Camponotus/Tapinoma Queen, I'm in big trouble.

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lunarsanctum
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2017 10:27 am
Location: Winnipeg

Camponotus/Tapinoma Queen, I'm in big trouble.

Post: # 46242Post lunarsanctum
Tue Jul 31, 2018 2:37 pm

So, my parents know of how much I love ants. While I was helping my dad shovel gravel, I came across the same queen twice. The second time though, I could notice how lost and how much she needed some help. I made a makeshift test tube type setup, and gave her a box for darkness in our barn which no one goes into.

The only problem is, My parent's dont want me to keep ants, I'm 18 this year and we even live on a farm but they're against the idea. Right now, I can keep care of her till she has her first workers, but if I don't find somewhere she can be that I can keep care of her still without my parents knowing or find someone else who can care for her. I will have to let her go with her workers in hope that she makes a home for herself quickly, since Autumn is creeping around the corner. She is a late flyer, she looks healthy and honestly I've fallen in love with her already.

Can I get some help? Suggestions and everything would be the best. Thank you.

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idahoantgirl
Posts: 1521
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2015 11:52 am
Location: Idaho, USA

Re: Camponotus/Tapinoma Queen, I'm in big trouble.

Post: # 46245Post idahoantgirl
Tue Jul 31, 2018 2:58 pm

lunarsanctum wrote:
Tue Jul 31, 2018 2:37 pm
So, my parents know of how much I love ants. While I was helping my dad shovel gravel, I came across the same queen twice. The second time though, I could notice how lost and how much she needed some help. I made a makeshift test tube type setup, and gave her a box for darkness in our barn which no one goes into.

The only problem is, My parent's dont want me to keep ants, I'm 18 this year and we even live on a farm but they're against the idea. Right now, I can keep care of her till she has her first workers, but if I don't find somewhere she can be that I can keep care of her still without my parents knowing or find someone else who can care for her. I will have to let her go with her workers in hope that she makes a home for herself quickly, since Autumn is creeping around the corner. She is a late flyer, she looks healthy and honestly I've fallen in love with her already.

Can I get some help? Suggestions and everything would be the best. Thank you.
You aren't going to like my suggestion, but you asked... Submit to your parents and keep a good relationship with them. That is far more important in the long run than keeping an ant right now. Especially since you may be moving out within the next few years, and then you can do whatever you want regarding ants. :)
Proverbs 6:6-8

Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.

Keeping Tetramorium immigrans, Tapinoma Sessile

Zayltek
Posts: 25
Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2018 12:05 pm
Location: Bolingbrook

Re: Camponotus/Tapinoma Queen, I'm in big trouble.

Post: # 47309Post Zayltek
Mon Aug 13, 2018 7:12 am

Another option is to contact local schools and see if they would be interested in having an ant farm (the proper non-gel kind). If you can get to and from the schools in question without screwing up your normal day to day schedule, you can also volunteer to help care for the colony.
If a school agrees, then you start conversations about space, formicarium and out world space, educational purposes/material, etc.
Might also try for a public library.

JoeHostile1
Posts: 409
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2018 6:51 am
Location: Canada
Contact:

Re: Camponotus/Tapinoma Queen, I'm in big trouble.

Post: # 48436Post JoeHostile1
Fri Aug 24, 2018 8:07 am

Your parents don’t want you to keep a Queen Ant because they imagine hundreds or thousands of tiny ants crawling around the house breeding and getting into their food. They also probably don’t realize that you can keep the colony in a test tube inside a container for over a year.

If you can explain to your parents that your queen is the only ant that lays eggs and none of her babies are able to reproduce by themselves. That it takes years for a colony to grow large. And that the workers won’t be crawling around the house looking for food because one they will be in an enclosure and two you feed them regularly so they have no reason to leave their enclosure for food.

Perhaps you can show them some test tube colonies from YouTube where they have a small set up that is clean and organized your parents will see it’s not such a big deal.
Keeping:
Tetramorium immigrans * Lasius Neoniger * Lasius Claviger * Messor Aciculatus * Myrmica Rubra * Camponotus Novaeboracensis * Camponotus Turkastanus * Pheidole Pallidula

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSfFtn6RegZ3F1NdS1g08NA

DontSquishTheAnt
Posts: 79
Joined: Wed Jun 20, 2018 1:00 pm
Location: Connecticut

Re: Camponotus/Tapinoma Queen, I'm in big trouble.

Post: # 48443Post DontSquishTheAnt
Fri Aug 24, 2018 10:20 am

I agree with idahoantgirl, your relationship to your parents is much more important than keeping a queen, but if you can convince them to let you keep her, do it. I had this problem recently, my mom wouldn't let me keep a queen I found, but after showing her that all it is for the first month or two is a test tube, water, and some cotton, she let me. Really the only bad thing about it that your parents would complain about is the possibility of infestation (which, if you are ready to take on antkeeping, you won't have a problem with). Showing your parents a test tube setup and formicarium should impress upon them how secure the ants actually are.
First year and already enjoying it!

Founding:
1 Solenopsis molesta colony with ~10 nanitic workers and lots of brood

Genesis 1:24

AntsDakota
Posts: 1283
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2018 4:22 pm
Location: South Dakota

Re: Camponotus/Tapinoma Queen, I'm in big trouble.

Post: # 48698Post AntsDakota
Tue Aug 28, 2018 1:09 pm

lunarsanctum wrote:
Tue Jul 31, 2018 2:37 pm
So, my parents know of how much I love ants. While I was helping my dad shovel gravel, I came across the same queen twice. The second time though, I could notice how lost and how much she needed some help. I made a makeshift test tube type setup, and gave her a box for darkness in our barn which no one goes into.

The only problem is, My parent's dont want me to keep ants, I'm 18 this year and we even live on a farm but they're against the idea. Right now, I can keep care of her till she has her first workers, but if I don't find somewhere she can be that I can keep care of her still without my parents knowing or find someone else who can care for her. I will have to let her go with her workers in hope that she makes a home for herself quickly, since Autumn is creeping around the corner. She is a late flyer, she looks healthy and honestly I've fallen in love with her already.

Can I get some help? Suggestions and everything would be the best. Thank you.
Watch AntsCanada's video called "Why an Antfarm? A Message for the Parents". It lists some good reasons of why keeping ants is great. If they still say no, then yeah, being honest is best, and either release them or give them away. You could also join the GAN project.
"God made every kind of wild beasts and every kind of livestock and every kind of creeping things;" (including ants) "and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:25

AntsDakota
Posts: 1283
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2018 4:22 pm
Location: South Dakota

Re: Camponotus/Tapinoma Queen, I'm in big trouble.

Post: # 48727Post AntsDakota
Tue Aug 28, 2018 5:55 pm

lunarsanctum wrote:
Tue Jul 31, 2018 2:37 pm
So, my parents know of how much I love ants. While I was helping my dad shovel gravel, I came across the same queen twice. The second time though, I could notice how lost and how much she needed some help. I made a makeshift test tube type setup, and gave her a box for darkness in our barn which no one goes into.

The only problem is, My parent's dont want me to keep ants, I'm 18 this year and we even live on a farm but they're against the idea. Right now, I can keep care of her till she has her first workers, but if I don't find somewhere she can be that I can keep care of her still without my parents knowing or find someone else who can care for her. I will have to let her go with her workers in hope that she makes a home for herself quickly, since Autumn is creeping around the corner. She is a late flyer, she looks healthy and honestly I've fallen in love with her already.

Can I get some help? Suggestions and everything would be the best. Thank you.
And, if it's big, about an inch long, it's Camponotus. If it's super tiny, then it's Tapinoma or Monomorium.
"God made every kind of wild beasts and every kind of livestock and every kind of creeping things;" (including ants) "and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:25

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