Alates Everyhwere!

[Josh0388]

Hey guys, I have been keeping a single queen phiedole colony for about a year now. She has well over 300 workers at the moment. I tend to leave her nest portion of my set up along for the most part and check up on them every so often. I happened to check on her last night and I noticed a whole lot of alates ready for nuptial flights. Here's my question, should I keep their outworld near an open window so they may fly or would keeping them enclosed result in a new super colony? Thanks for the suggestions in advance.

[AntsRus]

Hi,
This curcumstance is covered in 'The ultimate ant keeping handbook' and it states
'There are circumstances where mating flights can sometimes happen within captivity, either inside the formicarium or in the basin.
Some ant keepers like to simply place their formicarium and basin outside and leave them uncovered (with petroleum jelly or baby
powder mixed with alcohol smothered in a thick band around the top to keep the rest of the colony in) during nuptial flight to allow the
alates to fly off as they would in the wild. If you do this, make sure the ant enclosure is still in a shaded and relatively protected place away
from direct sunlight and rain.'
Hope that's some help

[QJH2023]

it's only a year?!?