4 replies to this topic

[AntBoi3030]

Begining,

 

Back in Febuary, I caught two Lasius Claviger queens and one Aphidicola queen underneath the bark of a log.

I hibornated them in my garage until mid march when it was warm enough to find hosts. I collected around 50 workers of somekind of Acanthomyops for one queen and around 50 neoniger hosts for the other queen. I introduce the workers to the queens via the worker method. I chilled host workers in the fridge and slowly added them in. It was a long process but I had sucess with both queens. The Aphidicola queen was sadly killed by hosts.

After a about a month the Claviger queen with Acanthomyops hosts laid eggs!

I actaully ended up selling this colony but I kept the other colony for myself. Last week, I checked up on the colony with neoniger hosts and saw that the queen had laid a few eggs! Sense then, the queen has laid more and more eggs and the colony now has a decent egg pile. I'm super excited for the eggs to hatch so I can start feeding this colony protien!

Video:

https://youtu.be/_QD...dDGTSLPKyO0FzBS

Edited by AntBoi3030, May 6 2025 - 7:59 AM.

[ColAnt735]

Excited to see how this colony progresses! Did you dunk the queens in vinegar before introducing the workers to them? I'm curious because I'd like to try my hand at parasitic Lasius this year.

[AntBoi3030]

Nope! Just chilled both of them. They were extremely sluggish, so there was 0 aggression. I introduced a set of 2-3 workers and left them together in the fridge overnight. Then, I added in workers, gradually making sure that they were cold the whole time. The whole thing took a while.

 

This helped:https://www.statesid...cial-parasites#

[Stubyvast]

Good strategy. Where did you originally find the queens? I want to start looking out for them, but I don't believe they show up until the end of the season, right?

[AntBoi3030]

Yes, they fly in the fall and late summer. However, you can find hibernating queens underneath debris in the spring or winter. I’d suggest bark and rocks. It also depends how long it has been warm were you are. In the past, I’ve commonly found queens underneath rocks and running around on the ground in the first few weeks it get warm (60 F+). Good luck!