2 replies to this topic

[rivkah]

I am new to ant keeping and have what might be silly questions.

 

Since queens born in a formicarium do not take nuptial flights, what happens to them?  Do they mate with a male in the formicarium and should then be removed to begin her own colonies?  Or does the colony kill her?  I do understand that there are ant colonies with multiple queens.  I am asking about single queen colonies.

 

Also, a saw a youtube video showing a large ashtray nicely decorated as an ant world, complete with a walnut ant nest housing a themothorax sp.  This was siting in what appeared to be a bowl of water.  Can a moat be used to contain ants?  I understand that there could be a drowning danger, but, generally ants are smart enough not to cross water.

 

Thank you in advance for your kind attention to my inquiry.

 

 

 

[ultraex2]

The ants do nothing 95% of the time, depending on the species.  Sometimes they will just stay in the nest and wander in/out and other times they will remove their wings and act like workers.  I've also observed my (at least I'm pretty sure) parasitic Aphaenogaster colony caught from the wild kill the alate queens after a couple months in the nest.

 

A moat would probably work , although it depends on the species - for example, fire ants may be able to cross water as well as some other tropical species.

Edited by ultraex2, September 13 2017 - 6:53 AM.

[rivkah]

thank you for your response.  

 

When the time comes, I well experiment with a moat.