Ants as Pets

hi James, if you can’t find any queens, try ordering them from ant store in the UK. sadly the American department of agriculture wont allow the shipment of live queen ants, but I don’t think Ireland has that restriction. check out myrms ant nest for more info and a link, and good luck

it is great help beacause i just caught 1 ant

i have 18 ants

hi, please answer this, since i live in U.S it’s up to me to get a queen… So about when exactly do the mating cycles start, when the winged queens are out? I have started research on ants and it’ll be fun to start an ant farm to progress my research.

i have 3-5 ants

Cods, congratulations on your success with your ants. as for the winged ants, these are young queens and males. every summer they go on a mating flight to establish new colonies, and the fact that your colony is producing them is proof of how healthy it is. when these winged ants come up and try to fly, you should remove them from the colony and let them go outside so they can make new homes.

how long will a winged ant survive?

Demon, depends on if it is a queen or a male drone and if it has mated or not. an un-mated queen lives for a week or two, a drone lives a bit shorter time. a mated queen, depending on species and care, can live for over 20 years.

any one know the obove question

what should i feed my ants

what about plain sugar

i have a dirtless nest

Demon, I’m afraid I have no experience with fire ants, but generally speaking a queen doesn’t need to be fed until her first brood hatches. as for what to keep her in, get two pieces of glass or clear plastic and take damp paper towels rolled into a rope-like tub. Use this tube to create a circular chamber on one piece of glass and use the other piece as a cover. You can also put a bit of dirt in this chamber, queens like something to move around. This is what you put the queen in for her brood chamber. Keep the paper towel damp, but not soaked, and you can watch the whole process of egg, larvae and pupae. This way you know when the ants are fully developed and when to feed them,. But keep this chamber out of direct light and cover her up when you are not peeking on her. A baby food jar might not work because it is too spacious and she might not feel safe. After her first generation hatches, use a pin or pencil to create a small opening in the paper towel and place the whole thing in a larger enclosure. don’t try to replace the paper towels as this will destroy the brood chamber and the queen will make a run for it. when the first generation hatches, use a toothpick or pin to make a small opening in t paper towel at the opposite end as the queen so they can get out. as for other websites, myrums’ ant nest, antcam, and ant hill world uk are all pretty good sites. hope this was helpful

Demon, depending on the size of the ant species, you might not be able to see the eggs unless they are clustered, in which case you will see tiny white dots about the size of a grain of sand. when they hatch they will be small maggots that don’t move much called larvae. in their final stage they cocoon themselves and become pupae. they hatch from these cocoons as fully grown ants.

how do you care for a queen

what are some cool tips obout fireants

what should i do well i what for the first brood to come?

Demon, the only real way to switch nests after she has laid eggs is to put the current nest into a bigger container and hope that they move out. if she hasn’t laid eggs yet you can move her, but she will have to settle down in the new nest all over again and increase her chances of dying before her first brood hatch. when the brood does hatch, they will be very small. make a small opening in the wall of the paper towel and place them in a larger enclosure with soil such as an aquarium. put a flat rock near the nest. this is the feeding rock on which you can put honey water for the ants to eat and drink. you should also put in dead insects such as mosquitoes near the nest. baby ants need protein in orderto grow larger. the first generation won’t venture far from the nest, but they will need to feed their queen quickly.

Demon, once a queen lays her eggs, she generally doesn’t eat or drink until they hatch. all her energy is put into caring for them. if she hasn’t lain any eggs yet, you can try giving her honey water, but she might not eat it. and don’t feed it to her in her nest cell because it will grow mold over time

hello any one who can anserw that question

does noise effect the queen

how to yo make the queen feel at home

Demon, a queen feels at home just by being in a relatively dark and moist area long enough for it to hold her scent. ants rely heavily on their sense of smell. a test tube can also make a suitable queen cell as long as you have a wad of damp paper towel in it.

Demon, the queen laid only one egg? the worker should tend to the queen and the nest, and the queen should lay another batch of eggs. put a small dab of honey water or a dead insect near, but not in, the nest in case the worker starts foraging for food

what species

Wow Togot, you sure are a patient person to answer all these questions.

Togot, greetings. I know it is illegal to ship queen ants from their native lands into the United States, per: USDA. However, is it illegal to sell queen ants within the same state, or even the same county? I have just constructed my first ant farm, and I have had a bit of trouble “finding” a queen camponotus. I don’t want to have an empty ant farm until March, any suggestions?

Thank you,
Bryan.

Noc, although i do not believe it is illegal to sell a queen in the same state it was caught, i don’t know of any stores which sell them. i’m afraid i am not familiar with that particular species, but if their mating flight has already happened, it might be hard to find one. you can try to get a different species. harvester ants recently had their flights in my area and i caught a few queens. or, if you don’t want your nest empty and better prepare yourself for caring for the queen, catch some workers to test out your setup until next spring.

Bachack, it sounds like your brother got the gel farm, although ants can eat the gel that they tunnel in, i really don’t recommend this product for many reasons: the gel grows mold which kills the ants, it can liquefy and drown the ants, it can dry out which makes it inedible to the ants, it doesn’t have the protein needed for raising brood, and when the ants eat all the gel, there isn’t much for the ants to have a home in any more.

Whoa, I don’t know where those slashed came from, haha. Sorry about that.

I guess I’m going to throw my 2 cents in here again, I figure it’s worth a shot. Anyone live in Florida with any extra queen ants?

Hello Togot,

I chose you’re site because it had very simple, straight-forward information. A few days ago was the nuptial flight for one of the two species of ants that live in my backyard. I found four queen ants and a few worker ants. Unfortunalely I didn’t act quick enough to capture the many male ants I had seen that morning. Later, after I had cleaned out my old ant farm set and re-filled it with sand from the beach, I put the ants that I found inside. The next day I found that The wingless queen ant I had found had killed two of the other queen ants by biting them in half. The day after that I took a look at my ant farm again and found that the wingless queen ant had began to burrow her way into the sand, however, the other winged queen ant looked week. On that same day, the other species of ants in my backyard had their nuptual flight. I caught to wingless queen ants and this time put them in a small jar filled one-quater with beach sand and the other quater with dirt from my backyard. The other half of the jar I left empty. I put a small damp cotton wool ball inside and some biscuit tooo. I prodded a shallow 1 cm hole in the dirt with a pen. Soon enough the ants were inside the whole and have now burrowed so that they can dissapear out of site. These two ants seem to be fine together but I have a few questions.
NOTE: The two species of ants I have in my yard are common black garden ants, except one species ((the second species I found) are very so slightly larger, have larger jaws and an imperceptable orange tinge when you see them in the sun.

- How can I tell an egg from a grain of sand?

- Will my ants survive in beach sand or should I refill my ant farm with soil?

- Will my ants it partially candied honey?

- Are there any other suggestions or tips that you could give me to help improve my ants farm?

Sorry about this very long message.

regards,
InSearchOfHelp

What types of meat would you recommend to give ants? Is it okay to give my ants the insects I find on my windowsill?- or is this dangerous as they could be too old?

instead searching the queen and waiting for mating flights????

InSearchOfHelp and demon, It would be nice for you guys to read the article and then read the replies to the article before posting your questions. You will find that many of your questions are answered there. Togot is an amazing person to use his time answering your questions, but he cannot do all of the work for you. I assume we are new to researching but a word of thumb is research first, read a lot, then when you can’t find the answer you can ask questions. I am not saying that you have done anything wrong, but when you have a sweetheart like Togot going out of his way to share his passion with the world, we shouldn’t slow him down with questions that are already answered.

Good luck with your ant farms!

How can I tell an egg from a grain of sand?
“… depending on the size of the ant species, you might not be able to see the eggs unless they are clustered, in which case you will see tiny white dots about the size of a grain of sand. when they hatch they will be small maggots that don’t move much called larvae. in their final stage they cocoon themselves and become pupae. they hatch from these cocoons as fully grown ants.” ~Togot

InSearch — research your ant species they may show pictures of the eggs.

-Should I try and introduce ants of the same species into the jar with the two queen ants? “Ants, though highly social, do not like ants from other colonies; this includes queens. They will attack and even kill each other if you try to
introduce ants from different colonies even if they are the same species, SO DON’T DO IT!”
– Usually Queen ants will kill other fertile queen ants, to make sure she is dominate in the region, but some species have multiple queens per colony.

- Is it possible that I can relocate my queen ants once they have laid eggs?

- Can I relocate my queen ants before they have laid eggs?

“Demon, the only real way to switch nests after she has laid eggs is to put the current nest into a bigger container and hope that they move out. if she hasn’t laid eggs yet you can move her, but she will have to settle down in the new nest all over again and increase her chances of dying before her first brood hatch. when the brood does hatch, they will be very small. make a small opening in the wall of the paper towel and place them in a larger enclosure with soil such as an aquarium. put a flat rock near the nest. this is the feeding rock on which you can put honey water for the ants to eat and drink. you should also put in dead insects such as mosquitoes near the nest. baby ants need protein in orderto grow larger. the first generation won’t venture far from the nest, but they will need to feed their queen quickly.”

is it possible for me to get female larvae????

If you are looking for Queens, female larvae will not help. The queen needs to be fertile to be any good to a colony. If a queen isn’t fertile it cannot lay eggs.

On a serious note, has anyone here ever had the success to purchasing ants living in the Unites States? Just curious to see if I’m wasting my time on google search or not.

Thanks.

Should I feed my ants raw egg white or cooked egg white?

Hi Togot,
I have a small ant farm I made yesterday, and I used a small glass jar. It works great! I found that they actually like to make tunnels on the outside even though I don’t have a tube in the middle. I don’t have a queen as I cannot find any except capenter ant queens, they’re all over! But I really don’t like capenter ants, so I’m not trying those. I’m feeding them bread and using an eyedropper, I drop in about 2-3 water drops every once and a while. I found a totally abandoned anthill, so I just scooped some of that into the jar. Then I found a very large colony with probaby more than 3 queens in it. Using a small container, I put roughly about 20 ants in there. I brought the ants inside and left them in the refridgerator for about 15-20 minutes and most of them were sleepy. So then it was much easier to put them in their new glass jar home. They’re doing great! Freezing them to make them sleepy is good because most of the time it does NOT kill them. It only killed 1 out of the 20 ants I had. It means that the ant was old, weak, or sickly. You do not want these ants, as it would most likely die anyway in a day or two, or if it was sick, it could have spread the sickness through the colony. Is there anything you would suggest for me Togot? You can tell that I research alot, huh?

I’m so excited Togot!

about 2 hours after I wrote my last post, I went outside and found another queen ant- without her wings. I also saw many, many, MANY other queen ants all over my backyard with wings and there were heaps flying around too! Anyway, I picked up the queen ant and this time I did thing the way that you had instructed (in other words the RIGHT way). I couldn’t find a test tube, so instead I put her into a very small clear container and placed some water and a few makeup cotton wool things inside. My queen ant then crawled to the side of the container and struggled her way between the container and the wet ccotton wool balls. I can see her clearly and I think she likes it there, although it was VERY hard catching her. When do you think she will lay eggs now? I din’t put any food in with her. She won’t need food, or will she?

InSearchOfHelp

sorry togot heres a good site http://antfarm.yuku.com

hey togot do you have an accont on yuki?

Hello Togot,
I am so sorry that I haven’t updated you on my ant farm recently. Well this is what happened in the past few days. Firstly, I opened my ant container (the one with dirt in it) and tried to find the queen ant who had dug a very large chamber, I wanted to release her or transfer her into another container if she had already laid eggs because I saw some mould growing in the container. I did this carefully but I did not find her anywhere, although I did get to see just how big her burrow was, so I just carefully tipped the remaining dirt into a small pot in my yard. Anyway, here is the good news- I am so excited!- both my ants, the one in the small container and the one in the antfarm have laid eggs. They look healthy as ever, but I was wondering if you could tell me when they will hatch… they were laid about a week ago now so it would be great to be prepared for them to hatch.
Sorry about this messy comment (but I am in a hurry!),
(Thanks to you I am no longer) InSearchOfHelp

heres the site togot http://antfarm.yuku.com

how long does it take for u to answer a question? I’ll check this site tomorrow.

thank u very much!

Jessi101, there are many factors that could be causing this, and i need more information to help you: what kind of soil are you using, are you giving them water, where are you keeping them, are they all ants from the same colony, what is the temperature of the room they are in?
as i said before, the wrong kind of substrate can discourage ants from building a nest, and potting soils often have pesticides that kill ants. ants require a few drops of water every other day, and the nest soil needs to be moist to help it hold together. if exposed to direct sunlight for long periods of time, ants can cook, so keep them away from windows. ants from the same species, but different colonies, won’t always work together and can even fight and kill each other. ants become less active at colder temperatures.

Ant fan since 1996, ant eggs are usually white, not yellow, and there should be ants tending to them

aussie, i have used one of these plaster ant hills myself, and although they work for simple workers, they tend to dry out and kill queens. since a queen ant doesn’t eat or drink while waiting for her first brood to hatch, she needs her nest to be moist. plaster actually absorbs moisture out of the surroundings, so in order to keep her alive, you will need to constantly giver her small drops of water. the downside is that if you put too much in it might drown her eggs, or that it will disturb her so much she won’t lay any. what i did to solve this problem was i used one of my first gen cells which you can find a description of in the comments section. i used a Milton ant nest for this and connected a tube from it to the plaster nest so the workers could use the plaster nest for food storage.

does the queen move aroun the ant farm after she lays her eggs. or does she just stay in the same place the whole time ??????

hi togot do you still check the site

yes ant man, i still check the sight about once a day, usually at night when i get home from work. ask your questions and i will try to answer them as best i can

i will ask 1 question at a time.

? its been 5 days

strange, i though i answered your question, but i don’t see it on here. also, i haven’t had Internet access for about two days. to answer your question ant man, it may be a tad late now, but there is still a chance you can spot some wingless queens walking around on sidewalks and your driveway. if not, try looking under logs and rocks for queens that are getting ready to start a nest, but don’t try digging up an existing nest. this is a very difficult process that rarely results in success and more often results in the destruction of the colony. also make a note on your calender of when you saw the ants taking flight so you will be ready again next year. hope that helps and sorry for the long wait, i don’t know why my last response didn’t post.

I have a thrid question; once the queen lays her eggs does she have to remate with another ant to lay more eggs ??? How does that work???

thanks togot, im really bummed about not getting a queen.

how long will about 10-40 worker ants live for without a queen but with there own eggs.

and would it work if i had eggs and when they hatched 1 was a young queen and 1 was a boy ant that mates with the queen could they grow up and mate? and start a new colony?.

thanks i will just start an ant farm with only worker ants until next year. question: how many worker ants do i put in my ant farm(which is a big plastic fish tank with dirt and all the stuff an ants invironment has it) and do i put the ants eggs in with the workers.

Ant man, 20-50 workers should be fine for an aquarium that size, and eggs and brood would be fine as well. It will give the workers motivation and extend the life of the colony. You can in fact just sprinkle water into the tank. This simulates rain and is important to keep the soil slightly moist so it sticks together better and prevents the ants tunnels from collapsing, just make sure you don’t put in a bucket full and drown them. I’d say about a cup of water every other day should work for an aquarium

oh and i will use a hair spray bottler to give them water

thanks

ant man, use a nuptial cell. This is basically two pieces of clear plastic held together by rubber bands. In between the sheets you make a ring of rolled up paper towel which is dampened. Inside of this ring you put a small amount of soil and your queen. I like this setup because you can keep an eye on your queen so you can watch the entire process of the first generation. You have to dampen the paper towels every other day so they don’t dry out, and when the brood hatches you have to put the cell in a tank, or, if you want them in a normal ant farm, make the cells using an empty ant farm on its side with one of the connection tubes leading to an up right ant farm full of soil. The ants will migrate when they feel safe enough. It shouldn’t take more than two weeks for most queens to settle down and lay their eggs, but some queens can go into a dormant state and wait until next spring before starting a colony.

or is it like 2 plastic containers together???

and will carpet cleaner keep the ants in if i spray it on the outside of the tank

when the queen is laying the eggs how do you keep her in there and how will i let her out when the eggs hatch

so just ignore all the other posts but please answer number #123

Cotton buds should work as long as you stretch them out to make a solid ring of them, and any strong smelling chemical should do the trick, men’s aftershave also works,. I use motor oil myself.

when workers are relocated, they are a little disorganized at first. they will eventually start working together more efficiently, and the other workers that you can’t find have almost certainly taken the larvae a eggs into hiding.

and how do you put the oil on your ant farm

how do you personally apply your oil i am trying new stuff called aerogard i dont kno if you hav it in the us but you spray in on your arms to keep mosquitos off you so will that work if i just spray it all over the outside

i apply some oil to a face rag and wipe a little band around the outside of the tank. it has to be the outside because if you put it inside the tank it can run down and contaminate the soil. when your queen’s first brood hatch, i put the chamber she is in in an aquarium, but i don’t tamper with it, they will come out on their own when they are ready.

its gotten worse now i never see any ants every now and then i might see 1 ant but thats it wats going on??

the idea is for the queen not to get out. she will lay her eggs and when they hatch, they will chew their way through the paper towel. chances are the worker are under ground, making chambers for the brood, you only see about 1/4 of a colonies workers outside of the nest unless there is a disturbance, or a large food source. i used to only see one or two of my harvester ants at any given time, but when i fed the over 50 came out of the nest to eat. just because you don’t see them all doesn’t mean they aren’t there. i live in Rockford Illinois, i usually check this site when i get off of work around 2 am

its ok never mined that last post ive found it on the internet now it is 1:18 am where u live

are you on yet its 2:13 am?

never mind i guess i will talk to you tommorow

ok well nevermined all that

what do i do with a queen that has already hatched eggs and started a colony

what do you hold your Ants in? do you have them in dirt or sand

no i mean like if i find an ant that has already made a colony she has laid eggs and they hav hatched or do i do the same thing as if she hasent laid eggs

how often if at all would you need to change the soil?

i was wondering if you had any tips for me im new to the idea of ants as pet but ive had other unique pets so i think its be fun but as im a beginner i like to know when the best time for me to go looking for a queen would be i live on vancouver island bc

right now i have a 46 gallon fish tank that im not using for anything in particular i was wondering is this to big for an ant colony to start in

any help in much a prieciated thank you

bc ant hunter, I’m afraid I don’t know much abut that region, but in most places queen ants can be found in late spring and throughout summer. Although a large tank can be used to start a colony, it’s less frustrating to use one of the first generation cells which I have described before. This allows you to see how the queen is doing rather than just cross your fingers and wait several months to see if any ants appear. Sounds like an interesting design. My only suggestion is to make sure the oil is on the outside of the tank, and to provide a small water dish with a piece of paper towel or sponge inside which should prevent the ants from drowning. Plaster seems to dry out ants for some reason. Remember that once your colony starts foraging for food to give them bits in dead insects. Ants need protein to help with growing stronger young. Good luck with your set up.

Nyx, although I have never spent any time in a large city looking for ants, I would imagine that queens wouldn’t be too hard to find. after the mating flight, the queens lose their wings and run around on the ground looking for a place to stay. all you need to do is go on a walk once every day or two with some collection jars and look down on the sidewalk for larger than normal ants. Most people never notice it, but queens are all over the place when they do their mating flights. Everyone just thinks they are regular ants. After the mating flights, you’ll be seeing queens in abundance for about a week, and different species have their flights at different times. Light rainfall can often trigger these flights, and like moths, flying queens are attracted to lights at night, so you can set up some traps for them near porch lights. I hope this information helps you, and good luck.

And yes, the carpenter ants are rather interesting. I caught two queens last year which have started colonies. One of which is just about ready to hatch its second generation.

Ant, you can keep workers together if they are from the same colony, but over time the colony they came from will no longer recognize them as their own, so if you keep them for a time, you won’t be able to add new ants to your colony, at least not adults. you can, however, boost the colony with eggs and larvae if you can find them. though i advise against digging up a colony, instead put down a flat piece of wood with an apple slice on it and wait about half an hour. there should then be a large number of ants on the wood eating the apple. now just put a jar over them and the apple and presto.

fishsticks, i’m afraid i don’t have any pictures, nor do i know how to put them on this site. i believe you can find some on a site called myrm’s ant nest. basically a nuptial cell looks like two pieces of plastic or glass with a ring of moist paper towel sandwiched between them with a little bit of debris inside for the queen to move around. as for rotten bark, if you boil it in water to sterilize it, you can discourage the growth of mold. ants also seem to have enzymes in their saliva which prevent mold growth that they use to coat their colonies with.

Just a little tip- If it isn’t ant mating system, and your looking for a queen ant, its a lot easier to find one in a carpenter ant colony inhabiting an old log in the forest than digging a colony up. I just found a queen that way today. Also, there is no need to gather more than 15-20 ants to put in the farm with the queen. Its way too hard to collect and put each one in.

ALSO- If your parents say you cant keep an ant farm in the house, don’t keep it in the sunlight. That will fry your ants. Keep it in a shed or on your back porch, under the lip of your roof. You don’t want them to fry and you don’t want them to drown.

And if your a victim of the recession and can’t afford a marketed ant farm, you can easily make one! (This would be a fun project too moms) Just get some empty soda cans around the house, and dad’s tennis ball container. Tape the soda cans top, place it in the container. Then throw in some moist play sand in between the can and the container. Voila!

And if all else fails, just throw some cookie crumbs around a sugar ant mound near your house. Your kids will have fun watching the ants pick up the crumbs and drag them into the mound’s hole. Just be sure not to do this with the ants you find under rocks. The crumbs will attract other ant colonies to the above ground ant colony, and they’ll have a war and kill each other, which was honestly heart breaking to find out.

JV-18yo-09

Togut, I have some questions of my own.

I just found a medium sized colony of carpenter ants in a rotting piece of wood. I captured the Queen, miraculously. I also got about 50-70 of her workers and drones. Also dropped a couple larva in there from their colony, and other colonies. I put them into my gel ant habitat I just bought from Wmart. Its only been a couple hours and already they\’ve made a few tunnels. I\’m so excited to see how far this goes. Took me over six hours!

I\’d like to keep my ants as long as possible. I\’d even like to see new ants being born, new queens emerging, ect. Is it possible to keep multiple generation ants in the small gel habitat I have them in now? Should I expect to see them live a long, prosperous life? I\’m hoping so.

How on Earth would the queen have a nuptual flight if I can\’t let it out of the little thing their in. Would she mate at the top of the ant farm and then simply make a new tunnel and lay her eggs, and the two colonies would grow together?

OR… I\’m hoping at least I can transfer them to a 10g tank from the gel ant farm. I\’m very much interested in making a vivarium.

Please let me know- Joeyv415@gmail.com

Ive been into ants a long time. I caught a queen carpenter not to long ago and it failed after a week in my Gel antfarm. I caught another queen and its been laying eggs like mad and burrrowed itself in the gel.Seems very comfortable at this point. Always keep it in the dark for weeks with no noise. As soon as her crew starts to multiply large im gonna run a tube to a homemade farm made with plexi glass with wood carved. This should make up for a beutifull peice of furniture. REMEMBER ants get stressed dont bother them. If you have a queen hide her in the closet and let it be. We are talking weeks!

Hello,

I recently managed to catch a queen ant and put her into my milton ant farm. I had not yet discovered your site, so she has dug her hole into the dirt in the farm and is now brooding inside of it. I can see into the chamber, but I am unable to see her, so I am not sure if she has laid any eggs or if she is even alive. I am making sure to keep the soil moist like I read above so that she will have plenty of fluids. I do have one question though. I have read that you need to keep your ants a bit warmer than room temperature. I have a heater that I used for a hermit crab that is no longer with us. Would it be advisable to put this heater up against the ant farm wall so that it can heat the dirt and provide some additional heat for the queen ant? Thanks for all of your help, and this site is amazing!

Togot,

Here I am back again over a year later.
I have been searching for your site for at least 2 1/2 hours.
To let you know what hapened to my queen ants of the previous year, the one I had placed in the clear container, who had laid eggs, suddenly died. I woke up one morning and found that she had somehow got her abdomen wrapped in cotton wool.
As for the second queen ant, in the ant farm, she killed the winged queen ant and later, mysteriously died. the worker ants lived a while longer but eventually died too.

Yesterday, I went outside to enjoy the weather and counted ten queen ants scurying around my backyard. I captured one winged and one wingless and placed them in small clear containers lined with cotton balls. I added in some sugarwater on a seperate cotton ball along with a seed and a piece of apple. I know you said not to add food, but I am just experimenting. I keep the queen ants in a warm environment and check on them a few times a day.
My only question this year, is how long will it take for the eggs, once they are laid, to develop into larvae, pupae and then immature ants?

Thankyou, please answer,
InSearchOf Help

Togot,
Thanks for replying so quickly.

When I posted my comment I wasn’t sure weather you would reply as it has been a while since the comment before mine was posted.
Yes, I considered attempting using cd cases too, but I was worried about the holes in the cases. I didn’t want my queen escaping. Maybe I will try that instead.
Also, I have just made another antfarm by geting a clear circular jar and then placing a roll of newspaper covered in cling wrap in the centre of it. I am going to add soil next but I was wondering, how long will worker ants and soldier ants survive without a queen?

Thankyou so much,
InSearchOfHelp

Togot,
I am so excited- my wingless queen ant has laid five eggs. I have watched her tending to them for the past couple of days and I can’t wait until they develop into larva. I took her on a one hour car trip today to transport her from the previous location to her current location. She seemed rather distressed but I have placed her in a warm, dark place. She is still scurrying around a fair bit and I cannot see her eggs at the moment. I am worried about her.
Also, there is a piece of apple in the container with her. I am worried that this may go mouldy so what should I do about removing it- or should I remove it?
Do I need to chage the cotton wool balls inside the container once in a while as they may go mouldy?
And, I have covered covered the container with two layers of cling wrap. Is this a good idea or will she escape through it?
Do I need to remove the cling wrap every so often to let her get some air?

As for my second ant, the winged queen ant, I released her as she did not remove her wings and therefore I pressume that she is not pregnant and therefore will not lay eggs.

I also caught another ant of a different species, a smaller one, and placed her inside a cd case in the centre of a ring of cotton wool balls. I put some dirt in with her, nothing else, and she is doing fine, but I have noticed that she is beggining to tunnel through the cotton wool balls. There are holes in the cd case in which she can escape through outside the wool balls. I am worried taht she will tunnel all the way through them and get out. Will she? What do you reccoment I do? She has not laid eggs yet but I am expecting them any day now.

Also, I found a carpenter queen ant in my backyard yesterday. I have seen a few carpenter ants in my yard but I was not sure of their species until now. I did not capture her as I thought that she may be able to chew through her eclosure so I left her to herself.

I am going to attemp to make a better ant farm this week. What do you reccoment I make it out of? How should I set it out?

Thanks for all your help,
InSearchOfHelp

Thank you so much Togot,
I am so sorry I could not update you sooner, but just to let you know, both my queen ants have laid a fair amount of eggs (they started off with about six eggs and now have almost double that number). They are doing fine, I keep them in warm, humid and dark environments. They have had their eggs for approximately over two weeks (15/16 days) now. I just can’t wait until they hatch into pupae. Apparently, it usually takes 21 days to develop from an egg to a pupa, is it possible it could be sooner?
Also, there is a small plant growing in the enclosure of one of my queen ants. It was initially a seed that I placed in there, thinking she would eat it but it has now grown into a small 2/3 inch plant. I picked it from one of the treese in my backyard so it willl grow larger. I think the seedling is generating oxygen for my queen ant as she has not tried to escape or bite holes in the plastic. Should I remove the seedling before/if it becomes mouldy?

Please Respond As Soon As You Can,
InSearchOfHelp
When the eggs develop into pupae, should I let my queen ants have the option to change the location of their nest?
When and how should I

Thankyou Togot.
Today I looked at my queen ant for the first time in a while.
I was extremely delighted to find that the eggs had hatched into a large cluster of larva. The queen was doing well too so I decided to move her nest as the seed had caused mold to grow over about 65% of her chamber. I thought that this was dangerous and a risk to the life of the colony so I decided to move the queen and her brood. I simply shook her initial container into a nother one and out she, along with most of the larva fell. I had to scoop the remaining larvae out with a skewer and I hope I didn’t harm any while doing so. Currently, the queen is re-gathering her larvae back inot a cluster and is free of mould or other hazads.

Then I took a peek at my second queen ant. She appeared to be sleeping although she was in arather warm area. I could not see her brood so I opened her chamber up and re-soacked her cotton wool balls again. I waited a bit. She began to move as I had disturbed her nest. I saw her eggs and two larva. Why haven’t all the other eggs hatched; it has been over a month since she laid them…
I am worried that she is dying or does not have enough energy to look after her brood. Should I place some food into her chamber? Will sugar go mouldy?

If you have any other advice or tips for me please let me know.
Thankyou again,
InSearchOfHelp

Togot,
Today I went to check on my queen ants.
The first one, who I had recently changed chambers, was perfectly okay. She had collected all her larvae and placed them in a cluster in an indentation in the cottonwool balls. I expect them to turn into pupae any day now.

As for my second ant, the one that was not doing so well, I woke up this morning to find her limp, with her head under a cotton wool ball and her body drapping over soil. I though she was dead so I opened her chamber and gave her a tiny prod. She did not move. Her whole body appeared to be soaked in water. She lmust have drowned, although her chamber was not soaked with water… I could not see her eggs; is it possible she ate them?

I suppose it is better now that I have only one ant to attend to.
I have some more questions you may be able to answer:

Once her first brood has hatched, when will the queen ant lay another, and once she has a proper colony, how frequently?

I am planning to make an antfarm with no lid. I will then place it on a dish (the dish will be their foraging area) and then place that dish on a tray filled with water so the ants can’t escape. Is this a good idea?

Or, I may consider just leaving the lid off my ant farm and placing it outdoors, that way the ants can explore and return… or will they return?
Is it likely that they will escort the queen ant to another location and start a nest there, or will they simply return and not bother moving the colony?

Which ant farm set-up is the better option?

What if the colony becomes too large to fit into my ant farm?

Thankyou for all your time and patience,
InSearchOfHelp

I am also thinking of starting a termite colony.Could you give me some advice on how to start a healthy colony even though you have not ventured in this area yet.

InSearchOfHelp, A queen ant can eat her brood if she feels unsatisfied with her current nesting site and will try to relocate. The queen usually starts laying more eggs as soon as the new brood bring her food. Ants can build bridges over water using materials from their nests. They can show surprising intelligence and ingenuity in this area. I keep my ants contained with a thin layer of oil around the tanks outer rim. Ants are sensitive to chemicals and don’t like oil at all. I’ve yet to have mine build a bridge over this obstacle, but don’t put the oil on the inside of the tank as it will run down into the soil and pollute it. If they are not contained inside their tank, the workers my decide to relocate their colony. Also if it rains the tank may be flooded. when your colony becomes too large for a terrarium, which should take several years, it is usually best to place the tank outside and let them go. At this point you will have much more experience with their care, and can more easily raise a new colony. It will be the worker’s job to bring the queen food. Ants have a social stomach called the crop which lets them store food to share with other ants including the queen.

Karanja, I’m afraid I have little experience with African species but I do know that almost all ants enjoy sweet foods such as honey, tree sap, nectar, and sugar. Small dead insects are also a common food item for them. I‘m sorry but I have no experience with termites at all, and haven‘t been able to find any sources on the subject for you.

Hi Togot.I have put perfumed petroleum baby jelly(Nivea)but my ants are still able to crossover this invisible fence.I added vegetable oil and perfume but it hasn\’t worked.What should i do other than using the moat?I have read about the queens cell in the previous questions but up to now i have not understood how to make it.Could you clearly step by step explain to me how i should go about it?

Hi.Thanks alot for the crystal clear explanation.Now can i put a mature queen that is already in a colony with multiple queens in the queens cell so as to start a new colony?Have A HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR Togot:)

Togot,
I feel so ashamed of myself. Almost everyhting I have worked for over the past few months has gone down the drain.
After I posted my previous comment, I thought I had found a way to safely transfer my ants and the queen ant into my ant farm. My ant farm can be filled with any soil and has three pre-made chambers, two of which are always accessible, so in one of the accessible chambers, I placed some damp cotton wool balls a small piece of cotton wool ball dampened with honey and sugar water. I thought this woud make a perfect starter chamber for the queen. I filled my ant farm wth some red sand and then placed my ants into the fridge for a few minutes. I thought that this may be risky as the pupae and larvae were with my ants and I did not know whether they would cope with the low temperature. I then transferred my ants into a much, much smaller container and placed a hole in the lid with a pipe running into the ant farm. I attemped to shake the ants into the pipe but realised this technique was makibng them distressed so I just left them to make their own way in. An hour or so later, I came back to find ony one ant and my queen ant in the container. To my surprise, the other six ants had escaped througha small hole in the lid. The queen ant was too big to squeeze through. I decided to place the two ants into the pre-made queen’s chamber. I then accidentally washed the larvae down the drain. I felt so stupid. The ant that is currently with my queen is barely active. I have not seen it or the queen drink the honey and sugar water and I hope that I can fix this mistake.

Will the queen ant lay another batch of eggs,or will she depend upon the one remaining ant.

Would you reccomend placing a number of ants of the same species in the ant farm with the queen, even if it is only one ant?

Is it likely that the queen ant will die?

What is your advice?

Thankyou so much,
InSearchOfHelp

i love ants so much. i also have 18 ants
i’m looking to purchase another, but i’m afraid for the spiritual health of my ants. they have no god except for me. where can i buy an ant overlord?

please help me

The eggs and the queen are usually kept together in smaller colonies so nothing gets misplaced. In larger colonies the workers will carry eggs and larvae to separate chambers in order to better control their temperature, sometimes even taking them outside of the colony. The more scarce food is, the further ants will look for it. A foraging area is usually a good idea because placing food directly in the colony is stressful to the ants and the food may rot if you give them more than they need. Ant colonies don’t have kings, they have drones which are the only male ants. They, along with future queens are produced by the queen when a colony reaches a certain size. Drones rarely stay with the colony long and usually die shortly after mating with the young queens during the spring flights. Some ant species have different specialized casts. Honey dew ants have some ants that serve as giant food pantries, army ants have soldiers with giant heads and mandibles, and even species that don’t have specially made casts divide work up into nurses, foragers and such. How the individual ants are assigned these jobs isn’t fully understood but it’s believed to involve chemical signal communication within the nest. Eggs usually hatch after 4-6 weeks and you can tell when this happens because they will turn from smooth tiny eggs to larger, ribbed maggots which will steadily grow in size. Most ants will eat anything sweat, and other dead insects so long as they weren’t killed with chemicals.

Daniel, Either the queens will kill each other, or if the tank is large enough they will establish separate colonies which will compete for food until one eventually destroys the other

but then i wont be able to see what is happening with the colony

Hi Togot.Once the ants have fed,do they turn this food to somthing special for feeding the queen?

i mean when do the nuptial flights start?

Hi togot.Why is it that whenever i moisten the antiquarium’s soil,the ants come out and roam around in large numbers?

Hi Togot.The eggs have hatched,so how long will i wait till they turn to their pupal stage.Should i give the ants more protein so as to hasten the larvals growth?When the ants roam around during the day do they return back to the nest at night to rest or they nocturnal?

Hi,my aged ants are kicking the bucket and the remaining 6 are black in colour meaning they too are getting old.They will soon permanently stop persuing their destiny as worker and soldier ants.The larvas still have a long way from hatching into young ants, which i clearly need and i am afraid that the ants will die leaving the queens to starve for a while.It has been a month since i’ve had these ants and maybe they have lost their colonys scent meaning i can’t harvest the colony’s ants and add them into my antiquarium.Should i just wait or should i slightly increase the temperature to hasten the larvas growth?

Karanja, Although any introduced workers will probably be hostile, you can boost the colony with unhatched brood from outside sources. If you can reach the queen, take an eye dropper and dilute some honey. I tiny drop near her should be fine if she is hungry. You can’t really until they reach the later stages. Soldiers and young queens are much larger as pupae than common workers are.

Hi,i was wondering how the ants eat the insects they get.Do they liquify the preys flesh like spiders or do they take small bites?When i give my ants some liquid sugar,they usualy cover it with soil after they are finished drinking it.Is it because it becomes sticky later on and they don’t want to get stuck or what do you think?

i herd that ants feed the larva the soliid food and they throwit up as a liquid to feed the ants because they cant chew and digest soolid food is this true

DW, I know there are some species of ants whose larvae secrete a special nectar for the workers, but adult ants can eat solid food. The crush it up with their mandibles to make it easier for the rest of their mouth parts.

Karanja, if you queen is dead it will probably be on its side and curled up. If you can’t see her then the only way to know would be to dig her up which I don’t recommend since you may end up killing her and her brood

Karanja, I’m afraid I don’t know those particular details about ant diets, but protein from dead insects help the queen with egg production, and the man on this website made an ant jelly which, though tedious to make, seems to work well.

http://www.antnest.co.uk/diet2.html

(girl 123) Hey Togot. I found a carpenter ant in my dorm hall, and took it to my room after putting it in a glass vase with a water soaked cottonball. I feel bad because I don\’t have anything to feed it, and that\’s where I came across your site, because I was looking up how to take care of the ant. I just think you\’re a really cool person for taking so much time to answer all of these questions for people, and i think i might have an ant colony sometime too, once i have the time. I was observing this little guy right here in front of me, and wow they are so smart and cute. I\’ll just let him free outside in a bit.

Karanja, Ants from smaller younger colonies tend to be more timid than those from larger ones because in a small colony with few ants, every worker counts

hi,i was just wondering do ants have a memory coz how do they know where the queens chamber is or where the nurseries are?

hi.is there a certain time of the year that the queen doesnt lay eggs,maybe in winter?since in the wild ants gather food before winter,does this mean i have to give my ants food more frequently than before?

My ant farm fell over and half of the ants got away. I have been trying to figure out how to concoct a live ant trap with sugar…any ideas?

Carol, I’m afraid it’s unlikely you’ll be able to catch all of them. It sounds like the ants you get from the Milton kit, in which case they won’t have a queen and should only survive a month or two .

Iwanttostartanantfarmnow, it depends on what species you have. Some ants are larger than others and need more space. What kind of queen you can catch and when depends on where you live, but you can usually find different species of queens throughout most of summer, usually after light rainfall. Plastic wrap does not work as a cover for ants. They can chew through it, I found this out the hard way years ago. Bread crumbs and other such leftovers are fine. Ants also like anything with sugar, small bits of grease and dead insects that were not killed with pesticides are all fine as well. Experiment with whatever species you get to see what they prefer, but make sure to remove uneaten food from their enclosure before it starts growing mold. A spray bottle works well for dampening the soil. You don’t have to spray it every day, usually I try to do it only when it rains outside, and you should only spray it enough to make the soil moist, not damp. You don’t want to flood to nest. Queens can be found mostly in early morning or at dusk. Try looking on your driveway or other large, flat surface where you can easily spot an insect. You can cover the sides of your tank with news paper, a towel, garbage bag plastic, just about anything that will block out light. As long as you make sure they can’t get out, then you should have no trouble keeping ants in your room.

hi Togot,the quantity of eggs in my antiquarium is reducing,could you tell me what are the reasons that make the queen to stop laying eggs,or atleast why she reduces her usual frequency of laying eggs

Karanja, usually either because it’s too cold or she isn’t getting enough protein. Low temperatures trigger the ants’ hibernation cycle, and queens need protein for egg production.

Hi,today i come bearing bad news.it seems that i will not be asking questions for a long time cause my ants migrated out of the antiquarium.i did not know that one has to change the oil after a while.but the last time they were in their antiquarium i had put a raw,half lemon fruit with water and sugar for them to drink the juice,could the strong lemon smell have contributed to their moving out?so until i find some new queens next rainy season its “kwaheri kwa sasa”(goodbye for now),but thanks a million for all the help and advice,it really helped ALOT cause i stayed with the colony for about 6months.atleast now i have a better and wider knowledge about keeping and raising ants as a healthy colony.ASANTI(THANKS)

thanks man,i cant wait for the next rainy season to start a new colony

i found like 7 queens the other night, so i put them in a jar. im feeding them pear, but when ever i made a little pound in my other one they would fill it with dirt. what should i do for my queens? should i put the cotten in, with water?

Hi,Togot.I was wondering whether you keep notes about your antiquarium,maybe we could compare notes?

Hi,sorry for the delay, its just that school has just re-opened and i was busy,but now i’ve managed to get some free time.you have a beautifully sophisticated terrarium and i’m very much intreaged.i have so many questions to ask you.are you in facebook?maybe you can answer my many questions there?

Hi, I’m in the UK and for my gf’s birthday bought her a queen ant. I’ve kept it in a large tub with a mix of sand and soil. I regularly open the lid to let in air, I feed the ant honey drops and seeds and add a gel water every few days.

I’ve now had the ant 2 months, when I bought her (Philamena) she came in a test tube and I noticed the next day after adding her to her tub that the test tube had some eggs in it. I immediately put it in the tub with her and she moved straight in to it. She is in there with her eggs and a smaller ant that came with her.

My question is – Should I have seen something happen by now, If not how long? I’m getting concerned that the eggs won’t develop and she won’t have any babies. Should they have changed to lava?

Will she die if they don’t or will she lay some more eggs?

Thanks, your help is appreciated!

Thanks Togot. Does that mean that she will mate with the worker thats in the tub with her. Should I remove the eggs, they’ve been there over two months, would that encourage her to lay somemore? She looks depressed just watching over them.

The temperature has become cold only recently, shes a Harvester ant and I think they are European and from a warmer climate generally. If I keep her warmer would it encourage reproduction?

I’m very pleased to hear she’s not going to die! Females usually demand alot of patience!

Thanks for the help Togot. Much appreciated!

Eihcrasz, there are two sites I know of. Ants Canada, and the ants store in the UK

Eihcrasz, here are links to the sites
http://www.mikeybustos.ca/antscanada.asp
antstore.net

tnx alot togot can they send me ants here im from phil?

tnx for the information men tnx alot )

Debj, They are probably small larvae. When they first hatch, they look a lot like the eggs until they start to grow bigger. Queens don’t normally need food during this time, but it helps. Mostly they feed the larvae and themselves with stores of fat in their bodies. It takes between 14-23 days for eggs to hatch, about 25 more for larvae to become pupae and another 13-27 weeks to finally emerge as adults. Various factors effect the development time such as species, nutrition, and temperature.

Stay Frosty, you shouldn’t have to. Queens actually need very little room when starting out. She’s probably just restless and should calm down soon. Make sure to keep her in the dark, and try not to disturb her. Do you mean inside the formicarium? I’ve never tried that before; my light sources are always external. I don’t see how it would harm them. I don’t think LED lights get too warm, and as long as you leave as area without them so the ants can move their young around to an area with ideal temperature, they should be fine

let me clarify,what does a nurse ant do or feeds to a fertilized egg that makes it a queen,a soldier or a worker?i had asked you about a larvae and you told me that the different sizes show the different casts,but what about a freshly laid fertile egg.they are all the same size.is it already determined when they are laid,are they given different food,subjected to different temperatures or chemicals?

hi
i have a ant farm but now i need a queen bull ant

PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi,earlier you had said that a young queen can produce 5-20 eggs as her first brood,so with proper care how many ants,roughly,can a new queen have in the first year?with the hatching of the first brood,will the queen then become an egg laying machine or will she produce double the number of the first brood?

Hi.i have just found out that my queen has died.i have been left with two workers and the late queens first brood of eggs.what should i do to ensure the continuity of this young colony?if i can’t do anything,then what will happen to them?

Hi, I was wondering what the average drone/worker/queen ratio was in an established colony. Particularly the fire ants native to the southern United States.

Hello Togot,
I have a Lasius Niger queen and she is very active and doing well, I was very naughty to take some eggs from the colony in my garden but they are massive, almost as big as the queen! Is this normal? Also I have other medium sized larvae – bigger than the usual but not as big…do you have any ideas to this?

Thanks

Hello, I live in Texas and I am trying to start an ant farm. I have found everything you have said VERY helpful and interesting. I was wondering what kind of ant should i try and capture. I have seen very small orange ones, regular fire ants, and larger ants that have large mouths. i usually catch the larger ones, but could never find a queen that was the same species. i currently have a fire ant queen in a small glass jar with a little bit of soil and a cottonball for moisture. Is there anything I can do about my queen, and is there a way to predict which kind of queen they will be?

Beginer, what species to keep is more of a personal choice, but I would recommend studying the species in your area to learn the kind of food they like. Are the workers carrying dead insects, or seeds? I’m not familiar with the species indigenous to Texas, but Formica Fusca, and lasius neo nigers are pretty hardy species for beginners. I’m not sure a bottle will work as a nuptial cell. The idea is to make a relatively small enclosed space. Although a bottle is small horizontally, it is large vertically, and the queen my not realize she has a roof over her head and feel exposed. The problem with a jar filled with dirt is that you can’t keep an eye on the queen and won’t know her progress, or if she has died. Two squares of plexiglass with a donut of wet paper towel or cotton between them should work fine. Just remember to hold them together with rubber bands. Here is a site that might help identify species and their queens.

http://www.alexanderwild.com/ants

I have found out that the larger ants are red harvester ants. Do you have any ideas on how I can get a queen red harvester ant. Do you know when their mating season is?

Thanks Togot,

I have seen no cocoon opened yet, but infortunately my Queen has died :/. No idea how it happened but I have one small Cocoon opening and a white ant is there….however i presume my ants will die as there is no Queen! Thanks for the help though!

Jamie

Beginer, before you leave you can give them a honey drop or a freshly killed fly. Also make sure the soil is dampened a bit so it doesn’t dry out while your gone. Otherwise they should be fine for a weekend.

Tonyp, it is possible that they were looking for a more suitable nesting site than the tube. Since you already had a worker, I’m guessing this isn’t a newly mated queen. If so, you can’t rely on her body fat to hold her over until her brood fully develop in which case you have several options. You can try to find an existing harvester ant nest and steal some pupae to give to her. These will develop more quickly and should recognize her as their mother. They will take care of her until her real children can. You can try to feed her yourself, though harvesters can be picky eaters, and disturbing her too much may make her decide to eat her brood and search for a more secure nest. You can also do nothing and wait, allowing her to eat some of her brood to keep herself alive until the rest hatch, but doing so is risky because she might not make it.

Tonyp, It is doubtful she will last until the eggs develop without being fed. You can use a toothpick to place a tiny dab of honey in the tube near her. Make sure the dab is on the side of the tube and not the bottom so she won’t fall into it and get stuck.

Tonyp, if she is spending time out of the tube, you can try to keep her in that with a cotton ball plug. If she neglects the eggs, they will die. As long as she eats somthing, she should live.

1515, I had a little trouble understanding what you said, but I think you were asking about identifying mated wingless queens. There are several things that make queens stand out. They are larger than the normal workers of that species. Their thorax (the center body part) is a bit bigger, and their abdomens (the butt end) is much larger. They also move differently. Worker ants travel in an excited, jagged way following a chemical trail. Queens travel in more of a steady straight line, often at a slower pace. I hope this helps

oh ya that reminds me i mixed a little something for the ants outside i mixed hot water with honey then added cold water and then sugar and lastly 3 drops of hot water and there you have it. do you think that a little too sweet for the ants or does it make them die when they take it with them beck to there queen.

Tyler Seto, I think you’re asking me about the size of your formicarium. There are many different setups you can use. If you have some money to throw around, then I recommend buying one from ants Canada. They are high quality. If you are a do it yourself type, you can get some ytong stone and carve out a nest, placing some plexiglass over it, or using plaster. There are many ways to do it. For the really big colonies, you can simply get a terrarium with substrate in it and coat the rim with vasaline. Sugar, water and honey should be fine for most ants. If they don’t want it, they won’t drink it.

i’ll see waht i can do for my ants so are you the only the one who only knows about ant or do you know anything else besides ants. this is why i want you to click on my email. tseto@student.ednet.ns.ca. dont be afraid to send me a letter or it’s alright to to tell me what i should do in order for me to see if my ant have no room to go or to come. i thinking of making a tube for crossing. i’m also a seince guy with test tubes. and a microcope i just got it for chrimas. and the test tubes where for my birthday i 18 years old. so my test tubes could come in handy. i’m also in luck for jellyfish and other species of what ever is in the ocean i know what i look for. fossels,crystles,flank gold on a rock.

you know every now and then i keep on seeing ant trying to craw out of my cantoionor is it becausethey want to get out or maybe it because if i put nyleon stocking on top of my peanut butter jar will they try to bit there way thoue the tinyest hole if i do. if there jaws like jaws the shark witch is not very inporimted when i looked i saw they started to make there tunnel but i havent had time to get a queen i know this is hard to tell you everytime we all ask the same anhcer from you is all. i have 8 ants in it but it is too small or the farm is too small for them to all fit in it. and yes i’m feeding them meat or should i get an ant queen if the ants die on me. i’m sure of the ant queen her self and the black ants i know black ant can’t mix with fire ant because they will fight untell death. not good. maybe i should get a wider space for them so they make there own home in case of any tunnel clappleing you know what i mean i’m thinking putting sand in the ant farm for black ants but no fire ants because i know they sting. oh and one more thing there are this so you call half black and half red in the middle ants. so what kinds are theos is all because i dont know if they sting or there just like the black ants too or what. 6 mouths had past and i dident keep my ant for long. so i keep a sharp eye on what ever the ants are trying to do i will not let it happen to them. i know this is alot to ask from you all and what not but this is why i need to ask of you not to be rid or anything.

so i can see that all diffent species of ants are in diffent shapes and sizes so ive also known about jellyfish like the box jellyfish. here is the video of it.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYUZxS1bZR4 you will know not to go there. have to go now to school.

Tyler Seto, queens usually go on their mating flight the day after some light rain when the conditions are right for them. If you do get one, just make sure you don’t put her with the workers you have now as they will kill her.

Tyler seto, you can use small bottles to capture queens. Something like a tube for holding film rolls or a pill bottle works well. I’m afraid I can’t tell if a species is a stinging one or not based on that description. There are thousands of species with many different colors. I can tell you that all will bite you if provoked. Some species of ants do not sting, but they do spray formic acid at enemies. As for food, most ants will eat honey drops, or sugary water. Most species also like dead insects. If you want something more complicated than that, here is a link to a man who has a very specific recipe for what he calls “ant jelly”

http://www.antnest.co.uk/diet.html

when do you think the mating flight will be it’s alrighty june and i hope to see the real ant queen when they start to take flight.

Tyler seto, it depends on where you live, but here in Illinois the carpenter ants have already started their mating flights. I have caught eight queens, all of which have laid eggs. to find them, you need to be outside often, looking at the ground as you walk along sidewalks and down driveways.

when i was copming back from searching for bug for my ants i touth i saw a bug but when i went up to it it look like an ant queen but it’s not a carpter ant it’s looks alot like small but this one looks like her end looks like the size small ovel and her head looks just like a small beach ball. but it’s like the one that you find walking along the side of the your house.

Tyler seto, if you’re unsure as to whether or not an ant is a queen, just put her in a test tube setup for awhile. If it’s a queen she should lay eggs within a week. If not, you can just let it go

will the asnt alrighty started to make her home in the wet damp sand i made for her. so she started to make her home slant ways. like a line going downwords but going in dinanul poinet. so this is what i found out maybe she is an ant queen. should i keep the sand moust and damp before it gets too dry or is there anything i could give her to eat.

dont worry i’ll make sure she doesent get over flooted with water. what should i feed the carptener ant queen if she has all the food she has for week or so. thjat’s what i’m saying is all.

tyler seto, I’m sorry, but I don’t understand the first half of what you’re asking. As for the second part, carpenter ants love honey, but if she’s gone 3 weeks without laying eggs, it might not be a fertile queen. I’ve caught 9 this year, and all laid eggs within a week

my dad tells me that this one belongs outside and still ive keept her and she is still making her tunnel for the untell july 1 & 2 over that she still is making a tunnel for her home in the sand i made for her. how is she going to be able to eat if i dont know what she eats she black witch is smaller then what you see is like a wasp but this one much smeller then a ant that looks like a wasp. and she is wingless yearsteryday i found a queen with wings still on her do you think it’s best to leave her along if she still has her wings on her. i’m trying to find out what to feed her is all. i know this one is like a carpenter ant i also found that she was still walking around outside when i saw her when it was a hot and sunny day that’s what i saw a queen in the hot sun walking around on the pavement. they where wingless when i found her. but i could not tknow what to do i know to keep her in a test tube maybe with connonball block but everytime i she her she trys to bite touth the cconnon ball to try to ascape i think it’s time if i got myself something for my queen if i do find her. but i think she belong with a other ant hill but i she many queens when ever i go around my house outside and i saw a queen ant with wings. and for that i think i want to ask you something if i make like something for her like the bugs or suger or should i say honey for her what ever i feed her will she just eat it or leave the rest to be clean up. will i guest to give her honey then. maybe she will eat it. i can’t put other ants from aother anthill do I. or they will kill her if i do put other ants in the ant farm i just set up. it made out of a glass jar. with a block on top but i’m trying to find a way to to keep the ants from ascaping. i can tell by the way they look the ant queens and the ants them selfs. the workers and the winged ants too. but there food to feeding them i dont know. but i still kepp ant eye on her to make sure she doesen’t ascape.

hi all
thanks for all the great info…i have a question about carpenter ants.
if i took a double pane glass window, lets say 3′ x 4′ and took the top off. cleaned out the space between the panes real well. put lets say 6″ of soil on the bottom, to keep some moisture/humidity, and the rest i filled with panels of wood to the thickness of the space, roughly 1/2″. put one on top of each to roughly six inches from the top. lay them horizontally and tightly fit so as not to collapse…is this something doable?
i also have access to many sizes of windows so i can get real big…maybe even hang them as paintings…lol
well if you can find the time to answer my question many thx

-jk

ps. i would use pine panels as they are a softer wood, but is there a specific type of better wood than the next or some i should avoid as possibly being toxic etc?

thanks for the feedback
i figured for the carpenter ants it would be better to build tunnels in wood, but as you said mold could become an issue.
so in that case if i filled it 6 to 8 inches from the top with a sandy/soil mix…your saying would be better than?
so for carpenter ants it doesnt matter if they build there nest in wood or soil
also how much room do they need to roam around? would the 6/7 inches by 3′ by 1/2′ be enough for a colony? and the rest 3′4″ height by 3′ wide by 1/2′ enough for them to dig around in?
i’m sorry if i am getting specific but once i build it, it will be hard to do any adjustments….so i want to make sure i leave enough room for the tunneling and their roaming around
thanks again

-jan

ignore the backslashes…dont know why they were added

togot i just found a queen carpenter ant she was strling to get out of the watering can so i saved her from drouwning so what should i feed her if i found her hum. oh and by the way if you really like to know she looks like the one like the one you see around your house you know. and just to be sure if you can tell me what can i feed her to keep her from dying. but first tell me what should i put in the glass jar if i’m going to keep her as a pet for the first layer the 2th layer and the last layer for them to make this easy for her to build her nest.

what’s with jan this day you know what i meaning of. and oh ya and by the way if you really like to why this is it because there this new website it’s called real wishes.com no joking with you this website will let your wish really come true so search on google and put real wishes.com click on it and it will say type in your wish do this for 8 days in a row vistited this page every moring if you skip a day restart. so it will tell you the reast what you shoiuld do in order for your wish to come true.

by the way i saw winged ants alrighty starting the mating flight so i shouldent catch them when there starting there matting flight should I.

where were you togot will i found a queen ant and her bottom looked like eggs starting to come out of the bottom of her rear end only one just came out so what should i do then if i’m going to keep her in a test tube. i know to feed her a drop of honey so that’s what i’m doing right now.

so i can see will i’m going to school so i sure my teacher mr.c has a garden he is wanting to talk good care of it when i’m up there. ilatly ive been seeing this kind of looking like ant so far latly. here is the picture of it.http://www.google.ca/imgres?q=red+and+black+ants&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&rlz=1R2ADSA_enCA441&biw=1280&bih=631&tbm=isch&tbnid=aJPMAcseFAF6jM:&imgrefurl=http://bugguide.net/node/view/98572&docid=ovBcjTHivvhwZM&w=560&h=560&ei=VWFlTpGPO4O80AGCuOD2CQ&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=2&page=1&tbnh=151&tbnw=151&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0&tx=40&ty=61. that’s what ive been seeing on the ground so that’s what i was trying to tell you is all so it’s the same ant as i saw.

We have a queen she dug and sealed herself in. My partner has been keeping the soil damp but last night put too much water in. Her tunel callapsed, and he had to dig her out. She seems to be OK. Will she dig again or will this stop her cycle. Will she be OK? And will she still lay eggs?

Amy, if you can see her, you might want to give her a small honey drop, but she should try to start again

Togot you are amzing. I am thanking you in advance. Here is my situation. I caught a queen about 6 weeks ago. I live near tampa florida. Found her all alone digging underneath a chunk of wood in the middle of the day. No wings. I know its a queen for sure because of the 3 flight eyes above her normal eyes + the built up mid section to control wing movement. I had a prepared area for her about 1.5 feet by 2.5 feet and 2 feet tall with a moat around it. The inside is filled with dirt that i got from outside. So i put her in there almost right away. I am not sure what species she is but she is large and red. For the first 5 or 6 days she would hide from the sun during the day (direct sun for 3 hour, partial for 3 hours, then its shady. But during the night for the first week she would run around the entire container. For many nights every night she did this and I always wanted to know why. Eventually she settled down underneath a rock. I use to be able to see her moving under the rock but for the past 3 weeks i havent been able to. I was scared something in the tank might have killed her because i have seen so far the following: 1 PINCHER BUG, 3 CENTIPEDES, 2 SPIDERS(with a fresh load of babies that i killed most of) 1 EARTHWORM, LITTLE YELLOW SNAILS IN SHELLS. Could any of that hurt my queen? I am thinking the centipedes i saw for the first time today are the most dangerous.

Also, because i was scared and i wasnt sure if she was ok, even the i know i shouldnt have, i lifted up the rock to check on her. (i havent seen her in 3 weeks or any ants at all) What i found was about 5 little white eggs in a cluster under the rock right where i use to see her digging, but i couldnt find her?? Is that normal or a bad sign? Then 3 centipedes ran out from near the rock. My thoughts are maybe they killed her and are eating her eggs, thats why there are 5. Maybe they killed her and those are centipede eggs? Or maybe they recently killed her and her eggs are just still there? How long will eggs sit there once the queen is dead? Wont they decompose or something? What happens to them? Also, is it possible that the queen was away from the eggs( like down a little deeper in a tunnel or soemthing) Please let me know what you think. Thank you thank you thank you. I am worried , i dont want her to be dead but it seems much like she is. What should i do?

wow thanks alot. I understand the test tube setup is better to get your colony rolling but i cant help but love my setup as it is big and natural (weeds, diffrent bugs, rocks ect.) How much worse are the chances of survival by keeping her in an enviorment like mine over a test tube? twice as bad chances? 3 times? Because if i have a pretty good chance of starting up my colony in this natural envorment i would love to do so. Thanks! oh and one more thing.i am keeping the entire enviorment outside. i have watered it almost daily but is that really neccessary considering i live in florida where its almost always humid outside? i am afraid excess water could flood and kill ants or eggs, smash tunnels , ect. Thank you a ton!

hi im new at this , i caught about 10 carpenter ants the other day and have them in my ant farm , if i find a queen can i put her in there or will they kill her , also can i add other carpenter ants or will they fight ??

Chris, I can’t really give you a number as to how much better a queens chances are in a controlled nuptial cell as apposed to a terrarium, but the only thing she can really die of in a test tube is starvation, which you can also prevent by feeding her a tiny honey drop after about a month. Keeping them outside exposes them to the elements, and you don’t need to water it too much in a humid environment. Just make sure you keep it out of direct sunlight so they don’t cook. As for the queen you caught, although some species do bud, they also have mating flights, did you find her alone or with workers? If she was alone, she is probably a young queen after a mating flight. If she was budding off from the colony, she would have had workers with her.

Chris, it depends on how well she hid herself. If she was just under something, then there is a good chance a centipede got her, but if she actually dug in, it would be harder for them to reach her. Capturing a queen from a budding colony isn’t a bad way to start a nest, just make sure you collect some workers and brood along with her.

Chris, I found two queens just last week, so there are a few species still flying around, but don’t expect them to lay eggs until next spring. Queens that have their mating flights this late in the year often go into hibernation before laying eggs.

i think it migt die because it already layed its first eggs..but it might still survive because wheni dug it up from the nest it wasnt that new or old so hopefully it survives. I was dying to make an ant farm but the flight season is already over and i couldnt wait. so ill watch and see what happens
PS. i left food and water out to see ifit would eat

Togot,

I\\\’ll start out by saying that I\\\’ve spent the last 40 minutes reading through a large number of posts you\\\’ve made here – and I\\\’ve learned more from reading those than I have during the last 5 hours of research I\\\’ve done on the net. You also seem to have the patience of a saint!

I have a couple of questions which you can probably help me out with. Bear with me, the following story DOES go somewhere.

For a few months I\\\’ve been thinking about setting up an ant farm, and thinking of different ways I could do it. Unfortunately in my country (Australia), I think we\\\’ve got very similar laws to the U.S regarding the trafficing of ant queens and I\\\’d suspect that I couldn\\\’t get anything into the country without a license! Either way, I\\\’d forgotten about this interest for a couple of months (seeing as it was Winter) – however today I believe must\\\’ve been the first nuptial flight, as its the clearest, warmest day we\\\’ve had since the Winter season (it got to almost 30c today!). I hadn\\\’t even thought of this until I saw a large-looking ant walking across the ground. I immediately identified it as what I believed to be a young wingless queen – so I ran indoors and grabbed a container. After 10 minutes of coaxing her out of the spacing between the bricks on the floor, I managed to get her in the container. As I wasn\\\’t prepared for this at all (but thought I would jump at the chance), I hadn\\\’t got any equipment prepared for it. I found a small round container and put a small amount of water in the bottom, I grabbed a tin lid and plopped that on over the top (the lid is \\\”shaped\\\” and so has left a reservoir of water sucked in the middle of it, underneath; which will hopefully act to slowly release the water by evaporation) – and I\\\’ve placed kitchen/paper towel over the top of this to create the flooring for my ant to scurry around on. The paper towel has mopped up a little of the water and so is damp on one half – so I believe I\\\’ve given the container enough moisture. Now (after that long-winded description), I need to ask a couple of things.

The container seems to be very sparse and inhospitable. Its all I\\\’ve got and I want to be able to see any actions the queen takes, as it would be interesting to observe and learn the habits of the queen and her cycles/stages for myself. She doesn\\\’t seem to be settling though (after a few hours) and seems to sit in one place for a while and move to another shortly after. Is there anything I can construct for her that would allow her to \\\”nest\\\” whilst allowing me to see her still? I would happily put some dirt in there for her to burrow in – but knowing my luck she\\\’d probably die in there and I\\\’d never know about it. I can be patient but I do want to set it up right the first time (seeing as we only seem to get one or two of these nuptial flights per year). I will, however, be looking about tomorrow to try and collect some more queens – as the temperature is set to reach 35c. That should flush a fair few flyers out!

What is the best and easiest-to-construct ant habitat that you\\\’ve made? I don\\\’t want to spend a fortune – although I was thinking about perhaps buying two glass tanks (one ever so slightly smaller than the other) and placing the smaller one upside-down inside the larger one. I would then fill around the gap with a mixture of sand and soil (seems to be what we have around here and our resident Lasius niger seem to thrive in it), and smatter some leaves and a little soil over the top of the smaller tank to make a foraging area. Have you seen this kind of design in action before and do you perhaps know if there is a more practical design than this?

Thanks for all the great information you\\\’ve everyone so far, and sorry I\\\’ve written so much! I figured it would be best to give you as much background information as possible.

Togot,

I’ll start out by saying that I’ve spent the last 40 minutes reading through a large number of posts you’ve made here – and I’ve learned more from reading those than I have during the last 5 hours of research I’ve done on the net. You also seem to have the patience of a saint!

I have a couple of questions which you can probably help me out with. Bear with me, the following story DOES go somewhere.

For a few months I’ve been thinking about setting up an ant farm, and thinking of different ways I could do it. Unfortunately in my country (Australia), I think we’ve got very similar laws to the U.S regarding the trafficing of ant queens and I’d suspect that I couldn’t get anything into the country without a license! Either way, I’d forgotten about this interest for a couple of months (seeing as it was Winter) – however today I believe must’ve been the first nuptial flight, as its the clearest, warmest day we’ve had since the Winter season (it got to almost 30c today!). I hadn’t even thought of this until I saw a large-looking ant walking across the ground. I immediately identified it as what I believed to be a young wingless queen – so I ran indoors and grabbed a container. After 10 minutes of coaxing her out of the spacing between the bricks on the floor, I managed to get her in the container. As I wasn’t prepared for this at all (but thought I would jump at the chance), I hadn’t got any equipment prepared for it. I found a small round container and put a small amount of water in the bottom, I grabbed a tin lid and plopped that on over the top (the lid is ’shaped’and so has left a reservoir of water sucked in the middle of it, underneath; which will hopefully act to slowly release the water by evaporation) – and I’ve placed kitchen/paper towel over the top of this to create the flooring for my ant to scurry around on. The paper towel has mopped up a little of the water and so is damp on one half – so I believe I’ve given the container enough moisture. Now (after that long-winded description), I need to ask a couple of things.

The container seems to be very sparse and inhospitable. Its all I’ve got and I want to be able to see any actions the queen takes, as it would be interesting to observe and learn the habits of the queen and her cycles/stages for myself. She doesn’t seem to be settling though (after a few hours) and seems to sit in one place for a while and move to another shortly after. Is there anything I can construct for her that would allow her to ‘nest’whilst allowing me to see her still? I would happily put some dirt in there for her to burrow in – but knowing my luck she’d probably die in there and I’d never know about it. I can be patient but I do want to set it up right the first time (seeing as we only seem to get one or two of these nuptial flights per year). I will, however, be looking about tomorrow to try and collect some more queens – as the temperature is set to reach 35c. That should flush a fair few flyers out!

What is the best and easiest-to-construct ant habitat that you’ve made? I don’t want to spend a fortune – although I was thinking about perhaps buying two glass tanks (one ever so slightly smaller than the other) and placing the smaller one upside-down inside the larger one. I would then fill around the gap with a mixture of sand and soil (seems to be what we have around here and our resident Lasius niger seem to thrive in it), and smatter some leaves and a little soil over the top of the smaller tank to make a foraging area. Have you seen this kind of design in action before and do you perhaps know if there is a more practical design than this?

Thanks for all the great information you’ve everyone so far, and sorry I’ve written so much! I figured it would be best to give you as much background information as possible.

Eek! The silly site was telling me the comments had failed to post, when in fact they posted several times! I’m so sorry for the spam!

tyler seto, keeping them outside has a few risks such as being exposed to whether and other animals getting into the enclosure, but it does help them have a more natural cycle in tune with the season, and if other insects do get in the tank, the ants can eat them. If you do keep them outdoors, try to keep them out of direct sunlight.

Togot if you dont mind can you answer the questions of mine that above daniels plz? ad if you do thanks

Daniel, There is evidence suggesting that ants can’t see red light. I have several red film filters I place over my formicariums which allow me to see them without them being disturbed, so you might try something like that. Placing a pinch of dirt will allow her to move something around and feel secure without blocking your view. The easiest habitat I have is to use a test tube for a nest for new queens, and placing it in a critter carrier often used for hermit crabs that you can buy at the pet store. A very thin layer of soil on the floor and some Vaseline at the top rim is a pretty decent setup for a low budget and a starting colony, but there is the chance that the ants will try to move out of the test tube. This usually happens if the water reservoir dries up. You can simply refill it and place it back in the enclosure, and the ants should move back in. I currently have three colonies with this setup and I haven’t had any problems yet. I have seen similar designs to your idea on a smaller scale, and they do work, but you have to be careful so that the ants can’t slip inside the inner tank or they may move in there away from the glass.

I collected a black ant queen from under a brick. It is mid-fall and I was wondering if she will wait to lay eggs until spring, or if she will lay eggs now.

KrOnOs, this late in the year, she will most likely wait until spring

Damn I want to pat them!

Andrea Kniewel, no, ant farms do not attract ants. The reason for this myth is that some owners do not take proper precautions, and their pets escape. These displaced ants often loiter in the area while looking for a chemical trail back home

Hi I just found a queen carpenter ant. I looked online for an ID through pictures and descriptions. I found her inside my house between the trim to a door and the wall. There was no holes or cracks for her to enter our wall so she was just in the corner.

I placed her into a mason jar since we can’t have carpenter ants living with us freely. I removed a piece of malaysian driftwood from my aquarium and placed it into the jar after I let the surface of the wood dry. Malaysian driftwood is soft compared to most woods so figured it would appreciate that more so then Manzanita wood. It being wet will make it easier to tunnel into and keep it humid for the eggs.

Is there anything else I need to do or keep an eye out for? How long will it take on average for a Queen Carpenter to go from capture to having its first workers to be out and about? I looked online and it said these ants are mainly carnivorous. What kinds of bugs besides flies can I feed them? Would crickets work or like silkworms work? Just need to know for the future if this queen works out and gets her colony going good. I got empty aquariums I could house them in later on down the road.

gee togot you know i saw some ants coming out of it’s ant hill so that’s a sign of spring now that you told me about the queen ants now i think maybe if i feed her something like bugs but witch bugs i should feed her if i catch her in my test tubes so can you tell me if i can feed her and take care of her sometimes i like narture and mother narture you know like growing plants so i sure you will think of something.

tyler seto, you shouldn’t have to feed a newly mated queen any insects, just honey drops until her first batch hatches. You can try a small, dead fly if you must, but the presence of an insect, even a dead one, might upset her.

Hi I found a nearly drowned queen without wings in my pool. I didn’t want to keep her and I didn’t want to let her go in the wild where she would surely die so I filled a large jar with some damp soil and put her on top so she can move out of it once her colony is big enough but she doesn’t seem to be doing anything and I know she is still alive because as soon as I turn her upside down she waves her legs frantically in the air. Whats wrong and what should I do?

Thank you for helping these people Togot…

I saw two queen fire ants yesterday but they stilll have wings an today it rained i hoped I would see some queen ants with out any wings but I have had no luck I still have the first queen and shes doing well. I hope in the coming days I can find a queen.What are some ways to find a queen ant?and I still am wondering about the first questions, also when does a colony usually have queen ants and males?

what do you think I should put them in since their a growing colony? Also what should I need to make one?

Antcrazy, it depends on what your long term goal is. If you want them in as natural a habitat as possible, a ten gallon terrarium with substrate works well. If you want to be able to see the colony, antscanada formicariums are great, or you can try the ant mine nest which is similar to a Milton setup, only it uses a plaster mold.

Hi Togot! I read your whole article and many of the comments but I have a kind of specific question. Well I live in the USA so I can’t get a queen ant delivered. I wanted to try and have an ant farm without a queen first just to see how things go. Well I was wondering how many ants should i get for my farm, how long will they live, will they make tunnels, and I’m still kind of confused about how to arrange the jar so I can see their tunnels if they do make any. Sorry for all the questions :/
-Alexis