Question about queen no pictures

[Ravenous]

Hey guys im new here and to ant keeping

im going to try to make this short so someone reads it....

yesterday found a "queen" under a bucket i had outside and i put it in a container
before bed i decided to let it go cause i did not have a test tube(just let it go out my backdoor 20 feet from where i found it)
purchased test tubes today and went searching for more queens....with no luck i took a hand shovel a dug the ground where there was a crack where i found the "queen ant" where the bucket used to lie and in my first scoup i see the same ant emerge
now prepared i captured it in a proper test tube with cotton and water

.it has the big thorax im sure its the same ant also cannot seem to find any other ants which look similiar .....the ant ive found it is about the size of a pavement ant worker but looks different(bigger thorax).... i also noticed its not really bothered by me and doesnt take off like a worker ant does it just kind of slowly bumbles around .....without pictures i know no one can tell me if its a queen or not but i wanted to share my story of finding the same any 24 hours later after releasing it in a different spot

tldr i will hopefully fix my camera and show a picture of what i found

[Jadeninja9]

That's pretty cool

[tiger01vincent]

ye do so, fix the camera. BUT, you said you dugg in the dirst, and she emerged???? She might have started laying eggs there.... starting the foundation phase, so be sure to look closer if she had already layed some eggs, and if there are eggs (on the exact spot where you found her) give them to her.

PS: be sure the eggs are in the exact same spot, you dont want to give an other species to her

[tiger01vincent]

Also, the clearest sign of it being a queen is the wing scars, look for them as in this picture here:

Its a picture of an ant queen I caught, see the black "spot" on the side of her thorax? Thats a wing scar

[Ravenous]

Cant get camera on phone to work only front cam and the picture is so grainy it doesnt do any justice......as far as digging her up let me explain,,,,, when i first turned the bucket over the ant was just sitting in plain view mostly but i could see cracks in the ground as where i would hide if i was a ant(the whole area was safe untill i turned the bucket over) ...when i came back the next day the cracks in the soil were still exposed so i took the hand shovel dug maybe 1 inch deep and first turn over i saw movement .....before i dug the rest of the area up after catching the ant i did take a look but i couldnt see anything ....then again i have no idea if i would even be able to see them to begin with im sure they are tiny.....

i would keep trying with the front camera to snap a half decent picture but i imagine im stressing this poor ant out so much i want to leave it alone to do its thing ...

im a total newb but this ant does seem very slow and not concerned with much ....im used to ants of all sizes taking off at lightening speeds when touched or poked or spooked at all by humans ....

[tiger01vincent]

Okey, I think she is a semi chlusteral species since she was outside of her burrow the first time. Release her, buy test tubes, and find another one...... Thats what I would do.... And get a camera, borrow one from a friend, mom, dad, grandpap, and so on. Do so to take a picture of the next queen you catch, so we can identify it and give her and you a real start.

GOOD LUCK!

[Ravenous]

ok let the other ant go..... decided to try for carpenter ants since they are bigger and the ant i was originally looking for.

went to the forest first old dead tree opened the bark .....must of been 20 different queens with larva in a 1 foot by 1 foot space man i juumped as i opened the bark ,..... never did i expect that much ....anyways i found 1 queen in the "open" one the bark was peeled back with about 5 larva of different sizes managed to scoop all of it up together very neatly and returned the bark as best back the way i found it ........i obviously missed their flight as all the queens i was seeing looked nested.....now im trying to put her into a different tube with water but she doesnt want to leave the original test tube i caught her in .... ihave the new tube taped to the old one and stuffed in a toilet paper roll sealed on one end......its been about 2 hours and she has moved all her larva and eggs to the complete wrong side thats dry and in the light...... i would tilt the tube manually to move her over but there is a little bit of wood debree i dont want in the clean tube as i want to do this right......seeing as ive fuked up nature already and caught her probably 1 month to late......

the place where i found these ants is a carpenter ant gold mine ....first tree more ants than u could ever know what to do with.......if this queen doesnt work out i will wait till next year and i know where to look now its just time to find out when so i dont have to disturb nature at such a fragile time......as much as i tell myself its just a ant i cant help but feel a bit bad taking her from nature and shoving her in a tube for my personal enjoyment.....

anyways if your looking for carpenter ants in Vancouver area let me know but im sure u pros know the spots and times

[tiger01vincent]

Good job. And ye, i know. I also captured a queen already with 4 pupae...... HOWEVER! I would keep the 2 test tubes taped together, with one with no cover and the other one with cover. If she is still comfortable in the light part, let her be so. She can get water from the other tube so she will make it. Dont use any over lighting towards the tube you want her out of, its unneccesairy, this is because she moves into the darkness if she wants to, plus if you shine a light on one end, some of that light will end up brightening up the one cloaked in toilet rolls. Leave her on a bench, so that a bit of natural light comes to her, and she might move to the "clean" tube. Good luck!

<3

[Ravenous]

yeah she is stubborn man wont chance tubes and i worry that having the 2 taped together if the air is okay ?

secondly i dont have any scotch tape and had to use gorilla tape.....it says its not toxic and acid free blah blah but it does have more of an odour than scotch tape..... maybe this is why she wont move.....i mean she does go to the other side for water but she has placed her eggs as far away from the water and as close to the light as possible......regarding the other ant well i said i let it go right......i had eevery intention to let it go as i wrote that reply.....went to my room opened the drawer i had her in..... went to open the cotton and let her out and i noticed she was siting on looks like 2-5 eggs i mean it is a small ant.....and now i dont know wut to do ......im sure she is a formica species from the research and pictures i have been looking at /////now im trying to put her in a better test tube since i got some now and she doesnt wanna move into the dark either .......now i have 2 queen ants with larvae and eggs both wont chance test tubes so i can just put them back away in my drawer//////and i dont think the tape is a problem as the formica ant i have the old tube and new tube are pressure fit with no tape and a space for air .....still she wont budge......at the moment i have the ants on my kitchencounter with natural light commin on them(no sun) and the end of the test tube i want them in inside a paper towel roll ..its not pitch black but sure is much darker than the otherside.........

tldr i just want my ants to move to the right tube so i can put them away and stop bothering them .......going to resort to psychical means tomorrow night if nothing happens .....mosited q tip with some of the cotton pulled away to move the larvae i hear is best?