# Found 2 queen ants!



## SandDeku (May 13, 2011)

I just found what I think are queen ants. They were under bricks. I saw a small colony of ants near the brick. They may be migrating but then I saw another queen ant not too far from that brick. They got no wings at all. 

Sorta look like these:
http://terminatecontrol.com/UserFiles/Image/carpenter_ant.jpg

I think its probably a carpenter ant queen. Does anyone know the care for these? Do they climb glass? They're currently in 2 seperate test tubes(test tubes are 3-4inches long). Is this big enough for them? they're not together. I think I keep them there untill they get a small group of workers? What tank size do I need for the colony and do i feed the queen now? What do I do? I sorta forgot. 

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I'm thinking that an idea for a living formicarium would be to make a plaster--- clean it out and fill it with loamy soil (so the ants can build on their own you know? 

and put the plaster with an opening inside a terrarium and glue a "floor" behind the plaster made out of glass or plexiglass so that I could put in a thin layer of soil and use it as a foraging ground. And I could make a "custom" lid so that there's only one opening and is in the middle which is like a lid that can be easily opened and also provides well ventilation via mesh.

Butterfly mesh would work for this? Put like a few layers of it to prevent any escapees and on the sides of the tank I'm trying to figure out what I could use to prevent any climbing ants. 

I forgot the name of the product one of you guys told me. Umm question about that--- how often should I re-coat it with the thing to prevent climbing? Whats the feeding requirements for the queen? and what about the colony?


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## Malhavoc's (May 13, 2011)

Are they smallish? about 1cm two cm long or larger? (half inch)? if their smaller they are not carpenter ants which are larger and black. I have two of the small red queens at the moment that are being kept in drill bit containers, it works perfectly infact the less space sometimes the better the queen is more inclined to lay feeling secure, and not worry about her pacing herself to death.


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## SandDeku (May 14, 2011)

Malhavoc's said:


> Are they smallish? about 1cm two cm long or larger? (half inch)? if their smaller they are not carpenter ants which are larger and black. I have two of the small red queens at the moment that are being kept in drill bit containers, it works perfectly infact the less space sometimes the better the queen is more inclined to lay feeling secure, and not worry about her pacing herself to death.


I want to place her in a dark area. But my room already is dark as it is. I set up two vial(test tubes) like on youtube.  One for each. The ant is about the size of my pinky finger or atleast 2/3rds of the size. My finger is pretty "manly". lol. So i'd say maybe 2/3rds of an inch or even an inch. I can't say. I don't know if I injured one. I am afraid of being stung so I used "tongs" to pick them up as gently as possible but I kept dropping one. The other one I just heard her in the vial. The one I dropped has liquid on her back. But I think it may just be moisture since its clear like water. 

Umm do you know if something like this would work?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u-n0vGwkFo

I think its a plaster model inside of a tank and basically used as an outworld as well. I kinda wondered if for these ants I could build a mote around the corners inside of the tank made out of water so they don't climb out or find a way out. I'm going to make a special terrarium lid out of plexiglass and leave an opening in the middle with just a butterfly net mesh cover. So the ants don't escape but they have fresh air. Do i need a heat mat or something? anything specific for them? They look exactly like the ant in the picture I put. 

Can these be kept? What tank size should I use for them? I want a reasonably big colony but not so much where its out of controll. I think I could just pluck out a few individuals here and there and be "done" with them. 

Also I know their natural environment is like a backyard but I think as long as their natural basic needs are met they should be fine right? I wanted to "design" the terrarium look as I see fit. Like maybe a beach or something(no water-- except maybe the mote lol) or maybe something like well.... a yard. lol or a dessert. or something. 

I decided I shall begin recording their progress tommorrow(no pen today). 

I have decided to treat them like little "armies" which is basically what they are. lol. But in another whole new different level(sorry if I'm sounding dorky lol).

So I shall call the two different "armies" as followed:

Army number 1:Acorn
Army number 2:Walnut 

I say that because I guess it makes it "easier" to record their progress. I picked names of two miniature things because well... they're miniature beings. lol. Anywho hope it doesn't sound too dorky or stupid. Just figured it may help to give the "colonies" names asides scientific names because they're basically the same species of ants. 

So I wanted to ask if this is what I can feed ants:
-Small flat water cap for--- well water lol.
-Honey dipped pre-killed insects(I figured hey-- why not kill two birds with one stone) as well as I can dab some honey on "fake" flowers so they think its pollen or something make em work for their meals. lol
-Live prey: Slugs, small earthworms, beetles. centipedes(yes they can be predatory but it may help keep the numbers in check right? Though they can lay alot of eggs. so it really wouldn't matter. As long as the queen itself is in no danger the colony shall live), crickets(back legs snipped-- gruesome yes but to even out the playing field), maggots(I already am going to culture them--- its sorta starting now), etc.

Question how often should they be fed proteins? How often should they be fed honeys and sugars? Can they be fed veggies? I could try to sneak in a blueberry everyonce in awhile. lol. As well as small bits of tomato, apple, etc. Since that's my families diet. My diet mainly consists of meat, brocolli, rice, and sandwhiches. So I could give it a grain of rice or a bit of brocolli? Can their foods be occassionally dipped in calcium or vitamin powders? Or they just really do not need it? lol.


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## Malhavoc's (May 14, 2011)

Yes and yes, test tube is the best method they are actualy remarkaby easy to rear, yes if they are that large, they most likely are caprenter ants, congradulations I did not even know they had done their nuptual flights out yet!

 As far as a formicarium, I found the plaster idea works really well, the gel usualy dries out and the sand collapses on the ants, which is utterly annoying.  the best I've seen made is with sandstone/plaster placed in a frame with a sheet of glass put on it. 

 This guy is a bit pricy but you get a good idea on how and what you want to make and how perhaps not up to his standard, perhaps better who knows. 
http://www.mikeybustos.ca/antscanada.asp

as far as feeding, once you see a few rudamentry workers set up and foraging; you create an outworld, a barren and open space with a connecting toob, in this you will place food for them to forage, and they will also deposit there trash there, usualy I will offer one insect, some suger and some breadcrumbs as they take as needed for the hive, it works rather well.

also you can design any tank to be as you like, ants are incredible at adaptation, they can and will survive in nothing more then a barren glass tank with nothing more in them but them! however, they are also very determined and will eagerly reshape their enviroment to their liking, if you offer a plaster base with tunnels etc, you should also offer a touch of sand or dirt they will move it in make the tunnels smaller etc as they want, they will also use it to control humidity in their home.

Lastly, if you want to bolster your queen ant and have her start off quickly you can always prey upon their slaver tendancies, once one or two workers hatch, you can go out and collect pupae and larvae of the same spacies, place them in your outworld and the orkers will gather them and put them in their brood and raise them like they are own! enjoy hours of fun watching them!


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## SandDeku (May 14, 2011)

Malhavoc's said:


> Yes and yes, test tube is the best method they are actualy remarkaby easy to rear, yes if they are that large, they most likely are caprenter ants, congradulations I did not even know they had done their nuptual flights out yet!
> 
> As far as a formicarium, I found the plaster idea works really well, the gel usualy dries out and the sand collapses on the ants, which is utterly annoying.  the best I've seen made is with sandstone/plaster placed in a frame with a sheet of glass put on it.
> 
> ...


lol I saw alot of pupae under the ruck. The queens weren't too far from a nest of other small cm carpenter ant workers. Were like maybe 1/4 of the size of the queen. 

Do I feed the queen while she's in the test tube? I haven't done anything but occassionally look at them. they groomed themselves and such. Idk if I'm keeping both colonies. But I wonder if I can keep one in a "smaller" colony as a back up just in case I make a mistake and the whole colony dies I can replace it. xD Is there a way to slow down one of the queens production to a minimum?

As well as how often should I clean the test tube? I set it up yesterday. Its on my desk right now. It's not pitch black but yeah. Can the colony adapt to light? Like if I put them in a set up like the first youtube video(i can use a 29g) and how they're not covered. Will that be okay? As well as how much does the plaster weighs? The one on ants canada is the one I wanna make. But I don't wanna buy from him--- too expensive. I want it done like the plaster is inside a tank that also doubles as an outworld. I'm going to try to get a hold on some fluon. 


One important question, can carpenter ants climb? Is there any base I can install on the lip of the tank that no ant can climb? Will regular netting used for butterfly nets able to contain flying new queens and kings in? If I take a few pupae from the nest that was near the queen ants(I imagine they migrated from there... but not too sure...) will the queen take the pupae and raise them as their own?


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## Malhavoc's (May 16, 2011)

Not sure on the weight To be honest, I've never made one, I usualy did a critter keeper with some laywers of paper towel for them to hide in eat etc. 

 Yes, they do climb however vasoline smeared around the rim or something like it, will keep them from reaching sweet sweet freedom.

 Yes of course ants can be slowed down, production too! simply keep one cooler then the others.

 If you took the queen from an active nest and not a nuptial flight I have no idea if you should feed it now to be honest, I know the ones from a nuptial flight have fat stores and usualy wont eat for themselves. you can try a few granuals of sugar to see if she accepts them.

 Cleaning should be kept to a minimal, you dont want to overly stress her, she should start laying immantly, yes they can adapt to the light but for optimal production you want to keep her dark until she has a worker or two, however even in the light, they can be nervous and touch and go. my critter keeper set up was done by first keeping the queen dark for I think three weeks ( she had five workers by then) then placing the test tube in the critter keeper and they happily set up a nest in the folds of the paper towel/ontop of it which was easy enough to view.

 the only time you really should worry about cleaning it is if a large amount of bio matter, or mold shows up, which I doubt you will see, she will most likely pile it all up into one cornor for you.


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## SandDeku (May 16, 2011)

Malhavoc's said:


> Not sure on the weight To be honest, I've never made one, I usualy did a critter keeper with some laywers of paper towel for them to hide in eat etc.
> 
> Yes, they do climb however vasoline smeared around the rim or something like it, will keep them from reaching sweet sweet freedom.
> 
> ...


Idk about the paper towel idea. But now I'm curious as to when she will lay her eggs...

I see some larvae under a nearby nest where I found the two queens. I really am thinking that the queens were migrating or something. Idk. But they may already be mated because they have no wings. Ill try feeding her a grain of sugar or something.


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## Malhavoc's (May 16, 2011)

When you found them were they swarmed with workers? that would make them the queen of those colonies, which I am thinking what you have, my paper towel idea was after the queen already laid you have them in testube which is the best situation that I know of, you can try to offer a very small amount of suger ( mostly ecause it will dirty the test tube and you dont want that) and see how it goes.


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## SandDeku (May 16, 2011)

Malhavoc's said:


> When you found them were they swarmed with workers? that would make them the queen of those colonies, which I am thinking what you have, my paper towel idea was after the queen already laid you have them in testube which is the best situation that I know of, you can try to offer a very small amount of suger ( mostly ecause it will dirty the test tube and you dont want that) and see how it goes.


I offered it some sugar Idk if it took it or not since I'm trying not to disturb them. Idk if they are queens of those colonies. I don't think I saw them with workers. But will the workers kill the queen if I put them togethernow? They're in the yard....


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## Malhavoc's (May 16, 2011)

they  *could* be the large version of the workers that most carpenter ants produce, however they do have sizable abdomens I think at this point your best bet, stick em on a shelf, check back in 7-8 days for little white specs/larva.


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## SandDeku (May 16, 2011)

Malhavoc's said:


> they  *could* be the large version of the workers that most carpenter ants produce, however they do have sizable abdomens I think at this point your best bet, stick em on a shelf, check back in 7-8 days for little white specs/larva.


Ill be angry if its a worker. It looks like a queen to me. :c


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## khil (May 16, 2011)

niiice
where did you buy the test tubes?


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## SandDeku (May 16, 2011)

khil said:


> niiice
> where did you buy the test tubes?


they were given to me by a specialty store I assked for.


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## Malhavoc's (May 17, 2011)

SandDeku said:


> Ill be angry if its a worker. It looks like a queen to me. :c


it looks like a queen to me too, but the photos are bad, and I dislike being wrong if I say both...

Nah. it looks queenish, and your well on your way to a nest, time to play the waiting game (Im bad at it too)


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## SandDeku (May 17, 2011)

Malhavoc's said:


> it looks like a queen to me too, but the photos are bad, and I dislike being wrong if I say both...
> 
> Nah. it looks queenish, and your well on your way to a nest, time to play the waiting game (Im bad at it too)


Ill go out to look for more queen ants later as well. Though it says that they like to live in wood. Can I still use a plaster? and maybe get some decomposting logs(the one that turn into fiber/soil) or use coco husk? Would this help them cope when I put them in the plaster?

My pics are bad cause its a crappy cellphone of my mom.

wondering if I can keep two queens in one colony. lol prolly not but be fun if I could

---------- Post added at 01:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:42 AM ----------

I should be able to find some tommorrow. It rained yesterday and today. So they should be around somewhere. If not Ill just dig up that nest I saw--- only as a last result. Though I notice that the nest has migrated over the course of 2-3years. From under the stepping stones(there's 3 stones they migrated from all three of them then to under a large brick near my door) so ill take em out. cause either way they're going to be killed by my dad. XD


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## Malhavoc's (May 17, 2011)

there is an ant species they refer to as the 'super hive' where they will co habitate several queens and htier brood together without issue no matter where they are collected, this species I do not think you would be so lucky, eventualy one queens brood will prove stronger then the other kill the other queen and enslave her young. 

 Carpenter ants do eat rotting/dry rot wood yes, however, they should be happy enough in a plaster formicarium you make as long as humidity is kept where they like it.  If you are worried about both of them getting massive, you want wait for one to create its first worker and release the other, or simply keep the other cooler to slow their growth rate as I said.

 Also you asked earlier about young Foundress and their mates being produce I believe no one has managed to get them to produce reproductive offspring in captivity, I could be mistaken.

 I think in order to match the dietary needs and go into further detail we would need to identify the exact species of ant, which would requre better photos, but so far your doing well, like I said its just a waiting game.


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## SandDeku (May 17, 2011)

Malhavoc's said:


> there is an ant species they refer to as the 'super hive' where they will co habitate several queens and htier brood together without issue no matter where they are collected, this species I do not think you would be so lucky, eventualy one queens brood will prove stronger then the other kill the other queen and enslave her young.
> 
> Carpenter ants do eat rotting/dry rot wood yes, however, they should be happy enough in a plaster formicarium you make as long as humidity is kept where they like it.  If you are worried about both of them getting massive, you want wait for one to create its first worker and release the other, or simply keep the other cooler to slow their growth rate as I said.
> 
> ...


I guess. Its just stressfull I check the vials 2-3 times a day for mould or whatever. Im seeing what I think is ant poo. It's green so yeah lol and the size of a dot.


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## 1Lord Of Ants1 (Jun 11, 2011)

Malhavoc's said:


> there is an ant species they refer to as the 'super hive' where they will co habitate several queens and htier brood together without issue no matter where they are collected, this species I do not think you would be so lucky, eventualy one queens brood will prove stronger then the other kill the other queen and enslave her young.
> 
> *Carpenter ants do eat rotting/dry rot wood yes*, however, they should be happy enough in a plaster formicarium you make as long as humidity is kept where they like it.  If you are worried about both of them getting massive, you want wait for one to create its first worker and release the other, or simply keep the other cooler to slow their growth rate as I said.
> 
> ...


Carpenter ants (Camponotus) DO NOT eat wood, they only nest in it. In fact, only half of the entire "carpenter ant" genus nests in soil rather than wood. It is obvious in the pictures that that is in fact a Camponotus queen. What species it may be is hard to tell with the poor pictures. The dietary needs of Camponotus are, like most ants, simple. Honey/sugar water, and protein for the larvae in the form of small insects. (Flies, roaches, crickets, mosquitoes, etc.) As far as producing reproductives in captivity, it WILL happen if you raise a colony long enough. Getting them to mate, though, is just about impossible since most ant species need perfect conditions, sufficient pheromones, and access to lots of air. Some pest/invasive species (Like the Pheidole megacephala I raise) mates and reproduces in the nest/captivity.


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## Malhavoc's (Jun 12, 2011)

1Lord Of Ants1 said:


> Carpenter ants (Camponotus) DO NOT eat wood, they only nest in it. In fact, only half of the entire "carpenter ant" genus nests in soil rather than wood. It is obvious in the pictures that that is in fact a Camponotus queen. What species it may be is hard to tell with the poor pictures. The dietary needs of Camponotus are, like most ants, simple. Honey/sugar water, and protein for the larvae in the form of small insects. (Flies, roaches, crickets, mosquitoes, etc.) As far as producing reproductives in captivity, it WILL happen if you raise a colony long enough. Getting them to mate, though, is just about impossible since most ant species need perfect conditions, sufficient pheromones, and access to lots of air. Some pest/invasive species (Like the Pheidole megacephala I raise) mates and reproduces in the nest/captivity.


Thanks for the correction, I did actualy read about carpenter ants not eating wood, and only a few species living in it, I managed to collect a few foundresses of my own and was quite amused to watch one of them demolish a paper towel I use for hydration to make a nest out of (using the rechewed material to place about it and occlude itself from observation) I was also suprised to read it can take as long as 6 days for a worker to go from egg-  adult


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