Page 1 of 1

Breeding ants

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 6:16 pm
by 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?

Re: Breeding ants

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 7:05 pm
by jwatson16202
It's unlikely that ants in captivity will receive environmental cues for nuptial flights

Re: Breeding ants

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 7:05 pm
by jwatson16202
Also ants mate in flight, how are you likely to contain them?

Re: Breeding ants

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 9:44 pm
by idahoantgirl
Short answer, no. Ants often fly a ways away from the nest to mate.

Re: Breeding ants

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 10:06 pm
by Martialis
Artificial insemination of ants is possible but requires precise tools to induce mating.

Re: Breeding ants

Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2017 8:23 pm
by 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?

Re: Breeding ants

Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2017 9:20 pm
by jwatson16202
Still very unlikely
It's not just rainfall, there's temperature, humidity, some suggestions of pheromonal cues from neighbouring colonies