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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 2, 2020 17:53:35 GMT
As of today there are two callow queens up and about, with a third soon to come. I have noticed one of them tending to the brood. All three of the mother queens already look after their own brood and carry it about, so I suppose it isn't too surprising that the alates also contribute.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 4, 2020 22:59:02 GMT
There are three young queens in the nest and no sign of any other queen pupae. I did, however, greatly underestimate the amount of male pupae, which exceeds 10. Most of them are very dark now and should eclose at any time. There's also quite a lot of cute worker callows.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 5, 2020 20:11:37 GMT
The first male has now eclosed.
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 8, 2020 14:17:40 GMT
As of today there's about 15 males in the nest.
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Post by graeme on Jun 8, 2020 14:29:10 GMT
What’s the plan with the new queens and males? Do you just let them fly?
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 8, 2020 16:45:25 GMT
What’s the plan with the new queens and males? Do you just let them fly? My plan is to just let them do their thing. If they start gathering in the foraging area then I'll keep a close eye on them. My expectation though is that they'll gradually die off or get killed by the workers eventually. I can't release the alates because it's discouraged to release ants, even native ones into areas they don't normally live in. I've never seen Myrmica within my city, although they do live in the surrounding countryside. I sadly lost a bunch of workers earlier. I found that one worker had escaped during the last feeding so I lifted the lid to put her back in- and instantly half the colony was charging up the sides trying to escape. I simply couldn't put them back in fast enough, so the 10 or so escapees had to be killed. I also got another stung finger for my trouble.
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Post by graeme on Jun 8, 2020 18:04:56 GMT
Ouch! Was asking as I’ve got a colony of these on back order so I imagine (hope) I will have the same issue 👍
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 14, 2020 15:50:04 GMT
Several of the males are either dead, injured or with chewed up wings. I've also spotted them running after the workers and attempting to pin them down to copulate with them, unsuccessfully as the workers always get away. One of them is even trying to mate with another male!
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