Introducing More Queens.

[anticipants]

Hello,

My question is simple really, I have just acquired a Manica rubida queen with a few brood and I'm quite excited about the prospect of raising this colony.

I understand this species to be Polygynous and (looking ahead quite a bit)  I'm curious as to whether I can, and if so how I might go about, introducing more queens to the colony.

Having looked around online I can find very little information on the subject myself. (perhaps I didn't look hard enough)

So any advice you have will be a big help to me,

Thanks.

[Wood~Ant]

If you obtain more queens you cannot mix them with the colony you are buying, as you don't know if they are related even if you buy them from the same ant seller. There simply is no guarantee other queens will be accepted, as if they don't have the same colony scent then they will just fight and kill each other off.

Only by buying a colony that already has more than 1 queen will you get related queens (mother and daughter, or sisters) who will live happily together. Even if the queens don't kill each other the original queen's daughter workers will. 

[anticipants]

Thanks for the fast responce!

Not the answer I was hoping for, but I will love the colony all the same!

Regards,

Anticipants.