Argentine Ants, how to collect

[Cal113]

Hi, I was wondering what the best way to catch an Argentine ant queen was. I know they live around my area, but I don't know how to go about catching them. It seems they don't have nuptial flights so I couldn't catch them then and I have never seen a queen just walking along the surface.. :/

Please help, and thanks in advance.

[idahoantgirl]

Hi, I was wondering what the best way to catch an Argentine ant queen was. I know they live around my area, but I don't know how to go about catching them. It seems they don't have nuptial flights so I couldn't catch them then and I have never seen a queen just walking along the surface.. :/

Please help, and thanks in advance.

Just keep looking. Sorry I know that isn't very helpful, but it's true.

[plantpeddler]

fin somewhere they are common and start flipping things over old boards stumps anything they can get under anything i have found nests with 3 or 4 queens in a old newspaper use a jar with two tubes going thru the lid one to the bottom and one just inside the lid and suck them up like a vaccum make shure to suck on the hose just in the lid and suck them up with the other one

[AntsCalifornia]

Hi, I was wondering what the best way to catch an Argentine ant queen was. I know they live around my area, but I don't know how to go about catching them. It seems they don't have nuptial flights so I couldn't catch them then and I have never seen a queen just walking along the surface.. :/

Please help, and thanks in advance.

It is VERY easy to catch a queen or multiple queens from a single nest. Try flipping over rocks until you can see where they house brood. once you see the brood start looking for slightly larger ants.. Argentine ants are monomorphic so all the larger ants are ALL QUEENS ....
They can have over 100 queens per nest. You have to be quick because as soon as they are exposed to sunlight they hide away.. Plus, you can do this anytime of the year.. lastly, you can add wiled Argentine ants, brood and queens to your colony to make it as big as you want.. They are amazingly accepting to their species even if they were captured from different countries!!! (that fact blew my mind)
Good luck!
let me know how it works out

[antsRlife]

I would say only catch them if there are native to your area, argintine ants are the worlds largest super-colony meaning they are invasive to the intire world. If you want to keep them do not let them go out in the wild put them in the freezer as its the most human thing to do. Now i find the queens wondering around when theres a huge trail of them carring the brood ill find 7 or 8 of them usually.

[Cal113]

Hey guys, thanks for all the awesome feedback! I looked into it a little more and the reason behind my having so much trouble finding a queen was I believe the ants in my area are domymyrmex not linepithema(argentine ants). Thanks again for the help and useful feedback, hoping to catch a queen of these ants this summer.