Need help in identifying if its a queen ant

[art2rugrace]

Thanks Jonathan! I will need to give my lil daughter a heads up that its hard to raise an odontomachus queen to a colony. Just so not to frustrate her.

For the feeding should i start feeding her even if she hasnt had larvae yet? Every 2-3 days so should i feed her honey then next 2 days mealworm? Is that a good plan?

[art2rugrace]

I feed her some honey yesterday and she immediately went to it. I can still see some honey this am. Should i just leave it for her to eat. Or take it out and bring it back after 2 days? Haha.. Sorry i've so many questions. Will still need to look for some meal worms or maybe termites but dont know where to find these near our place..

[GriffinAnt]

you can order the food you want but dont feed her live food until she has about 50 workers. you need kill food urself or freeze a meal worm then chop it up in little bits for her.also you can get protein jelly which is very good. if you serve food and honey etc do so on a little peice of tin foil it stops the tube getting sticky and mouldy and very easy to pull out with twessers to replace. good luck and Ant love forever

[jonathan21700]

Odontomachus are predatory ants and eat mostly insects in the wild.
She needs protein to lay eggs so feed her only with insects and from time to time you can add a small drop of sugarwater.

[art2rugrace]

I've been feeding her with mealworms for the past week. And then we found another one. But we're not sure if it is another queen ant or a worker ant, since she doesn't have wings. And seems more agile than the first. Would be of great help to identify her. Am i feeding her correctly?:) the 2nd one is the lower and smaller test tube. thanks again!!

[GriffinAnt]

looks fine to me , i see u using tin foil as i surgested. coolies

[jonathan21700]

The one without wings is a worker.

[art2rugrace]

Thanks for that great advice griffin! It made it so much easier..

So sad to confirm my observation that its a worker ant. Now, i dont know if i should set him free.. (Getting attached?) can i eventually put them together later on? Or set him free is the best choice? I do like to see how they jump out from a sand pit. I saw them on you tube. But not sure if there's a safe way to do it and then show it to my lil one. any would be great!

[WillWithAnts]

Thanks for that great advice griffin! It made it so much easier..

So sad to confirm my observation that its a worker ant. Now, i dont know if i should set him free.. (Getting attached?) can i eventually put them together later on? Or set him free is the best choice? I do like to see how they jump out from a sand pit. I saw them on you tube. But not sure if there's a safe way to do it and then show it to my lil one. any would be great!

You cannot put them together they will fight!

[idahoantgirl]

Good day AntsCanada!! I have a little girl and do want to raise her up in exploring the natural world more than playing video games and watching TV. So came across AntsCanada and watched if not all, almost all the videos tutorial. But its hard for us to find a queen ant and we've been looking with eyes wide open around our place, streets, gardens, etc. ever since last year. But we've failed lots of times and went home empty handed, until the other day. Or maybe not. I'm not sure because i'm not sure if we got a queen or a male ant or if its a queen but not yet fertilize? or worse it might not be an ant!! I'm really not sure. Hope you guys could take some time to look and comment. Will greatly appreciate it!

Woah, Dude! I've always wanted a trap jaw! Congratz!