Caught 2 Queens! Back in the game!

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Antlover84
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Caught 2 Queens! Back in the game!

Post: # 34858Post Antlover84
Wed Apr 04, 2018 1:04 pm

It's been a loooong time since I last posted on this forum, or even thought about ants, but a golden opportunity presented itself last evening. I was out watering some of the plants in the back yard, when I noticed something crawling on the patio. An ant queen! I went inside, quickly grabbed a jar, and captured her! Curious to see if there were more, I began looking around, and soon found another one by a bush! Put her in a jar too.

That evening, I prepped some test tubes with the water and cotton setup, and transferred both queens into a test tube of their own. I'm willing to bet heavily that both are Camponotus queens. One still has her wings, the other does not. The final setup they are in right now is a cardboard box with some foam padding in it, resting on the patio outside. My parents will not let me take the box and tubes inside and leave them in my closet for fear of escape and/or infestation.

My wingless queen seems fairly chill in her test tube, only moving about frantically if you really disturb her. The winged one is very agitated, however. She gets upset if you even touch the box, and then begins madly scurrying and gnawing on her cotton stop. Right now, I'm a little anxious. I don't know what they'll do! Will they chew through their cotton stops? Will the temperature fluctuations from being outside kill them? Is the humidity too high in their containers? Maybe I should partially bury the test tubes at an angle so that feel more comfortable. I've done some research on how to care for these queens, but any help would be seriously appreciated!

P.S. Not sure if my parents are cool with an ant farm yet. If they DO lay eggs, things get complicated.

Thanks for any tips/help!

-Antlover84

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antnest8
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Re: Caught 2 Queens! Back in the game!

Post: # 34946Post antnest8
Mon Apr 09, 2018 2:03 pm

hope everything works out.
Some of My Informative Sheets
https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=19099
Includes :
  • Ant Care Sheets
    Queen Hunting
    How To Identify Ants
Goal is to become #2 poster on the forum

warhawk373
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Re: Caught 2 Queens! Back in the game!

Post: # 35675Post warhawk373
Sun May 06, 2018 7:40 pm

Yes...camponotus will chew through their cotton...unfortunately I just found that out today. She was chewing at it a little bit the first day that I put her in there. I figured, well, even if she continues, it should hold her for a couple days. While trying to give her space but also trying to make sure she's comftorbale, I waited 24 hours to check on her. All I found was an empty test tube though :/ I guess I should have put the tube in a box or something instead of just laying a rag over it and putting it in a dark closet. I have one more, but she doesn't seem to like her test tube either. 2nd year trying to start an ant colony, hopefully this last one works out.

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MadVampy
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Re: Caught 2 Queens! Back in the game!

Post: # 35683Post MadVampy
Sun May 06, 2018 8:57 pm

Put the test tube in a Tupperware bowl with a lid that has some small air holes in it. You can also use a alcohol/baby power mixture that you can apply around the upper part of the bowl to cover yourself if this one gets thru the cotton also. Just a thought.
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antnest8
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Re: Caught 2 Queens! Back in the game!

Post: # 35776Post antnest8
Tue May 08, 2018 3:06 pm

my carpenter ant queen got out too last year. but it was from pushing the cotton out not chewing through it. since then i have learned camponotus = extra cotton.
Some of My Informative Sheets
https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=19099
Includes :
  • Ant Care Sheets
    Queen Hunting
    How To Identify Ants
Goal is to become #2 poster on the forum

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