Ant Colony

[Jolt]

Does anyone of this board keep any type of ant colony? I have tried many times to get a good one going, but I never can seem to make it happen. Anyone have any info on finding fertile queen ants? or any info about were you can buy a fertile queen ant?

 

[PseudoDave]

Hi,

I've kept two of our native species, both of them Lasius species. One species was in one of the commercial ant farms you can buy, the other in a small aquarium. I simply waited for the annual flight and captured a queen of each species once they'd removed their wings and were walking around looking for places to hide. The queen ant will feed herself, many people believe they live on reserves but this is not exactly the case. They still need to eat and drink to an extent until the first workers hatch. The queen will tend the eggs until this time as well. For both setups, I use a simple mix of the finest plant/potting soil I can find, with some of the finest sand I can find, about 1 part sand to 3 parts soil is good. This is made damp to the point where no excess moisture can be sqeezed out, then added to the farm/aquarium. Pack it down quite firmly. To find a queen and some workers to buy, you can purchase a commercial ant farm/world and they normally come with coupons and catalogues for purchasing them, I'm in the uk so that's all i can suggest really. Do a google search for ant farms or queen ants and you may find other places to.

Good luck, i'm getting a colony started again this year as well, I have three different species in my garden to choose from so it'll be good catching this year

 

[Jesse]

I believe it is against USDA regulations to sell or transport any queenright colonies of any species across state lines, therefore you will not find any companies here in the states that sell colonies with queens, just workers. You may be able to find a hobbyist that sells queenright colonies, but I doubt it. Also, most species need a varied diet supplemented with honeydew from homopterans in order to thrive, except monomorium pharaonis, but trust me you wouldn't want to keep those!