6 replies to this topic

[BrittonLS]

So, of all the places, I found this Camponotus queen in a trashcan at a park. She had at least four workers with her in the trash bag. She might have been nested there, but the bag didn't look that old. So I'm not sure if she founded there or moved in. I grabbed her and one worker.

 

Since I don't guess there's any way I can figure out if she's a new queen or not, I imagine I should provide her with some more workers and feed her and treat her as a mature queen? I have what I believe to be the same species at my house I can grab actually and try to introduce to her. 

 

So, how can I go about introducing a worker. I know it's good to refrigerate both of them, but I guess I'm anxious about refrigerating the queen, I don't want to interrupt her egg laying too much and if I try to introduce workers I imagine I might stress her out a bit. So, should I focus on getting her a few more workers first? Maybe up to 5? And only then try to settle her down in a test tube officially, or should she be alright with one worker and fed occasionally? Or maybe I should just wait and see if she starts laying eggs on her own first? Any advice is appreciated.

 

I believe these are likely C. sayi. Looks like she has laid one egg in the week I've had her.

 

[Crystals]

With Camponotus, be very careful introducing other adult workers.  It has a good chance of failure unless the worker you find in question was without a queen for several months.  I advise adding brood (larvae, preferably pupae) if you want faster colony growth.

This is likely a first year queen, the one worker should be sufficient to care for brood until she gets more workers.

 

Do feed them, and treat them as a young colony.

[BrittonLS]

Don't think I can boost any brood since the colony outside is in a brick wall. Been trying to scare them out for two weeks to try to nab the queen, but they've been relatively unphased. So that'd be just honey and bug pieces every so often?

But sounds good, I'll make sure to keep her well fed. Maybe I'll keep some isolated workers in the fridge for a week or so if she doesn't seem to be doing well.

[BrittonLS]

Also Crystals, I pretty much consider you the local Camponotus expert lol So I appreciate the advice.

[Crystals]

I actually tried a number of experiments with introducing Camponotus workers to queens/colonies.  These were Camponotus herculeanus.

 

I have rarely ever had luck introducing adult workers to a queen with workers.  The queen will accept the new workers, but the queen's worker(s) will usually not accept the new workers, even if the new workers want to join.

I have had immense success with workers who were without a queen for 4+ months, when introduced to a new queen with no workers.

This was good for me to know, since if my personal Camponotus colony ever loses their queen, I know I can simply wait until the next flight and give them a newly flown queen.

 

I was unable to get a colony to accept more than one queen, as the queens fought - but that may just be because the worker count was so low (under 25 workers).  I suspect a larger colony might accept more than one queen if they lost theirs.

[zkublin]

I actually tried a number of experiments with introducing Camponotus workers to queens/colonies.  These were Camponotus herculeanus.

 

I have rarely ever had luck introducing adult workers to a queen with workers.  The queen will accept the new workers, but the queen's worker(s) will usually not accept the new workers, even if the new workers want to join.

I have had immense success with workers who were without a queen for 4+ months, when introduced to a new queen with no workers.

This was good for me to know, since if my personal Camponotus colony ever loses their queen, I know I can simply wait until the next flight and give them a newly flown queen.

 

I was unable to get a colony to accept more than one queen, as the queens fought - but that may just be because the worker count was so low (under 25 workers).  I suspect a larger colony might accept more than one queen if they lost theirs.

 

Crystals-  What method did you use the introduce the new queen with no workers to the workers who were without a queen for 4+ Months?  Did you have to cool them down first, or did you just drop the queen near/in the nest or out world?  I am interested because I have a Camp. colony with 20+ workers now and I am going to be moving them to a new nest.  I lost a queen previously when I did this but my current colony is a lot bigger than my former one (the past one only had about 6 workers).  However I would like to know how I can salvage this colony if the same thing happens.

 

Thanks.

[Crystals]

It depended on how many workers there were.

 

If there were just a few, I put those workers in a smaller test tube and used an elastic band to cover the opening with 2 layers organza mesh, I then put the queen in a larger test tube and pushed the smaller test tube inside the larger one so they could meet without the ability to do any damage.  I usually had both sides chew through the thin mesh after 10min and everyone joined the queen.

 

With larger numbers of workers, I let the queen get settled in a test tube for 2 weeks, I fed her really well with sugar water/hummingbird nectar and then attached the test tube to a foraging area.  I put a few drops of the same stuff I fed the queen int he foraging area (hoping it would help confuse the scents once the workers also ate it).  I also put a few test tubes in the foraging area as well.  I placed the test tube(s) with the workers into the foraging area.  They either joined the queen (most common), or guided her to their test tube (rare).