How to get ants out

[SanctumPrime]

Sooo... I have recently purchased 2 second hand Little Tikes play sets. A piece in each of the sets appear to be housing a colony of ants. One has carpenter ants, the other pavement ants. I'm pretty sure there's a queen in each because I can look inside and see them carrying brood around. Any thoughts on how to get these colonies to move out into formucariums without destroying the play set piece?

[AntsLuxembourg]

Hey,

Sadly I got no idea what those sets look like. If they are fully encased without a connector or opening then there isn't much choice. Maybe put a picture in here of your colony. You can use imgur.com to put your picture up for show.

[RuinedDrone]

Water or dryness will often get a colony moving, just need to make the enviroment not ideal (but not sever enough to harm them( and provide close by a better enviroment and given time they will move.

Making sure them move in to the formucariums and not jsut disapear is the tricky part.

you have two choices, if you really want to keep them then physicaly moving them or placing the formucarium / play set in such a way they can only move in to it.

Simple leave the play set out side where the sunlight can get to the colony and insure it does not get damp / wet and they will soon find there own way out and to a new house.

[SanctumPrime]

Below is what I've done so far. I took the piece they are in off and put it in a 5 gallon bucket. Then covered the top of the piece and bucket with patroleum jelly as a barrier with some fruit and crackers for temporary food and a water test tube. I also have a second bucket on top to help keep them contained. They seem reasonably happy? It's day two and I see more walking around than I have previously.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YMkYF7RFw8NSpDdL8G8ZkNYV4sIijYho/view?usp=drivesdk

I have to admit, I was a little unprepared. I've been looking for a newly mated queen to start from scratch which would give me time to buy and set things up slowly. But then a full colony just fell into my lap in a very inconvenient manor, lol.

Any thoughts are appreciated!

[AntsLuxembourg]

Grab yourself some baby powder and rubbing alcohol (for wounds). Mix the baby powder with the alcohol by adding more and more powder until you get a paste. Apply it to the surface / area you want to create a barrier against escapees.