# buy an ant queen w/ workers



## Neurozool

ok..I am addicted.  Got a gel habitat from italy and got tiny ants from outside.  After weeks I have built up my tiny colony from the same base colony and just today coxed about 20 eggs and caretakers to the surfice.  I want to build a huge plexiglass box and fill with sed gel (bought on Ebay) and start a colony I hope could last years if extra care is taken in managing the size.  Does anyone have a swarm and if you see one, how would I go about buying a queen?  I would most likly want 2 or 3 to see which one would be the best and is fertilized.  I am in Missouri. Thanks!


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## What

Make sure you only buy queens from Missouri. It is against federal regulations to ship reproductive ants across state lines.


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## apidaeman

I have a colony of black fire ants the native kind. Anyway found a fresh queen, in a concrete parking lot. I captured her and started her out in a 2oz suffle cup. With damp eco-earth substrate. I watched her as she raised her own eggs. Soon after her first workers hatched, she settled into life as a full time queen. I have since moved them into a much larger container.
I use the colony to consume the crickets that die before they are fed to the T's. They are good for me so I have a really cool ant colony and a excellent outlet to dispose of my dead crickets. They get the benefit of a perfect environment and free food, so I doubt they are complaining about their lot in life.
The colony is now several thousand strong. I guess in the 3000-4000 range. Yes I have alot of dead crickets and a colony that size needs alot of food. I also have a bottle cap which I put honey in once a week. I am curious to see how large the colony will get.

You might want to wait til the queens go on their mating flights next year and catch a few and watch to see which ones start laying eggs and go from there.
I'll see if I can't locate a queen there are some colonies still putting out reproductives. I saw one yesterday and considered picking it up but didn't. Now I wish I had.


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## tigeri69

hi--i live in pa--is there anywhere to buy a queen from here?


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## H. laoticus

apidaeman said:


> I have a colony of black fire ants the native kind. Anyway found a fresh queen, in a concrete parking lot. I captured her and started her out in a 2oz suffle cup. With damp eco-earth substrate. I watched her as she raised her own eggs. Soon after her first workers hatched, she settled into life as a full time queen. I have since moved them into a much larger container.
> I use the colony to consume the crickets that die before they are fed to the T's. They are good for me so I have a really cool ant colony and a excellent outlet to dispose of my dead crickets. They get the benefit of a perfect environment and free food, so I doubt they are complaining about their lot in life.
> The colony is now several thousand strong. I guess in the 3000-4000 range. Yes I have alot of dead crickets and a colony that size needs alot of food. I also have a bottle cap which I put honey in once a week. I am curious to see how large the colony will get.
> 
> You might want to wait til the queens go on their mating flights next year and catch a few and watch to see which ones start laying eggs and go from there.
> I'll see if I can't locate a queen there are some colonies still putting out reproductives. I saw one yesterday and considered picking it up but didn't. Now I wish I had.


Do you have any pics?


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## koolkid98

I don't recomend the gel nests they suck.


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## tigeri69

if u can send me a fertile queen i will gladly pay u--$30--let me kno


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## What

What said:


> Make sure you only buy queens from <insert state>. It is against federal regulations to ship reproductive ants across state lines.


Modified to make it more relevant across the board... but really, tigeri69, you know the USDA/APHIS has people that read the boards, right? This is a public forum where your offer is clearly visible to anyone who happens to stumble past it.


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## Sarcastro

catch your own queen.they'll be flying soon just wait and catch your own


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## koolkid98

Yeah i'd agree you can catch 1000's of queens in a matter of hours.Trust me i did once and let 9998 go lol.In my neighors yard


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## tigeri69

oh i kno--im not talking about sending them across state lines--im talking about anyone who lives in pa---but sorry if it offended anyone--im new to this--ive actually been out late nites for the past 2 weeks str8 and im not even really sure when and where to look--i cant find anything flying around but moths and mosquitos!---im getting soooo frustrated so id rather pay someone to do it 4 me so at least i kno 4 sure its a fertile queen cause really i would have no idea!---can someone give me some tips on like the best time of day and where would be the best types of places to find one cause i cant seem to find anything around like other people r explaining-oh yea i live in philadelphia --pretty much all city area--thanks


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## koolkid98

Meh wait till june/july then you'll find them during the day works well.


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## H. laoticus

koolkid98 said:


> Yeah i'd agree you can catch 1000's of queens in a matter of hours.Trust me i did once and let 9998 go lol.In my neighors yard


lol nice

btw, is it worth starting a fire ant colony? sorry for the common name as I don't really know what species they are, but I've been stung several times and it is an annoying pain.  

And I've read that catching queens is best around spring and summer, when they go on their flights.  I found the info on google.


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## koolkid98

Yeah but there is a lot of diffrent types mine are myrmica rubras they breed in their nests.


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## JasonJeggins

Try http://buy-ants.breezily.co.uk/queen-ants/buy_ants who currently have two species of Queen Ants for sale.


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## myrmecophile

It is generally illegal to ship reproductive ants and most other insects across county lines as well as state lines.


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## echostatic

Wait for a warm, sunny day following rain. That is generally a good time to find newly mated queens. This is a good time of year too. It's not worth trying to buy one.


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## spiderbro

www.antkeeping.com has a board for buying ant queens. They do USA shipping too.


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## myrmecophile

What part of it is illegal don't you get?


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## Bunyan van Asten

Neurozool said:


> ok..I am addicted.  Got a gel habitat from italy and got tiny ants from outside.  After weeks I have built up my tiny colony from the same base colony and just today coxed about 20 eggs and caretakers to the surfice.  I want to build a huge plexiglass box and fill with sed gel (bought on Ebay) and start a colony I hope could last years if extra care is taken in managing the size.  Does anyone have a swarm and if you see one, how would I go about buying a queen?  I would most likly want 2 or 3 to see which one would be the best and is fertilized.  I am in Missouri. Thanks!


NO ON NO NO NO NO ON NO NO NO NO ON NO NO NO NO ON NO NO NO NO ON NO NO NO NO ON NO NO NO NO ON NO NO NO NO ON NO NO NO NO ON NO NO NO NO ON NO NO NO, don't use gel! Look up tutorials before you do that to ants (putting them in a gel formicarium!)


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## Toxoderidae

Bunyan van Asten said:


> NO ON NO NO NO NO ON NO NO NO NO ON NO NO NO NO ON NO NO NO NO ON NO NO NO NO ON NO NO NO NO ON NO NO NO NO ON NO NO NO NO ON NO NO NO NO ON NO NO NO, don't use gel! Look up tutorials before you do that to ants (putting them in a gel formicarium!)


This is a 5 year old thread mate. Stop.


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## Kodi

Bunyan van Asten said:


> NO ON NO NO NO NO ON NO NO NO NO ON NO NO NO NO ON NO NO NO NO ON NO NO NO NO ON NO NO NO NO ON NO NO NO NO ON NO NO NO NO ON NO NO NO NO ON NO NO NO, don't use gel! Look up tutorials before you do that to ants (putting them in a gel formicarium!)


That post is from 8 years ago...


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