Not an ant keeper, but having nuptual flight issues with ants!

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flo0ow
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed May 13, 2020 4:17 pm

Not an ant keeper, but having nuptual flight issues with ants!

Post: # 69920Post flo0ow
Wed May 13, 2020 4:43 pm

Hello! I'm not entirely sure where to post this, but I hope you all can help me!

We currently have an ant nest in our home. They live in a hole in the wall just by our chimney, they're your run-of-the-mill, black garden ant colony. We'd rather not have ants inside our house, but I'm aware moving an entire colony isn't an easy task (and we want to let them live, so we're against other options to get rid of them), so they've been hanging around for a few months (or maybe even a year) now.

While I believe to be the reason that they came out today was nuptial flight, I'm unsure whether it's the case, given all the winged ants we saw were small, compared to a couple of (of what I believe to be) grown queens nearby. During nuptial flight, are princesses smaller than their mothers? Or could they be males and the colony is trying to move? We have caught a couple of said winged ants, but without determining wether they're males or females we'd rather not separate them from their colony. They do fly and were scattered across the room, if that helps with identifying their gender whatsoever.

Secondly, I was sure queens were capable of starting a nest on their own, but my mother disagrees and believes that they get accompanied by a few workers to get started on their new nest. So, if they indeed turn out to be princesses, should we free them? Or let them go back to the colony?

Of course, we'd like to know for the future if there's an easier way to lead the princes and princesses out of the house without having to scramble to catch them all. Is there any way to attract them to the outside?

I think that's all, for now. If there is any information I could provide to help you determine what's the best course of action, please let me know! Thank you for your time.

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antperson24
Posts: 1226
Joined: Tue Feb 22, 2022 4:01 pm
Location: North East Iowa

Re: Not an ant keeper, but having nuptual flight issues with ants!

Post: # 98853Post antperson24
Fri Apr 21, 2023 12:08 pm

flo0ow wrote:
Wed May 13, 2020 4:43 pm
Hello! I'm not entirely sure where to post this, but I hope you all can help me!

We currently have an ant nest in our home. They live in a hole in the wall just by our chimney, they're your run-of-the-mill, black garden ant colony. We'd rather not have ants inside our house, but I'm aware moving an entire colony isn't an easy task (and we want to let them live, so we're against other options to get rid of them), so they've been hanging around for a few months (or maybe even a year) now.

While I believe to be the reason that they came out today was nuptial flight, I'm unsure whether it's the case, given all the winged ants we saw were small, compared to a couple of (of what I believe to be) grown queens nearby. During nuptial flight, are princesses smaller than their mothers? Or could they be males and the colony is trying to move? We have caught a couple of said winged ants, but without determining wether they're males or females we'd rather not separate them from their colony. They do fly and were scattered across the room, if that helps with identifying their gender whatsoever.

Secondly, I was sure queens were capable of starting a nest on their own, but my mother disagrees and believes that they get accompanied by a few workers to get started on their new nest. So, if they indeed turn out to be princesses, should we free them? Or let them go back to the colony?

Of course, we'd like to know for the future if there's an easier way to lead the princes and princesses out of the house without having to scramble to catch them all. Is there any way to attract them to the outside?

I think that's all, for now. If there is any information I could provide to help you determine what's the best course of action, please let me know! Thank you for your time.
Could you send pictures of all the different sizes of ants you've seen?
Why keep ants that aren't found in your yard?
There are so many fascinating ants right where you live!
I disagree with the keeping/buying of ants that aren't in your area.

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