Comments on: Kids’ Questions About Ants

By: Roberta

Roberta — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 11:07:33 +0000

Tyson,

Some ants do shut down in the winter. In ants, it is called diapause.

Here’s a post that tells you a lot more about what happens to ants in the winter: http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2010/04/17/where-do-ants-go-in-the-winter/

By: Tyson

Tyson — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 20:54:45 +0000

Do ants hibernate in winter

By: Roberta

Roberta — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 01:34:11 +0000

Nicholas,

The best way to get a queen ant for your ant farm is to find one when ants are swarming in your area.

There’s some information on where to find queens at this link:
http://www.leapingfromthebox.com/art/rlg/antfarmquestions.html

Here’s how to tell if an ant is a queen:
http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2011/07/24/what-does-a-queen-ant-look-like/

Here’s another link how to identify if you have a queen:
http://myrmecos.wordpress.com/2008/09/27/how-to-identify-queen-ants/

Good luck!

By: Nicholas

Nicholas — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:41:46 +0000

How can you get a queen ant for your farm?

By: Emily

Emily — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 23:16:38 +0000

Okay, thank you!

By: Roberta

Roberta — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 16:24:57 +0000

Ah yes, those Argentine ants are very pesky. Most likely the lid was a little loose when it was replaced last time.

Ants from different ant farms would be likely to fight, so I don’t recommend trying that.

As I said, the gel habitats were really only designed to be a short term home during a space flight. They are not meant to house ants for more than a few weeks or so. I would try putting the ants in another container, clean the Argentine ants out as best you can and try to smooth out the gel surface, even if it means taking out some of the gel. That might help.

Otherwise, a test tube nest is always a good choice. http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2011/05/15/test-tube-ant-nest/ You won’t see tunnels, but the ants will live longer.

By: Emily

Emily — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 16:10:52 +0000

The black ants were “argentine ants” and are about 1/4 of an inch. These ants are aggressive and swarm by the millions in my school. Other teachers at my school even have stories about these ants attacking school pets like lizards and even guinea pigs. My teacher wasn’t there to see how they got into the farm, but with millions of ants helping together, it wasn’t really a surprise to think they could have pulled up the lid till there was a crack big enough to crawl through. Like I said, my teacher was able to save most of the harvester ants but now their farm is scattered with dead argentine ants and they have stopped tunneling. Is there something we could do to make them start tunneling again? And if you were to put the same species of ants but from different ant farms together (neither having a queen) would they fight each other or work together?

By: Roberta

Roberta — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 13:08:48 +0000

Sounds like the harvester ants are going to have a tough time of it. Without a queen, they probably won’t last long.

How did the black ants get into the farm? How big were they?

By: Emily

Emily — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 01:38:54 +0000

Hi, sorry, I meant the ant farm at my home was doing great, sorry!

By: Emily

Emily — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 01:27:33 +0000

Hi again! I have been studying my ant farm a lot lately ever since I had learned more about them. Also, my classrooms ant farm got attacked by local black ants. Our ant farm had 14 harvester ants left. We were able to save them, however, there are many dead black ants still in the ant farm. also, much of the gel is gone. My teacher thinks the black ants just came for the gel that serves as food and water for the ants. we have been observeing the surviving ants in the ant farm for two days now. Most of the ants stay at the surface and aren’t creating new tunnels. What do you think will happen to our farm? Will the ants be able to survive?
-Emily
P.s. My ant farm is doing great though, it has been three days but the ants have created more than 15 tunnels that are all linked together.