ANTSTORE World of Ants

[ripadiddy19]

Hi all, i'm new to the forums so first off i'll introduce myself... i'm ryan... good enough for now.

Anyways so me and my buddy were smokin a cig after a long day of doin yard work and playin some pick up football. One of us happened to look down and see a HUGE ant. neither of us had seen one this big before so we caught it and i put it in a container. We both guessed its a queen ant and after readin up a little bit on all this im 99.9% sure its a queen ant. BUT i dont know what kind of ant it is besides... black. i live in michigan and it was just in my garden in the front.

ANYWAYS so i decided to keep it and i filled a lemonade/kool-aid container up with dirt/soil from the garden i found it in. put water in it and some sugar and put the queen in. Now.. do i need to find workers for her to dig the nest? or does she do that? and whats a good ant farm container/keeper/thinger (sorry i haven't picked up on the lingo yet). and how long before she starts digging a nest (if she does and not workers) and before she starts layin eggs?

any help/suggestions are very welcome THANKS!

[Waldläuferin]

If it is a queen, she will dig alone.
Better you give her a test tube. You fill it 1/3 with water and block the water with Cotton wool. She will have the best home in this test tube. She likes it dark (like under dirt).
If you don't know which species it is, you can try to feed her with a drip honey and a small fly. But you have to remove it after soem days, it can mould.
Maybe you can make a photo?

[ripadiddy19]

you i can take a photo i'll try to get a good one. Thanks for the help. if i dont have a test tube at my side what should i use? and how long does she stay in the test tube for?

[ripadiddy19]

Ok heres a pic i apologize ahead of time for the bad quality. I dont have a good camera on me so i had to use my cell phone. It looks small but i can see where the wings were attached and then torn off.

[Waldläuferin]

You can buy a test tube in a pharmacy. She can stay there for a long time until the winter. Maybe you give her and her first worker a little Formicarium (Terrarium) to go around and pick up food. But for the first time a test tube is enough until the first worker are there.

Good luck!

[ripadiddy19]

holy shit! from summer till winter!? wow thats a long time. ok well thanks a lot for the help!

[Waldläuferin]

You need patience for ants. If it is nothing for you give the queen back to the nature, where you found her.

[ripadiddy19]

no i have patience and im interested in her and ants and nature in general. i'm definitly an outdoorsy kinda guy i've always loved playin in rivers and those little pools with all the sea life in them out on the east/west coasts. i dunno theres just somethin about nature that facinates me. i'm definitly gonna keep her and try to start up a colony i just didnt expect her to take a month to lay an egg. But i guess that'll just make it even more exciting when she does. Thanks for the help/tips again!

[Waldläuferin]

No problem.

By the way there are many informations in the "Questions for beginners". Please read so much you can, so your ants will have a good home.

[ripadiddy19]

ok will do

[NuEM]

To help you we need to know what species your ant is, but from your picture one can barely tell if this is an ant at all.

[mpir]

Hi,

My advice would also be to put it in a tube with some cotton and water. You can see how to make it on the picture below. As long there is water behind the cotton she will be ok.
I would not sugest to try to find some workers for her. From my own experience I can tell you that the queen will probably kill the worker as she will feel threat from it. It is best that she raizes her own. She will have more chanse for success if she not disturbed much and not in stress from all sorts of vibrations. It is imporant that you try to leave it as much alone as possible.
If she feels ok in the tube in few days she will lay eggs... in few weeks this eggs will turn into larva and fortnight after you will have coocons. Then another few weeks and ... voila... first worker. From there it will go fast.
But like people already told you. It takes lots of time and whole lot of patience.

Good luck and keep us informed

[Skippy]

What is size of that ant Ryan? Its body is like Camponotus ,but I dont know ... you can try to make small colony

Greetings

Skippy

[Kale^^]

What is size of that ant Ryan? Its body is like Camponotus ,but I dont know ... you can try to make small colony

Greetings

Skippy

I tought of some camponotus too.. And if it's large one, it's most probably Camponotus spec.

[Skippy]

Yes ,if you see the bigger version of picture ,you can see big black ant ,when is it 16-17mm of size , I think is my favourite Camponotus vagus

@mpir - nice picture

Skippy