18 replies to this topic

[Unfrozen]

I'm getting a tetramorium immigrans 6 queen 40-60 workers what are the chances all the queens will die and the chance of 2+ queens living

[camponotuskeeper]

Tetramorium immigrans is a pleometric species, meaning that it can have multiple queens for the founding period then when workers arrive the queens kill each other, there are exceptions. But chances are it isn’t tetramorium immigrans, it could be a different species like tetramorium tsushimae.

[Unfrozen]

Tetramorium immigrans is a pleometric species, meaning that it can have multiple queens for the founding period then when workers arrive the queens kill each other, there are exceptions. But chances are it isn’t tetramorium immigrans, it could be a different species like tetramorium tsushimae.

no its immigrans the person i bought them from said they lived fine together for 9 months but i got them with one dead queen then last night they started to kill another one

[DDD101DDD]

 

Tetramorium immigrans is a pleometric species, meaning that it can have multiple queens for the founding period then when workers arrive the queens kill each other, there are exceptions. But chances are it isn’t tetramorium immigrans, it could be a different species like tetramorium tsushimae.

no its immigrans the person i bought them from said they lived fine together for 9 months but i got them with one dead queen then last night they started to kill another one

 

Can we see some pictures?

[ANTdrew]

I’m not a supporter of combining Tetramorium immigrans queens. The carnage is inhumane in my opinion, and the benefits are not worth the risks for a species that grows insanely fast anyway.

[Unfrozen]

I’m not a supporter of combining Tetramorium immigrans queens. The carnage is inhumane in my opinion, and the benefits are not worth the risks for a species that grows insanely fast anyway.

i bought a 1 queen 50-100 but they didn't have any with that amount

[ANTdrew]

??

[TennesseeAnts]

I’m not a supporter of combining Tetramorium immigrans queens. The carnage is inhumane in my opinion, and the benefits are not worth the risks for a species that grows insanely fast anyway.

How is it inhumane? Queens preform pleometrotisis all the time in the wild. And usually queens don't kill each other. The less dominant queens are kicked out of the nest.

Edited by Ant_Dude2908, November 9 2019 - 6:37 AM.

[ANTdrew]

You know more than I do, but I see no good reason for this other some sort of gladiatorial spectacle. Each queen will raise a huge colony in frighteningly little time without pleometriosis. These short cuts are not necessary with Tetramorium if you care for them with any sort of attention.

[TennesseeAnts]

Sure its not necessary, but it does give the remaining queen a head start. It ensures only the strongest queen survives.

Edited by Ant_Dude2908, November 9 2019 - 8:12 AM.

[ANTdrew]

Nature is “red in tooth and claw.” This keeper can follow that model, but my point is that it isn’t necessary.

[DDD101DDD]

But the remaining queen may be too injured to continue. 

[TennesseeAnts]

But the remaining queen may be too injured to continue.

Not usually. The queens don't usually fight. It's the workers that determine which queen remains.

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

Camponotous is the opposite. The queens would never be able to found together, but the workers try to keep the queens apart in hope of a joint colony. Kinda weird in my opinion...

[TennesseeAnts]

Camponotous is the opposite. The queens would never be able to found together, but the workers try to keep the queens apart in hope of a joint colony. Kinda weird in my opinion...

That is called oligyny.

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

cool, oh wait, there is an actual term for that?  

[TennesseeAnts]

Yep.

[AntsDakota]

 

I’m not a supporter of combining Tetramorium immigrans queens. The carnage is inhumane in my opinion, and the benefits are not worth the risks for a species that grows insanely fast anyway.

How is it inhumane? Queens preform pleometrotisis all the time in the wild. And usually queens don't kill each other. The less dominant queens are kicked out of the nest.

 

Some might call it inhumane because the less dominant queens would have no where to run once out of the nest, and would be killed. I've read a journal in which multiple queens were kept together, and all but one were kicked out into the outworld. The queens kept trying to come back into the nest, and they were killed slowly....

[AntsDakota]

 

But the remaining queen may be too injured to continue.

Not usually. The queens don't usually fight. It's the workers that determine which queen remains.

 

In my experience, that's not the case with Lasius. I once raised a colony with two queens, and shortly after workers eclosed, both queens were dead, and had apparently killed each other.