| Author |
Comment |
Chris128
Worker
Ant
Posts: 45
(3/30/01 3:31:54
pm)
Reply
|
Chilling Ants
Experiment
Hey all! I've been conducting experments in this for the past few
months, and my results are actually quite contradictory to
everything I've ever known about foreign policy in the ant world
(which is usually genocidal annhilation of none-colony member living
objects) Ants are quite willing to accept foreign workers or queens
into their colonies if the following steps are taken:
1. Ants
being introduced to the existing colony are chilled in your freezer
until all motion stops. (Not too long or you will freeze them
though. It only takes about 5-8 minutes)
2. Existing colony
is not alarmed or upset or recently introduced to their
habitat
When the ants have been chilled until all motion has
stopped, introduce one into the colony. See how the ants react to
it. (most of the time they will be indifferent until it starts
moving again) Once it does start moving, watch the ants reaction
carefully. If they attack, remove the ant immediately. Otherwise,
watch the foreign worker to make sure it is fully accepted. Then
intorduce the remaining ants (chill them again if they've woken up)
and watch them. They should react the same to the others as to the
singel foreign worker. If not, take them out immediately to avoid a
war. This works best when you keep the number of ants introduced to
about 15 at a time.
I use this with my new queens to give
them a boost.
I introduce about 5 workers and some brood, and
that usually gets the colony off to a good start.
Oh, I think
this goes without saying but, the workers need to be the same
species as the colony they are being introduced to.
This has
been proven to work 8/10 times with:
Carpenter
Ants
Harvester Ants
Fire Ants
Argentine Ants
Pavement
Ants
Cornfield Ants (lasius spp.)
Aphaenogaster Spp.
Messor
Spp. (Thanks Jorge!)
n
I don't know about others. If you're
willing to experiment, post your results
here.
Chris
[new title.....ZA]
Protect the queen! Which one's the queen?! I'm the Queen! Ants,
moments before Homer Simpson smashes their habitat Edited by:
Zanti
Agent  at: 9/19/01
12:01:18 pm
|
Zanti
Agent 
Worker
Ant
Posts: 111
(3/30/01 4:51:24
pm)
Reply
|
Like Bees
This sort of reminds me of one way they introduce a new queen to a
Honey Bee colony. The new queen is put into what I believe to be a
wax cage. By the time the workers chew through to her they all smell
the same. Maybe this happens with the cold ants. Their odor is
suppressed by the cold and the others slowly adjust as they defrost.
I don't know for sure though.
Your Agent from the Planet Zanti |
Chris128
Worker
Ant
Posts: 53
(4/1/01 9:45:49
am)
Reply
|
Re: !IMPORTANT!
COLONY COMBINATION METHOD
It's probably something like that. Unfortunately, my facilities
aren't advanced enough to do any in-depth studies on it. (Nor or my
skills with ants, other than raising them.) I'm glad SOMEONE showed
interest in this, because it's been all I;ve thought about for the
past 6 months.
Chris
Protect the queen! Which one's the queen?! I'm the Queen! Ants,
moments before Homer Simpson smashes their habitat |
Hymenoptera
Worker
Ant
Posts: 48
(4/1/01 10:12:05
am)
Reply
|
Wow....good
job!
Well, I'm definitely interested in that, as well. I have heardf of
the bee thing, which is an ingenius way to introduce a new queen to
a beehive, but the ant thing.....and freezing you say? VERY
interesting.
Keep it up, Chris, and take your data well. If
it's not in the litereature, it may still be worth reporting,
regardless of how crude your faciolities are (as long as you
faithfully keep track of eveything and present it well). Are you
marking the introduced workers? Perhaps if you did that, you can
track the workers over a long period of time to see if they start
making scent again, just much later. Maybe cold shock damage is
destroying the gland that produces their odor, making them
essentially "scentless". The questions abound on this matter.
Whatever you do, do it some more!!!
Hymenoptera |
GhisoThe
Antman
Worker
Ant
Posts: 4
(4/1/01 12:14:57
pm)
Reply
|
 Re:
!IMPORTANT! COLONY COMBINATION METHOD
Great!!
This method is very intresting! It seems that you've
found the way to "wash away" the colony scent from an ant... I'll
try to repeat your experiment with some colonies at the
University!
I'll tell you something about it!
|
Zerogravitation
Worker Ant
Posts: 201
(4/1/01 12:24:05 pm)
Reply
|
Re:
!IMPORTANT! COLONY COMBINATION METHOD
I plan to try this method with fire ants but not with freezing but
with starting multiple queen colonies from scratch.
I hope
thatthey don't check bags when going and coming from alabama cause I
plan to collect many species during my stay.
chris!!have you
changed our screen name or something? instant message me some time.
|
Chris128
Worker
Ant
Posts: 54
(4/1/01 1:27:09
pm)
Reply
|
Re: !IMPORTANT!
COLONY COMBINATION METHOD
Nah..it's the same. You're just never on anymore
(zerogravitation)But, If I see you on I'll IM you. (Or e-amil me a
time) I plan to begin more advanced experiments with queenless
colonies. The problem with marking is that ants are so clean, and
groom so often that they often either lick or brush the mark off.
(I've been using white-out and paint) That's why I try to keep it to
a small number. Although, I recently introduced a new queen
(camponotus americanus) to an existing queenless colony with around
150 workers successfully. I'm not sure exactly what freezing does,
but I'm workin my best to find out.
I'll keep you all updated
Chris
Protect the queen! Which one's the queen?! I'm the Queen! Ants,
moments before Homer Simpson smashes their
habitat |
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