ANTSTORE World of Ants

[CapitalO]

Surprise, surprise, a colony of ants began a nuptial flight today! I believe its a camponotus sp. Anyway, I captured a winged queen and a winged male and put them in a container together (heres hoping...). I couldn't find any wingless queens unfortunately. A put down a piece of wood next to the nest hoping a wingless queen will find her way under there in the coming days. Any advice on how to increase my odds of capturing a queen would be VERY appreciated
I attached a few pics of the ants I snapped with my new camera, the first pic is of a major i believe, the second is of the winged queen and male:

[kashmir79]

they need to fly off somewhere. let them out in your room and keep an eye out for where they fly too hahaha

HAPPY NEW YEAR !

[SteveUK28]

a flight in ur flat.. darn ur lucky!

[CapitalO]

I should have clarified this wasn't a captive colony. This colony was living in a wooded area next to a fence post, I'm assuming the unseasonably warm weather caused the early flight. It was about 75F the day of the flight.

[JimmyVe]

It is in deed a early flight. Good luck with it and i hope they wile mate soon.

[MilitANT]

Some times winged ants will emerge from the nest but not for mating flights. They will just wander a bit - not too far from home - just to test things. If you didn't find any wingless Queens this could have been what you saw. Capturing winged Queens is a huge gamble and expecting them to mate is an even bigger gamble.

[CapitalO]

I think your right. The winged ants didn't seem to flying, they were just scaling the fence post. I know the chances of the ants mating are slim at best, but I thought I would take advantage of the opportunity. Ive put them both in the empty formicarium, so I'll post something if anything happens.

[MilitANT]

I would release them but by all means continue your experiment. There wouldn't be many new discoveries without risky experiments .