9 replies to this topic

[AdamL]

I have recently decided to capture a mature,wild ant colony (I know its mature as I saw elates at the nest entrance. I don't know if I will be abel to capture the colony in its entirety queen and everything. I researched how to capture wild colonys of ants but it's mainly done with brute force. I will be captureing this colony by putting a test tube next to there entrance and covering it, and letting them move in.

After about 22 hours I checked on them and saw that they had about 30 workers in the tube and about 1 third was holding larva. This would be a very effective brood boosting technique if I knew the species (its ether tetramorium or tapinoma), some brood boosting techniques take weeks to months, for now that it.

[AntsDakota]

You could post an ID thread.

[AdamL]

I know I will

[TheMicroPlanet]

Just warning you that user ANTdrew might have, well, a few things to say about this... probably not good things...

Edited by TheMicroPlanet, March 10 2020 - 4:14 PM.

[AdamL]

Wait why?

[TheMicroPlanet]

He's not a huge fan about collecting wild colonies, but i'm not one to explain the details. 

[AdamL]

Ok but I leting the ants capture them selfs.

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

That's messed up but would make AD's argument impaired, however you set up the proverbial trap thus giving him somewhat of a point  

[AdamL]

So this is a bad idea and I should stop?

[AntsDakota]

Capturing a wild colony is risky. There’s the probability that the colony won’t adapt to captivity well, as they are used to fending for themselves in the wild. Forcibly digging up a colony can cause a lot of stress, and could lead to mass die offs. However, your method of capture won’t stress the colony nearly as much, so I don’t know.