Formica lusatica - 3 queens

[bumblebee455]

Well, I recently purchased a colony of a Formica lusatica from Ants Kalytta. The colony is a size of 3 queens and around 25 workers, some cocoons and 2 small piles of eggs equaling about 10.

This is my first time keeping this species and I am very excited, they are all healthy and there is a notable size difference between the workers maybe due to feeding? I have let them move naturally into a ytong formicarium over the past day and they have settled in nicely but are very sensitive to any movement near them. I have also noticed that while most of the colony reside in one chamber with the cocoons one queen is completely separate and has around 5 of the larger workers tending to her, one worker in particular is missing one antennae! This queen does not look any smaller than the other 2 but doesn't appear to have any eggs with her as of yet, hopefully she will pick up. 

Feel free to post any questions in this thread and I will include a picture below though sorry for the bad quality!

[Deleted]

From what I can see, they are looking very nice. The red gives them an interesting look

[bumblebee455]

Over the past few days 2 callow workers have been born and they are still very pale. The workers have been busy building tunnels in the shallow sand foraging tank as you can see them against the glass. The third queen has been seen alongside the other 2 now and again and no aggression whatsoever has occurred.

The worker missing the antenna has not been spotted since last night but there are no traces of dead workers. I have seen a worker carrying around a huge ball of eggs nearly twice the size of her head, it looks around atleast 40 eggs now! The colony has feasted on a wasp found in my bedroom and a small fly along with some cookie crumbs.

This colony is doing really well already and has settled down much faster than any previous colonies I have kept. They are very skittish to any movement near them but do not take aggressive position, simply move the brood to a covered area.

[Wood~Ant]

You will find that F. lusatica, like other ants in this genus, are very fast moving and skittish; and they are like greased lightening at getting out and escaping, so foraging workers need keeping a watchful eye on.

[bumblebee455]

Been feeding this colony daily and they have been eating well, the colony has lost 3 workers and the egg pile has decreased by half. The workers inside the nest are not very active but there are always some workers running about the foraging tank constantly

[bumblebee455]

Have been inactive on the forum recently but have decided to come on and start posting again. This colony is still doing well, all three queens are alive and very fat although there is no eggs to be seen. The worker count is 19 and there has not been any activity since September 2014 so I hope to see egg production start again soon when the warmer weather arrives fingers crossed.

[Wood~Ant]

Good to hear all 3 queens are alive and well, as my own 1 queen colony is still going strong so yours should grow really large with 3 active queens. They are a good species to keep and having more queens means the chances are better. I may consider getting a few more multiple queen Formica such as F. lusatica myself later this year as I love them.