4 replies to this topic

[AntsAnonymous]

Hello, last night I had a hard rain, that flooded a good portion of my yard, so I took advantage and dug up 2 Solenopsis Invicta colonies. They were mostly on the surface but I dug down a few inches to try and get the queen. Currently, I have them in separate buckets of mud and was wondering if anyone knows a way to encourage them to move. I have  formicariums ready to go, and even have tubing connected. As of right now, they are still in large groups on the sides of the buckets and have only gone about an inch into a tubes, then turn back. Any tips would be helpful.

Edited by AntsAnonymous, April 18 2015 - 3:45 PM.

[cpman]

I've heard of people slowly dripping enough water into it to encourage them to form rafts. It has to be done slowly, though.

[Foogoo]

My experience with flooding to get queens out was a non-success, may be different with Solenopsis though. Drew had suggested placing a test tube (with water and cotton in place) in and letting the nest dry out, encouraging them moving to where there's humidity. Might take a while if it's mud though... I've gotten Argentine ants to move into tubes by covering the tube with foil and placing something sugary inside.

[AntsAnonymous]

So I might just have to wait a few days for the bucket to dry out more until they are more tempted by the formicarium over the bucket. Thanks.

[cpman]

My experience with flooding to get queens out was a non-success, may be different with Solenopsis though. Drew had suggested placing a test tube (with water and cotton in place) in and letting the nest dry out, encouraging them moving to where there's humidity. Might take a while if it's mud though... I've gotten Argentine ants to move into tubes by covering the tube with foil and placing something sugary inside.

S. invicta is known to produce floating rafts to avoid flooding. See here, here, and here.

It has been used to collect whole colonies of this species. It is a pretty unusual adaptation.

Edited by cpman, April 18 2015 - 8:13 PM.