10 replies to this topic

[Connectimyrmex]

Hi!
I've been thinking about digging up wild ant colonies (Crematogaster, Lasius, and Monomorium) for a while. I'm still pretty unclear on the concept, so I have some questions about the form of collection:

1. Do you just dig soil out of the nest and into a bucket?

2. Are aspirators required?
3. How do you get the ants into a formicarium from there?

4. What if you don't have any chemical barriers?

Thanks!
Also, feel free to give some suggestions!

[FeedTheAnts]

1. I like to dig around and whenever I find a chamber gently blow as much of the ants and brood into the bucket as I can, it's always best to try and get as little dirt as possible.

2. aspirators help

3. Either use the aspirator to get as much of the ants as possible(you won't get them all), then move them from there to the formicarium(you will need to come back to the bucket in a few hours to find the rest of the workers and brood that usually flock together when you leave them. Or you can place a tube in the bucket they are in and corral the queen in there and the workers will find her and move in(assuming you did not get much dirt in the bucket for them to try and nest in, as this would mess this technique up).

Edited by TennesseeAnts, September 17 2017 - 12:55 PM.

[JJlikesants837363939]

you can use cinnamon as a barrier to keep the ants from going to far from the nest just make a cinnamon ring around the area you are digging up

[matt123]

I've harvested two colonies, neither of which lived past 6 months. Queen always spontaneously died after a few months

 

But I found it really easy to gather the ants that live under rocks. Lift a rock and BAM, the queen, her brood, and all the workers were right there. I justed used my hand to start grabbing and put them in a mason jar with baby powder barrier. From there I wiped off the barrier and placed the jar in the formicarium. No digging, very little dirt, it was easy. If you just want a colony, I imagine ants under rocks are way easier.

[Connectimyrmex]

Thanks. Every rock that I flip tend to have thousands of termites or thousands of workers.

[Batspiderfish]

Not the best way to obtain colonies, honestly.

[matt123]

Not the best way to obtain colonies, honestly.

Yea I agree. uprooting ones home and forcefully putting them into a new one is deffinetly not ideal. My colonies both died after about 4-6 months. At which point I discovered Queens and the test tube set up...

[anttics]

i hiek all year round. evey rock i ever flip I found nothing. i guess I'm unlucky.

[nurbs]

Not the best way to obtain colonies, honestly.

 

Collected a colony of T. sessile with dozens of queens under a rock one time. And another time sucked up an entire colony of Pheidole with two queens. Used a homemade aspirator to collect.

 

Both colonies died in captivity within a few months. 

 

[noebl1]

My first year, I went out in April flipping rocks.  I got super impatient and found a Camponotus americanus founding colony under a rock (queen, 5 workers and pile of brood) instead of waiting.  Long story short, they did horrific and I ended up giving them to a more experienced member to try to save them (not sure if he succeeded.)  I believe digging up Lasius is pretty futile as I thought I read the queens are often quite deep, and colonies have many entrances.

 

Temnothorax living in acorns/twigs is probably one of the few collectable ones that could work as they tend to be pretty flexible/resilient.

 

Just be patient and find a queen or two, as at least to me, it feels much more rewarding starting from scratch and seeing success vs digging up and potentially destroying an established colony.

Edited by noebl1, January 16 2018 - 3:36 PM.

[opezskiller]

I highly suggest not digging up colonies as it usually will result in failure