Loooking for ants for ant farm .

[CreepyExotics]

anyone have or know where u can get good ants for a ant farm ?>? good ones like leaf cutters or something down that line ?? my budddies 13 year old son is really into them and we cant find them any where. if u can help we would really like it.. thanks ......johnny

 

[8 leg wonder]

I'm assuming leafcutters are pretty hard to come by, I would start with local ants and go from there.

 

[Wade]

If you want a reproducing colony with a queen, you'll have to collect it yourself. Exotic ants such as leafcutter ants are considered potentially serious pests by the USDA, so they require a very difficult-to-get permit (even museums have a hard time getting it). There are regulations against even sending native species accross state lines.

The company called Uncle Miltons that makes the plastic ant farms also sells ants, but not queens. I believe they're harvester ants.

The large, black carpenter ants might be a good choice if you can find them.

Wade

 

[Navaros]

Check this out, this is the best information I have ever found about keeping/collecting ants.

http://alpha.zimage.com/~ant/antfarm/read/AntsFAQ.txt

That should help you.