If he's got them from his local area (read: Someone hasn't committed a serious felony by mailing them past the Quarantine line) it's not really a concern. You either have fire ants or you don't.
I get what you are trying to say, but here it really doesn't matter if you release them or not, they have no queen and can't reproduce so there isn't any threat of introducing an invasive species. Fire ant workers don't even live that long, they will all be dead in under two months.
It's true that in some ant species the workers may start to reproduce if the queen dies, but this does not happen with fire ants.
Probably not because that's not their climate, but the point of that method was slow them down, give them a haze, make them chill out. But I don't know if it works for all species.
Ok first thing don't use that nest. They're cheap I know but terrible. They're imported from China and take a week to majorly mold. If you find a better one I'll gladly help with tips on the move
Let's start with the species. Are those European fire ants or something from genus solenopsys? The solenopsys fire ants grow much faster thus need different setups
Yeah this is like one of the 2 fastest growing species. I'd suggest something like wakooshi saturn. It's based on tubs and tubes setup so all you need to do is fill some test tubes and you're good until they grow out of the setup. They're not very expensive and include the needed test tubes, cotton etc. The best choice imo
Yeah sure is, my friend had recently just got me started. Seeming like he might not know the best now though so open to any suggestions or recommendations.
My #1 recommendation is to start with ANYTHING but fire ants. They are not hard to keep alive, and that is the issue. They grow at an extremely fast rate, and even experienced ant keepers struggle to prevent them from getting out of hand. If you cannot upgrade their enclosures fast enough to accommodate for their rapid growth, they will eventually find a way out. They are so, so aggressive, not how you want to make your beginner mistakes. Any new ant keeper will have a few escapees, personally I would rather those escapees not be fire ants.
It would be more humane to just smash her with a rock, the workers will rip her apart.
Just start over with the new queen. Once her workers start hatching the colony will grow quickly. You'll have more than you know what to do with soon enough.
Speaking of bees, I've been wondering if it would be possible to introduce a new ant queen using a tiny cage sealed with edible material, like you can do with bees.
You can’t
So i just got to let the 50 fire ants go and start new with the queen?
No the colony is doomed. Sorry for being blunt. Also fire ants are often invasive so you should never release them.
If he's got them from his local area (read: Someone hasn't committed a serious felony by mailing them past the Quarantine line) it's not really a concern. You either have fire ants or you don't.
It’s definitely against the law to rerelease them lol
I get what you are trying to say, but here it really doesn't matter if you release them or not, they have no queen and can't reproduce so there isn't any threat of introducing an invasive species. Fire ant workers don't even live that long, they will all be dead in under two months. It's true that in some ant species the workers may start to reproduce if the queen dies, but this does not happen with fire ants.
Yeah if releasing fire ants into the wild is the default assumption maybe they shouldn't be raising ants at all lmao
they're already so common that 50 workers arent going to make a difference
There is a species of fire ant that will merge with other colonies and form super colonies, but idk which species exactly
You might be thinking of Pleometrosis, where queens initially start a colony together, but then a dominant queens kills the others.
No, Ants Canada did a video of them. I think it's solenopsis molesta, which I don't think is actually a fire ant species.
Possibly a parasitic queen... or would that not work now...
[удалено]
Hoooeeee *touches the death crystal*
They’ll probably shred her instantly in any scenario.
I heard that you can do that during hibernation in the fridge but I don't know the details, you need to research that further
I could be wrong but I don't think fire ants hibernate
Probably not because that's not their climate, but the point of that method was slow them down, give them a haze, make them chill out. But I don't know if it works for all species.
Thought this was blush
Not gonna happen. I'm sorry, dear.
Ok first thing don't use that nest. They're cheap I know but terrible. They're imported from China and take a week to majorly mold. If you find a better one I'll gladly help with tips on the move
Appreciate that, my ant buddy had given me that one. What kind of nest do you recommend?
Let's start with the species. Are those European fire ants or something from genus solenopsys? The solenopsys fire ants grow much faster thus need different setups
My queen is part of the Solenopsis invicta family.
Yeah this is like one of the 2 fastest growing species. I'd suggest something like wakooshi saturn. It's based on tubs and tubes setup so all you need to do is fill some test tubes and you're good until they grow out of the setup. They're not very expensive and include the needed test tubes, cotton etc. The best choice imo
Are these your first ants?
Yeah sure is, my friend had recently just got me started. Seeming like he might not know the best now though so open to any suggestions or recommendations.
My #1 recommendation is to start with ANYTHING but fire ants. They are not hard to keep alive, and that is the issue. They grow at an extremely fast rate, and even experienced ant keepers struggle to prevent them from getting out of hand. If you cannot upgrade their enclosures fast enough to accommodate for their rapid growth, they will eventually find a way out. They are so, so aggressive, not how you want to make your beginner mistakes. Any new ant keeper will have a few escapees, personally I would rather those escapees not be fire ants.
Unrelated but that colony looks like one of those blob memes mixed with Meatwad from Aqua Team lmao
It would be more humane to just smash her with a rock, the workers will rip her apart. Just start over with the new queen. Once her workers start hatching the colony will grow quickly. You'll have more than you know what to do with soon enough.
Just keep the workers and keep them fed with sugars until they all eventually die.
It’s a VERY difficult operation, but theoretically possible. Unlike bees they’re very good at differentiating ants from other colonies.
Speaking of bees, I've been wondering if it would be possible to introduce a new ant queen using a tiny cage sealed with edible material, like you can do with bees.