Starting an Ant Colony

[OntarioNative]

So Im interested in maybe starting an ant colony. Not one of the ones with 6 worker ants in the little plastic kit. Im talkin a full colony with a queen and everything. I dont know much about ants, but the idea just came to me. Does anyone know how to get a colony of ants going that actually can expand in captivity?

Cheers,
Alex

 

[Ariel]

See, I want to do this to, but its a lot harder than I thought it would be simply because of the fact that it's like...illigeal to ship a queen or something, so you pretty much have to find and catch one yourself, so good luck. as for your question, unfortunately, I have no idea, hopefully someone else will beable to anwser that.

 

[OntarioNative]

Yeah its very illegal to ship ant queens. Your only allowed to ship worker class and then ONLY if you have a permit to do so. I know there are certain times of the year where you CAN find young ant queens. Late summer or early spring. Im doing some research on it right now. Gotta find out what they look like hahaha. I just think it would be cool to own a swarm of ants. I think they would do well in a large plastic tub with vaseline on the sides. Got all winter to plan I suppose:?

Alex

 

[Vulgaris]

Its not too hard to go out at night and search for queens. Once you find a queen, you can keep her in a simple test tube setup with water and cotton, or there are other methods that can be used.

She will start laying eggs and raise her first brood. Then you make a larger nest for them as the colony expands. Here is an image of my Camponotus pennsylvanicus colony from last year. They now have around 50 workers. the queen is visible in the photo

 

[OntarioNative]

Oh wow! Cool cool. Thanks for the quick reply! I did some reading and I think Ill be able to find a queen in the summer. Whats the best method to keep them? If you have the time to indulge me that is

Alex

 

[Sarcastro]

Your best bet is to find a queen of a local species..some say its hard but it's not that hard.you'll have your best luck at night..i have 3 small colony's at the moment.and i found my queens during there mating flight ..i took a white sheet attached 2 corners to my fence and stretched it out at a diagonal and tacked it to the ground..from there i put a flood light underneath and pointed it at the sheet this will attract the males and female ants as well as all sorts of other insects. the queens will be much larger than males.

Queens are very illegal to ship or even transport anywhere. I was fined a very very large amount when it was discovered(thanks to a very bitter girlfriend) I had a small breeding colony of Solenopsis invicta (red fire ant) that I brought with me when I moved from New Mexico.

 

[OntarioNative]

Very cool, thanks Sarcastro. I didnt expect anyone to reply to my topic, let alone so quickly! I cant wait till summer! Only 4 more months hahaha. Whats the best time of year to do the sheet method? I seem to see alot of the winged ants during late summer.

Alex

 

[OntarioNative]

Oh and also, sarcastro and vulgaris, could you post pics of your setups?

 

[Sarcastro]

Oh and also, sarcastro and vulgaris, could you post pics of your setups?

As soon as my brother returns from vacation with my camera. I will definitely take a few pics. I've had quite a few other people ask for pics as well.I have 2 different set ups...a standard vertical and a table-top setup which is what most want to see.

 

[OntarioNative]

As soon as my brother returns from vacation with my camera. I will definitely take a few pics. I've had quite a few other people ask for pics as well.I have 2 different set ups...a standard vertical and a table-top setup which is what most want to see.

Very cool. Thanks a lot.

Alex

 

[myrmecophile]

sarcastro
Cant say I am very sympathetic towards you getting fined. Transporting such an invasive species is very irresponsible.

 

[dtknow]

Hey myrmechophile what did you feed your Camponotus colony?

I collected 2 queens+colonies of a species common in the Sierra Nevada's...however though they laid eggs and the eggs hatched, the workers refused everything I gave them save for honey/sugar...they wanted nothing to do with mealworms, crickets etc.

This summer I came across a founding queen with several pupae but after what happened last time I tried I decided to leave her alone. They are very abundant in the property though.

 

[Vulgaris]

Here is a photo of a typical "test tube" that I used. Although it should be noted that I made this one the wrong way; there should be a reservoir of water in the very end, followed by a wad of cotton (that stops the water from leaking into the rest of the tube). That way the queen has a constant source of water.

And here is a photo of my Camponotus americanus "clusteral cell". There is a moist cotton ball in the back, and the ants dragged in the wood chips on their on accord. There is a small hole in the top of the container where i can squeeze in an eye dropper to water the cotton

 

[koolkid98]

I have a queen and brood just woke her up from hibernation a few weeks ago all seems well.I have her in a small jar with some moist papertowel.She has a lot of eggs so i hope all goes well.

 

[OntarioNative]

Cool cool. Cant wait to start this.

 

[Sarcastro]

sarcastro
Cant say I am very sympathetic towards you getting fined. Transporting such an invasive species is very irresponsible.

I did it because I was studying them at the time.and it's only irresponsible if you allow you actions to be..I had the colony for 6 years without one incident the only thing irresponsible on my part was allowing my ex to know it was a bad thing that I had them,but you know what.. the knowledge I gained from having them made it worth it.A wise man once said and I'm just paraphrasing.

"A thirst for knowledge, powered by curiosity can bring about the destruction, or the salvation of mankind" : Nikola Tesla

 

[OntarioNative]

sarcastro
Cant say I am very sympathetic towards you getting fined. Transporting such an invasive species is very irresponsible.

Contribute something useful or don't contribute at all.

 

[koolkid98]

Hey OntarioNative i have a quick question that can change the way you keep ants.Do you wish to see your whole colony?If so i think the claustral cell or a testtube setup is the best if not[which i doubht you wouldn't wanna see them] you can add them into a dirt setup it's up to you i like the whole see the queen and colony thing though.

 

[dtknow]

Sarcastro: Sorry to go OT but one responsible thing could have been to get a USDA permit and containment facility if you really were studying them.

Some of the worst insect pests were released by science experiments gone bad(gypsy moths). Africanized honey bees....etc.

 

[Inguan]

i wanna to start this kinda stuff, how can i found pictures of queen