Fire Ants

Discussions about the care and keeping of ants

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fatkidinside7

Fire Ants

Post: # 8060Post fatkidinside7
Thu Jun 30, 2016 8:11 am

Hi guys. So I just caught around 8 queens from this fire ant colony in my backyard. (They were all around a few feet from the colony itself so I am hoping they will all lay eggs. It came as a surprise cause I didn't anticipate the queen alates would be flying already.)

I am going to put some together inside some test tube setups but before that, I would love if you guys have any advice on how many should be inside per test tube cause from what I know they are polygynous. And any other tips in handling these ants would be helpful. :D

Also, I found one queen which looked different than the other queens I caught. This is not included in those 8 queens I also caught. Its head was smaller than those 8 so I thought she was different. I'm sorry I don't have pictures to show yet cause my phone, which I take the pictures on, is still charging. Hahaha. But I'll definitely post the photos once it fully charges. Thanks in advance. I look forward to your intelligent inputs! :D

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idahoantgirl
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Re: Fire Ants

Post: # 8066Post idahoantgirl
Thu Jun 30, 2016 9:05 am

just to clarify, when you say handling the ants you don't mean like holding and petting them. do you? because here is some intelligent input: don't do it! lol Yeah I know you probably meant something else. Oh, and other than that I don't have any intelligent input on your questions. :lol:
Proverbs 6:6-8

Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.

Keeping Tetramorium immigrans, Tapinoma Sessile

PielikeDie

Re: Fire Ants

Post: # 8069Post PielikeDie
Thu Jun 30, 2016 9:25 am

[quote="fatkidinside7"]Hi guys. So I just caught around 8 queens from this fire ant colony in my backyard. (They were all around a few feet from the colony itself so I am hoping they will all lay eggs. It came as a surprise cause
Well if you have 8Ants you should try putting 4 together..then 2...then 2 solo queens.That way you have a backup.But considering you caught them straight outta their nest i doubt they have mated yet.As mikey said...wait for alates to be a few meters away from the colony..maybe 1 or 2 streets down.
Hope this was helpful☺

fatkidinside7

Re: Fire Ants

Post: # 8070Post fatkidinside7
Thu Jun 30, 2016 9:29 am

idahoantgirl wrote:just to clarify, when you say handling the ants you don't mean like holding and petting them. do you? because here is some intelligent input: don't do it! lol Yeah I know you probably meant something else. Oh, and other than that I don't have any intelligent input on your questions. :lol:

Hahaha. Its okay. :D Don't worry. I know how to handle them properly and cleanly. :D

fatkidinside7

Re: Fire Ants

Post: # 8071Post fatkidinside7
Thu Jun 30, 2016 9:35 am

PielikeDie wrote:
fatkidinside7 wrote:Hi guys. So I just caught around 8 queens from this fire ant colony in my backyard. (They were all around a few feet from the colony itself so I am hoping they will all lay eggs. It came as a surprise cause
Well if you have 8Ants you should try putting 4 together..then 2...then 2 solo queens.That way you have a backup.But considering you caught them straight outta their nest i doubt they have mated yet.As mikey said...wait for alates to be a few meters away from the colony..maybe 1 or 2 streets down.
Hope this was helpful☺

Ohh okay. I caught some farther away from the nest. Only around 3 were caught around 4 feet from the nest and then the rest were farther. (Two of them was actually inside my house already. Hahaha. :D

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MadVampy
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Re: Fire Ants

Post: # 8083Post MadVampy
Thu Jun 30, 2016 5:20 pm

Single queen per test tube. That's what I do with mine.
MadVampy

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Name is also Mike but please don't confuse me with Mikey Bustos, two different people. :lol:
Keeper of Solenopsis Ants. :twisted:

fatkidinside7

Re: Fire Ants

Post: # 8097Post fatkidinside7
Thu Jun 30, 2016 10:47 pm

MadVampy wrote:Single queen per test tube. That's what I do with mine.

But can you still put them together when I will transfer them into their formicarium in the future? :D

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MadVampy
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Re: Fire Ants

Post: # 8121Post MadVampy
Fri Jul 01, 2016 9:23 pm

fatkidinside7 wrote:
MadVampy wrote:Single queen per test tube. That's what I do with mine.

But can you still put them together when I will transfer them into their formicarium in the future? :D

Solenopsis are monogamous ants. Most of the time there is only one queen. Some times during founding there will be more than one but at some point the other ants in the colony will choose one and kill her and toss her in the garbage pile with the other ants that died of natural causes.
MadVampy

Head Forum Admin
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Name is also Mike but please don't confuse me with Mikey Bustos, two different people. :lol:
Keeper of Solenopsis Ants. :twisted:

Solenopsisace

Re: Fire Ants

Post: # 8129Post Solenopsisace
Sat Jul 02, 2016 6:49 am

I just watched 5 solenopsis Invicta at work yesterday after the lawn maintenance crew came through. They all wandered around every now and again bumping into each other on the sidewalk. 1 found a hole in the crack two more followed behind it and entered the same hole and then the other two like an hour later jumped in the same hole. My advice to you is to get a good size tupperware bowl put a few different cotton balls with water in there and hope for the best but expect the worst if you want them to be a poly colony. They will only be poly if they want to, you cannot force it. Don't cram them all in one test tube they will probably kill each other.

fatkidinside7

Re: Fire Ants

Post: # 8132Post fatkidinside7
Sat Jul 02, 2016 7:59 am

Okay okay. Thanks a lot for the advice! :D

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