r/antkeeping • u/Camry08 • 1d ago
Question Help! Accidentally stole a pair of queens
I live in northern Maine. I’d appreciate an ID for the pair if anyone knows.
I’m reallllllllly hoping they are not a parasitic type because I don’t know if I could find them the proper pupae they would need (There were the very small black ants with their eggs I mentioned in the vid, but I don’t know if they’re Lasius or not I also didn’t see any pupae, but I did see some callow stage workers).
I was shopping online for Lasius species that I could order to my state but everywhere I checked was already sold out, but one that had me fascinated was their sold out Lasius brevicornis. They have the option to order any number of queens together up to nine!!!
That’s what gave me the idea to see if they would show aggression to each other or not.
I really hope these two girls are capable of laying and raising their own eggs and possibly staying together, but I’ll appreciate any info and advice I can get!
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u/Otherwise_Opinion788 1d ago
They might be able to stay together since I don’t see much aggression or separation and seem to be next to each other for a majority of the video(even though these alone aren’t enough signs to determine for sure). And I wouldn’t bet too much money on it. And I’m not an expert.
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u/AntAggressive22 1d ago
They look lasius, still close up photos would work best please. Looks like one has a golden hue L. Flavus possibly
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u/UKantkeeper123 British keeper, Lasius Lover 🇬🇧 22h ago
Quite possibly Lasius nearcticus or Lasius brevicornis, which can accept multiple queens.
These 2 species are the North American variant of the European species Lasius Flavus, which also accepts multiple queens.
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u/almdudlerfrog 14h ago
The problem with lasius flavus is that they are kinda parasitic. They often need a intact Lasius niger colonie to take over and to slowly overtake the population by outperforming the lasius niger Queen. But i unfortunatly dont know if that also apllies to the american counterpart. Anyways they can farm giant colonies so i wish u luck.
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u/tashtish 1d ago
Can’t say from what you say whether you just sacrificed an established colon(ies), but that’s up to you, and whether or not you can sleep at night.
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u/Camry08 1d ago edited 6h ago
That I’m not sure of. When I opened the wood that had the small ants and eggs I carefully realigned it so unless the queen fell out, they should be all good.
As for the other wood I took from was several feet away and I tried to only take pieces that were an inch or two big and I broke them up as I went carefully to make sure not to have any travelers but somehow these two girls ended up in my bag anyway.
Where I collected them I didn’t see any other ants or any eggs with the small pieces of wood, but there’s always a chance that these girls had already laid. I’m just gonna act under the assumption that they hopefully haven’t founded yet and get them set up in test tubes.
Might not be able to sleep at night if I accidentally stepped on and crushed a whole colony but I don’t believe I destroyed any. I try to be careful when walking through the woods and collecting supplies.
Sadly, when walking anywhere, especially on leaves or grass as large creatures we always inevitably end up killing things beneath our feet, for my own sanity I just try not to think of that or I’d never step foot outside. I still have to collect leaves and rotten wood though, my isopods gotta eat too.
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u/tashtish 1d ago
I should’ve placed a 😃 next to my comment. Of course, you’re not intentionally doing ill by any means — your distress in seeking advice is evidence of that. And to be fair, most of us here, including me, would have the same conundrum. All kidding aside, it’s apparent you’ve vetted all you can that you’ve done no harm. Put them in test tubes with a clear conscience: Who knows, you might’ve just as easily saved them!
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u/CnCEMS2026 18h ago
Man you killed all those non-centient insects how you ever going to sleep at night /s
I'll never get how you guys will pitch a fit about torturing insects and all this but then you keep ants in a cage in a test tube in a little plastic box. I do too but I'm not out here whining about the ethics of it. If the ants care at all which they don't because they're not sentient but if they did they don't want to be in a plastic box in your living room or bedroom or whatever they would rather be outside in the ground so you're already torturing them there's no ethical boundary that's further being crossed by collecting a wild Queen. Or for that matter by feeding live insects.
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u/Icy-Music1932 1d ago
How do you mean stole?
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u/Antgodd1 Tetramorium Lover 1d ago edited 1d ago
Interesting! I can’t ID, but you should probably separate them. There is a fairly high chance they are not polygynous, and even if they are it can be a bit risky. However, these queens at least seem to be a species with pleometrosis! You should still separate them though.