How Do You Extract A Queen Ant?
Perhaps you are starting an ant farm and would like to capture a live queen ant from her colony and settle her in your new ant farm. Queen ants live deep inside ant dwellings where they lay eggs. They are guarded by two flying male ants. Most species of ant queens have or had wings, so their bodies have a different shape than the rest of the ants in their colonies. This article will help you identify and capture a queen ant. Locate an ant colony. It is best if you can find one that is shallow in the earth. A good place to look is under rocks. Follow ant trails to an entrance of the ant colony. Light an end of the burlap on fire so that it is smoking. Insert smoking end into a hole of the ant colony. This will “smoke out” the ants. They will think their colony is on fire and evacuate the colony. You will see ants carrying eggs, which means the queen’s chamber is being emptied. Look for the queen where you see the eggs being taken out. Because most queens have or had wings, their bodies
