# Ant farm



## imalizard (Mar 6, 2010)

Hello,
Ive recently taken up the hobby of ants. Ive had to wait until they (the ants) took their nuptial flight. This is when new queen ants emerge from the nest to start their own colony. This is generally before or after rainstorms. I was lucky as the ants came from a hole next to my turtle enclosure.

Ive tried many ways to raise the queen but I never had any luck until I recently found a new method. This method involves getting a small test tube and fill 1/3 of the tube with water and tightly push a cotton ball in making sure no water leaks. This provides the queen with a constant supply of water and humidity. You then put the queen in and plug the other end with more cotton buds.

Its been a couple of months and Ive had good success.











I'll leave her in the tube until she has 20+ workers then I'll move her into the plaster nest.

I have 3 test tubes setup at the moment then at the end ill pick the best one and release the rest.

Daniel


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## cris (Mar 6, 2010)

Cool, im going to get into breeding ants one day, after im good at it i can keep some Thorny Devils


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## imalizard (Mar 6, 2010)

Now that's an idea cris! If you have 5 or so setups I'm sure you could feed them.


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## snake_boy (Mar 6, 2010)

where do u find the "queen" ants?


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## imalizard (Mar 7, 2010)

I found the 3 queens after they have gone on their nuptial flight.


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## ron_peters (Mar 7, 2010)

Hey, how do you tell the queens from the rest, why do u put her in a test tube etc, never known much about ants, quite curous tho


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## schizmz (Mar 7, 2010)

yes very interesting....fill us in.


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## Renagade (Mar 7, 2010)

That is so freakin awesome. I'm envious. Well done and good luck.


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## jinin (Mar 7, 2010)

Nice Man, Didn't know ants could be soo exciting.


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## AaronR (Mar 7, 2010)

how often and how many eggs will she usually lay


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## kupper (Mar 7, 2010)

ron_peters said:


> Hey, how do you tell the queens from the rest, why do u put her in a test tube etc, never known much about ants, quite curous tho



all winged ants are the future queens leaving the nest , so you know it will turn into a queen


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## SLACkra (Mar 7, 2010)

> all winged ants are the future queens leaving the nest , so you know it will turn into a queen



I was lead to believe that the ants with wings are either males or queens.


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## imalizard (Mar 8, 2010)

Thanks, you really need patience with ants. They are pretty simple to keep and if the colony gets too big ill just have to get a bigger nest haha .

Any one know an ID for this type? I thought I knew but turns out they weren't what I thought.


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## jordo (Mar 8, 2010)

Both males and females will develope wings and they go out on warm humid nights to mate in flight. The female will then find somewhere cozy to lay her eggs, no longer needing to fly she sheds her wings. The queen ants are significantly larger than male flying ants and easy to tell them apart once you know which is which.
Imalizard - I'd be guessing your ant is_ Iridomyrmex sp._ one of the black house ants. Remember the larvae need dead insects to feed on and the adults will be happy with some honey, nectar or sugary water.


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## imalizard (Mar 8, 2010)

Yep, thanks Jordo.
I was told you don't need to feed them while in the test tube?


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## jordo (Mar 8, 2010)

I'm not sure how it works in the early stages of the colony, I know the first few ants often come out stunted because there are no workers to help the queen collect food. I suspect some cannibalism might occur between larvae, or else the first few larvae might feed off eggs the queen lays but it wouldn't hurt to provide food for both the larvae and queen just incase.


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