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Post by bulldogant on Apr 19, 2009 16:14:48 GMT
could anyone help me? I've found a carpenter ant queen and was going to try to start an ant colony, but know almost nothing about keeping ants. what kind of thing should I keep them in ? and did I need to get some workers from the same colony that I found the queen in or will she make more by herself?
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Post by Zarbi on Apr 19, 2009 22:17:22 GMT
I wouldn't advise getting workers, even from the same nest as you caught your queen unless you are certain she is from the same colony. What you can do is get plenty of brood (larvae & pupae), or perhaps try her with just maybe 2 workers from the nest, and if they accept her then you could get more  Try keeping her in a tank half full of damp peat, as this is a good subtitute for rotten wood; and keep us informed of her progress  Make sure what you keep her in is escape proof too. |
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Post by Akaant on Apr 19, 2009 22:39:27 GMT
Can you tell us more about the queen such as length, color and what state you live in?
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Post by bulldogant on Apr 20, 2009 21:12:48 GMT
I live in north Carolina and the queen is maybe an inch long and probably fairly new, because the workers were small.
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Post by bulldogant on Apr 20, 2009 21:15:07 GMT
oh and thanks for the help !!
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Post by bulldogant on Apr 20, 2009 21:57:16 GMT
no way, I just found a second queen!! it was in the container that I used to get some rotten wood from the place I found the first!!
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Post by bulldogant on Apr 20, 2009 22:10:27 GMT
could anyone tell me when she will lay eggs???  |
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Post by Akaant on Apr 20, 2009 23:39:41 GMT
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Post by formica on May 4, 2009 19:37:48 GMT
Hi if you want to keep ants here is what I would do
1.Get a testube and fill it with a small amount of water.
2.Put cotton wool over the water.
3.Put a tiny bit of dirt on the cotton wool(some ants need dirt for the larva to spin the cocoons to turn into ants)
4.put the queen ant in to the testube.
5.wrap paper around it or some opaque material around it to make it dark and keep the queen calm.
6.The queen should start to lay eggs and she will not feed till the firt ants appear.
7.If you want the colony to grow faster increase the protein supply which means give them lots of insects.the colony will actually grow faster if you give them more protein.
8.You should move them into a proper ant farm when you have around 40 workers.
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