Capturing a colony?

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EarthStudent
Posts: 42
Joined: Thu May 17, 2018 9:48 pm
Location: Eastern Iowa

Capturing a colony?

Post: # 36215Post EarthStudent
Mon May 21, 2018 10:32 pm

Hello everyone. I'm new to the forum. I know capturing colonies is not an easy task or a recommended one for several reasons. I'm not an impatient person unwilling to wait to catch a delate queen, I'm always on the look out for those queens.

The reason for bring up this topic is that I have a good friend that is a landscaper. He tells me that he digs up ant colonies quite often. He is even requested to spray the colonies in some cases. He said that almost every single railroad tie he removes is rotted and full of ants. I asked him to let me know the next time he is on a job that involves removing rotted wood and that he felt was a good time for me to poke around while they are tearing things apart. And he called me a couple days later and I went out to see what I could see.

I was able to start breaking the wood apart as carefully as possible with a small pry bar before the skid loader demolished everything. I was able to captured two Camponotus queens and a Formica queen I think. I was able to catch several of the Formica workers as well. It seems like the Camponotus colonies where pretty new as there was not many workers I could see and I found no majors. I got some major weird looks from some of the other landscapers. My friend owns the landscaping company and he knows me well and knows this is not weird for me. :roll:

I have some college level biology and I'm not new to keeping all types of critters however I'm new to ants. Like many of you, I have a new found fascination with ants and want to learn it all :shock: I have been reading and researching but I'm still way way way down on that learning curve and still full of questions. AntsCanada has been a fantastic source of info and entertainment. :lol:

So now that I have collected (saved :? ) these queens, how shall I proceed? I really was not expecting to catch much but just one trip with a landscaper, I now have three queens and one of which has a small colony. I found the queens two days ago. I put them all into test tube setups (individual ;) ) as soon as I got home the day I found them. I was able to collect 50+ Formica workers into a bucket. One of the Camponotus queens has a single worker (I only got one) that I have with her and she has laid a few eggs. But the Formica queen has laid lots of eggs already (100 give or take) and I did put one worker in with her. The other Camponotus queen is alone and has done nothing at this point.

So, I'm wondering if and how much I should feed each queen? The two Camponotus queens I planned to leave in the test tubes until they produce more workers. I plan to move the Formica workers (about 50-70) into a nest that should fit all of the colony I was able to collect and then connect the queens test tube up and let her join back with her workers. Is that the correct plan? I would assume some sugary food and a little protein would be the foods of choice? I would assume these are not delate queens from this year so I would assume they need to be feed? I have a dubia roach colony and honey?

Any suggestions would be appreciated? Is collecting queens in this way a bad thing? I felt as though they would have had a high chance of being killed by the skid loader tearing that stuff apart and moving it around. I could have lots of opportunities to catch queens and large portions of colonies in this way. Should I? I suppose a queen could be inside of a chunk of wood that does not get crushed and survive to restart her colony? Is it wrong to have her make that new colony at my house? The damage to the nest was inevitable though. Did I save them?

PTasker15
Posts: 309
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2017 9:41 am
Location: Houston,TX

Re: Capturing a colony?

Post: # 36235Post PTasker15
Tue May 22, 2018 1:41 pm

Just collect workers and Brood,3Also.
Keeping ants for 6 years now.

Current Species: Camponotus pennsylvanicus, Camponotus decipiens,Camponotus snellingi Solenopsis invicta,Nylanderia sp,Brachmyrmex patagonicus,Pheidole obscurothorax,Pheidole moerens,Pachycondyla harpax

AntDudeUSA
Posts: 87
Joined: Sat May 12, 2018 5:33 pm
Location: North Carolina

Re: Capturing a colony?

Post: # 36237Post AntDudeUSA
Tue May 22, 2018 3:13 pm

Wow your pretty lucky to have got them . in a way you just saved their lives however capturing queens in this manner is risky because it can kill them due to stress, the campo queens and one worker I would give some honey and a cricket leg same to the formica except you may have to give them more food . I would recommend just putting them into a dark space and letting them calm down as if not they may die from stress. Good luck on your new colonies if you want to rasie a colony from a single queen you can try and look for some queens as right now camponotus species are flying.

good luck man
-Antdude
Keeper of
x1 Camponotus Penslyvanicus
x1 Formica Subscerica
x1 Tetramorium Caespitum
x1 Solenopsis Invicta
x1 Pheidole sp
x1 Dorymyrmex Bureni

EarthStudent
Posts: 42
Joined: Thu May 17, 2018 9:48 pm
Location: Eastern Iowa

Re: Capturing a colony?

Post: # 36238Post EarthStudent
Tue May 22, 2018 4:06 pm

PTasker15 wrote:
Tue May 22, 2018 1:41 pm
Just collect workers and Brood,3Also.
Not sure what your trying to say?


AntDudeUSA wrote:
Tue May 22, 2018 3:13 pm
Wow your pretty lucky to have got them . in a way you just saved their lives however capturing queens in this manner is risky because it can kill them due to stress, the campo queens and one worker I would give some honey and a cricket leg same to the formica except you may have to give them more food . I would recommend just putting them into a dark space and letting them calm down as if not they may die from stress. Good luck on your new colonies if you want to rasie a colony from a single queen you can try and look for some queens as right now camponotus species are flying.

good luck man
-Antdude
Thanks, I have been looking for new queens but no luck yet where I am.

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antnest8
Posts: 1438
Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2018 2:11 pm
Location: Detroit, MI

Re: Capturing a colony?

Post: # 36239Post antnest8
Tue May 22, 2018 5:06 pm

yes you did save and them the dubia roaches should be fine. about the workers though. did you catch them with the colony or in another place. The queens and workers will not mix if they are from a different colonies, but if they are positively in the same colony you can proceed to mix them. I would feed them lots of protein. Also expect a slow die off until the brood develops

Welcome to ant keeping :)
Some of My Informative Sheets
https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=19099
Includes :
  • Ant Care Sheets
    Queen Hunting
    How To Identify Ants
Goal is to become #2 poster on the forum

PTasker15
Posts: 309
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2017 9:41 am
Location: Houston,TX

Re: Capturing a colony?

Post: # 36263Post PTasker15
Wed May 23, 2018 9:51 am

If You Capture A Queen From A Colony,Collect Workers And Brood From That Colony Too.
Keeping ants for 6 years now.

Current Species: Camponotus pennsylvanicus, Camponotus decipiens,Camponotus snellingi Solenopsis invicta,Nylanderia sp,Brachmyrmex patagonicus,Pheidole obscurothorax,Pheidole moerens,Pachycondyla harpax

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AntNoobster
Posts: 83
Joined: Wed Mar 28, 2018 3:17 am
Location: Perth, AUS

Re: Capturing a colony?

Post: # 36291Post AntNoobster
Thu May 24, 2018 4:52 am

i collected a queen from a colony but i took workers but no brood will the queen still lay eggs???
"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." Proverbs 6:6-8


Founding:
8x Iridomyrmex sp.
1x Pheidole sp.

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antnest8
Posts: 1438
Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2018 2:11 pm
Location: Detroit, MI

Re: Capturing a colony?

Post: # 36293Post antnest8
Thu May 24, 2018 5:46 am

of coarse she will lay eggs but you will need to feed the colony lots of protein and sugar. Also like i said before expect a slow die off because lots of the workers are old and might be approaching the end of their lifespan
Some of My Informative Sheets
https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=19099
Includes :
  • Ant Care Sheets
    Queen Hunting
    How To Identify Ants
Goal is to become #2 poster on the forum

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