairly likely that she will be killed. Temporary social parasites are always an option to renew a colony.
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Sam_the_Ant
Nurse Ant
Posts: 104
Country: United Kingdom
Pets: 2 x dog, 1 cat, 4 mantids, tropical fish.
Favourite Ant: Camponotus Herculeanus
Likes: 2
|
Post by Sam_the_Ant on Dec 8, 2011 18:33:19 GMT
Thank you so much for your replies Well my colony is at the beginning of it's life so I still have a long time to worry about it. But it's nice to have the information ready for when the time comes. I've written down the information about parasitic ants, and actually really fascinated at what some of these ants do. The video is great as I does show that it's possible to do this with captive ants. Thanks for the information xx
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Post by TenebrousNova on Dec 8, 2011 23:29:22 GMT
You might want to read this interesting idea. By using the pheromones of the old queen, he was able to disguise another queen who the workers accepted. It may be only temporary, but ants can be fooled. That said, I don't think you could maintain that effect unless you kept reapplying the pheromones, which would be too stressful for her and the colony. But with luck, your current queen will enjoy a good long life.
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Post by hsyon on Dec 9, 2011 16:24:02 GMT
You might want to read this interesting idea. By using the pheromones of the old queen, he was able to disguise another queen who the workers accepted. It may be only temporary, but ants can be fooled. That said, I don't think you could maintain that effect unless you kept reapplying the pheromones, which would be too stressful for her and the colony. But with luck, your current queen will enjoy a good long life. really because that would be amazing
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Post by hsyon on Dec 9, 2011 16:26:16 GMT
yeah, I'm asking exactly the same question because if you get a great colony to die so thanks for posting that question and I hope you get an answer
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Post by Wood~Ant on Dec 9, 2011 16:30:59 GMT
yeah, I'm asking exactly the same question because if you get a great colony to die so thanks for posting that question and I hope you get an answer Hi Hsyon and welcome to the Ant Hill Not sure what your question is, but I assume it has to do with the one posted by Sam_the_Ant about queen adoption by workers?
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