3 replies to this topic

[Nawor3565]

Earlier this year, I found a bunch of Prenolepis imparis queens, most of which finally have workers. However, I only just realized that this species is polygynous. Each queen is in separate test tubes, and I want to make sure that introducing them is as simple as connecting the tubes. Is there anything special to note when introducing polygynous queens with workers? Thanks!

[Amazant]

I have never done this but I have read some information about how to do this. Also just in case it doesn’t go so well you can always keep 1 queen separate so you will always have a successful colony. First I would put them in the fridge for a few minutes to cool them down, then after that you could put these tubes in a plastic tub and make sure that all the test Tubes are near each other and put a very fine mesh in the front of the tube so they can’t escape and then you could open ONE test tube after a few minutes and let the workers roam around and then wait a day and if there is no aggression happening open another test tube and watch how the ants behave if they are aggressive repeat the same thing. If they are not aggressive then let them be then open another tube and let those workers roam and check for aggression then keep repeating until they form one colony. Try this at your own risk and I haven’t done this so you could wait and see what other people have to say. But one thing is I would always keep one separate colony away from the rest just in case.

[ponerinecat]

Best to chill first, but sometimes I just dump them in if they're highly polygynous.

[Unfrozen]

I have some experience here I bought a prenolepis imparis 2 queen around 5-10 worker at the time and one of the queens died during transportation so I just put my queen in and her brood. But if they all have workers just put them in a tubs and tubes setup but keep the test tubes and a distance