Nuptial Flights In My Kitchen, Waldorf MD

[vbrown1313]

Here is the background: So the last couple of years I've had no luck with the ladies. In exchange I let me son provide a bit of food and water in a covered container for the feral ants in our house. We live in a slightly raised rancher with a crawl space and I figured...hey at least it's ants right. He can watch them make a line and crawl in and out and the whole thing is pretty balanced...we don't step on them, give them room and resources when they need and they, in turn, don't get into the dog food and other items.

Well... a couple days ago I was washing out my coffee cup and I looked up at the window over the sink and there were 2 ants with wings! I was a bit surprised to say the least but I flew into action preparing two tubes and getting them inside. Then yesterday there was another and today 2 more. So clearly the colony we're feeding is thriving and putting out queens.

Here are my questions:

1) Are they even fertilized? Hubs says he saw "definitely more than one type of ant and many colonies of each" both under the house as well as all over our acre lot. But are they fertilized when they show up in the kitchen?

2) Should I let them out the window and try to find them outside after a bit of social time?

3) How long will this go one? I'm definitely going to be letting them out when I run out of tubes since I don't want them setting up in the house (they may not know the rules).

4) I'm guessing they come from under the house so should I store the tubes in a dark place outside or under the house (we have access from inside) so they can continue experiencing the same weather?


These are my first queens and I seem to have literally stumbled on them so I'm a little confused and totally green.

Thank you in advance for your thoughts.

[AntsDakota]

Here is the background: So the last couple of years I've had no luck with the ladies. In exchange I let me son provide a bit of food and water in a covered container for the feral ants in our house. We live in a slightly raised rancher with a crawl space and I figured...hey at least it's ants right. He can watch them make a line and crawl in and out and the whole thing is pretty balanced...we don't step on them, give them room and resources when they need and they, in turn, don't get into the dog food and other items.

Well... a couple days ago I was washing out my coffee cup and I looked up at the window over the sink and there were 2 ants with wings! I was a bit surprised to say the least but I flew into action preparing two tubes and getting them inside. Then yesterday there was another and today 2 more. So clearly the colony we're feeding is thriving and putting out queens.

Here are my questions:

1) Are they even fertilized? Hubs says he saw "definitely more than one type of ant and many colonies of each" both under the house as well as all over our acre lot. But are they fertilized when they show up in the kitchen?

2) Should I let them out the window and try to find them outside after a bit of social time?

3) How long will this go one? I'm definitely going to be letting them out when I run out of tubes since I don't want them setting up in the house (they may not know the rules).

4) I'm guessing they come from under the house so should I store the tubes in a dark place outside or under the house (we have access from inside) so they can continue experiencing the same weather?


These are my first queens and I seem to have literally stumbled on them so I'm a little confused and totally green.

Thank you in advance for your thoughts.

1. If they came from the outside, the chances of them being mated are just as high as any other queen you would find.

2. If you let them go, you will likely never see them again.

3.Nuptial flights usually last for only a few hours.

4. It really doesn’t matter where you store them, as long as they are in darkness.

[vbrown1313]

Thank you so much!

As per something I saw on another page they show up within 24-48 hours of rain. I've got a few in test tubes in a drawer so I'm excited to see what happens.

I agree about letting them out and never seeing them again.

Thank you for your thoughts, I appreciate it. I know it's a bit unusual.