Breeding ants

[Cal113]

Hi, I'm new to antfarming, but is it possible that if you have two queens from different colonies that when they produce alates that you can take those alates and mate them and then sell those possibly for the GAN project?

[jwatson16202]

It's unlikely that ants in captivity will receive environmental cues for nuptial flights

[jwatson16202]

Also ants mate in flight, how are you likely to contain them?

[idahoantgirl]

Short answer, no. Ants often fly a ways away from the nest to mate.

[Martialis]

Artificial insemination of ants is possible but requires precise tools to induce mating.

[Cal113]

What if you gave the normal environmental ques(as much as possible) like watering the formicarium to simulate rain? Then you closed the windows and isolated the ants to a room? I'd this a possibility?

[jwatson16202]

Still very unlikely
It's not just rainfall, there's temperature, humidity, some suggestions of pheromonal cues from neighbouring colonies