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What food attracts ant queens


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12 replies to this topic

#1 Offline OwlThatLikesAnts - Posted October 30 2024 - 8:10 AM

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I want to know what food will attract ant queens


Currently keeping:

 

1x Formica subsericea, (used to be polygynous) 20+ workers

1x Lasius umbratus, (Workers accepted) 25 workers with host brood (I think they are dead now lol)

1x Crematogaster cerasi 4 workers with brood (still growing)

 

As you watch your ants march, remember: every journey begins with a single step (or queen)-not just towards you, but towards a future woven by diligence and shared dreams - Me

 

(I lost braincells just to make this quote)


#2 Offline eea - Posted October 30 2024 - 8:33 AM

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I want to know what food will attract ant queens


You won’t really catch any queens using food.

#3 Offline ANTdrew - Posted October 30 2024 - 11:00 AM

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https://www.formicul...tch-ant-queens/
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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#4 Offline RushmoreAnts - Posted October 31 2024 - 7:56 AM

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I want to know what food will attract ant queens


You won’t really catch any queens using food.

 

Indeed. You don't hunt deer by leaving apples in your yard. You go out into the woods and shoot them.


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"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds (including ants). And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version

 

Keeping:

Tetramorium immigrans

Formica cf. pallidefulva, cf. incerta, cf. argentea

Formica cf. aserva, cf. subintegra

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Pheidole bicarinata

Myrmica sp.

Lasius neoniger, brevicornis


#5 Offline mbullock42086 - Posted October 31 2024 - 5:31 PM

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the best food is a UV light.


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#6 Offline SYUTEO - Posted October 31 2024 - 7:23 PM

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Queen ants don't really go for food sources during nuptial flights because their main instinct in a nuptial flight is to mate, hide and create a colony. Going after food risks getting eaten yourself. Semi-claustral queens would prefer to find shelter first because when you are lost in the wild, finding shelter is a bigger priority than food. Even if you leave food for those queens to find, it's much much much more likely that food will be taken by something else first.


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Began antkeeping in 2018  :)

 

All ant journal: https://www.formicul...os-ant-journal/


#7 Offline ReignofRage - Posted October 31 2024 - 9:33 PM

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Indeed. You don't hunt deer by leaving apples in your yard. You go out into the woods and shoot them.

 

Only when the warden isn't around...

 

med_gallery_5829_2142_88740.jpg


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#8 Offline OwlThatLikesAnts - Posted November 1 2024 - 5:35 AM

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Indeed. You don't hunt deer by leaving apples in your yard. You go out into the woods and shoot them.

 

Only when the warden isn't around...

LOL  :rofl2:

 

the whole reason I made this post is because of how I wanted to see if I can make a non lethal “alate trap” made out of a wasp trap but now that I know that there is no type of food or smell that attracts queens makes this plan go to waste

 

(and pleas don’t say “try a UV light trap”


Currently keeping:

 

1x Formica subsericea, (used to be polygynous) 20+ workers

1x Lasius umbratus, (Workers accepted) 25 workers with host brood (I think they are dead now lol)

1x Crematogaster cerasi 4 workers with brood (still growing)

 

As you watch your ants march, remember: every journey begins with a single step (or queen)-not just towards you, but towards a future woven by diligence and shared dreams - Me

 

(I lost braincells just to make this quote)


#9 Offline eea - Posted November 1 2024 - 6:21 AM

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Indeed. You don't hunt deer by leaving apples in your yard. You go out into the woods and shoot them.

 
Only when the warden isn't around...
LOL  :rofl2:
 
the whole reason I made this post is because of how I wanted to see if I can make a non lethal “alate trap” made out of a wasp trap but now that I know that there is no type of food or smell that attracts queens makes this plan go to waste
 
(and pleas don’t say “try a UV light trap”
Why no UV light trap? Also you can find queens in pools or under streetlights.

#10 Offline RushmoreAnts - Posted November 1 2024 - 7:54 AM

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Indeed. You don't hunt deer by leaving apples in your yard. You go out into the woods and shoot them.

 

Only when the warden isn't around...

 

med_gallery_5829_2142_88740.jpg

 

*Assuming every single suburban house with an apple tree is within close proximity to a habitat plentiful in deer, good point.


"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds (including ants). And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version

 

Keeping:

Tetramorium immigrans

Formica cf. pallidefulva, cf. incerta, cf. argentea

Formica cf. aserva, cf. subintegra

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Pheidole bicarinata

Myrmica sp.

Lasius neoniger, brevicornis


#11 Offline OwlThatLikesAnts - Posted November 1 2024 - 10:31 AM

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LOL  :rofl2:
 
the whole reason I made this post is because of how I wanted to see if I can make a non lethal “alate trap” made out of a wasp trap but now that I know that there is no type of food or smell that attracts queens makes this plan go to waste
 
(and pleas don’t say “try a UV light trap”
Why no UV light trap? Also you can find queens in pools or under streetlights.

 

I obviously know that because of how those words always find a way into posts


Currently keeping:

 

1x Formica subsericea, (used to be polygynous) 20+ workers

1x Lasius umbratus, (Workers accepted) 25 workers with host brood (I think they are dead now lol)

1x Crematogaster cerasi 4 workers with brood (still growing)

 

As you watch your ants march, remember: every journey begins with a single step (or queen)-not just towards you, but towards a future woven by diligence and shared dreams - Me

 

(I lost braincells just to make this quote)


#12 Offline eea - Posted November 1 2024 - 10:59 AM

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LOL  :rofl2:
 
the whole reason I made this post is because of how I wanted to see if I can make a non lethal “alate trap” made out of a wasp trap but now that I know that there is no type of food or smell that attracts queens makes this plan go to waste
 
(and pleas don’t say “try a UV light trap”

Why no UV light trap? Also you can find queens in pools or under streetlights.
I obviously know that because of how those words always find a way into posts
Well other than those methods I can’t think of any other way of catching a queen.

#13 Offline mbullock42086 - Posted November 1 2024 - 1:19 PM

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It would have to be a pheromone isolate.  you would mostly get males though IMO.

  it could theoretically attract parasitic species, by emitting the odor of their host queen, but that's a waste of time, and you'd get way more with the light.


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