How to Attract Queen Ants

Ants make wonderful pets to observe because they have interesting social roles and behaviors. With an ant farm, you can clearly see the colony as it goes about its daily life. You can attract worker ants for you colony using food, such as bread or sugar water, but it is much more difficult to attract the queen ant than it is to attract worker ants. This is because the queen ant is the most important ant in the colony and will not leave her egg-laying chamber unless there is an urgent reason for her to leave. Yet with some pluck and patience, you can make a queen a part of your ant civilization.

Things You'll Need

  • Metal bucket
  • Burlap sack
  • 16-inch stick
  • Latex or rubber gloves
  • Lighter or matches
  • Small bug-keeping container for queen ant
  • Large escape-proof container
  • Shovel
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Instructions

  1. Smoke-Out Method

    • 1

      Fill a metal bucket with water and keep it nearby in case of an accident.

    • 2

      Cut a few sections of burlap and tie them around one end of a stick that is at least 16 inches in length.

    • 3

      Put rubber or latex gloves on.

    • 4

      Light the burlap at the end of the stick on fire using a lighter or matches while holding it near the entrance to the ant colony. Be careful while doing so.

    • 5

      Continue to hold the burning burlap near the ant colony. The ants will quickly start evacuating their colony.

    • 6

      Watch for the queen ant to come out of the entrance. The queen will be bigger than the other ants, with an enlarged thorax, or middle section. She may have wings, but this isn't always the case. When she does, extinguish the torch in the bucket of water and pick her up with a gloved hand. Place her into your small bug-keeping container.

    Extracting Ants From Wood

    • 7

      Find rotting wooden boards or logs, and look for ants there. Some varieties of ants, such as carpenter ants, live in rotting wood rather than in the ground.

    • 8

      Put on a pair of plastic or latex gloves.

    • 9

      Peel away or break up sections of the rotting wood until you find the ant colony.

    • 10

      Collect the ants that you find on the wood either by shaking the ants off the wood into a container the ants can't escape from, gently picking them up with your hands, or by putting sections of the rotting wood directly into the container.

    • 11

      Keep your eyes peeled for the queen ant. She should be near the eggs, which look like soft, little grains of white rice. When you find her, put her in the small bug-keeping container.

    Collecting Ants From Dirt

    • 12

      Find the main entrance to the ant colony in the dirt.

    • 13

      Use the shovel to cut a circle about 10 inches in diameter around the ant colony entrance.

    • 14

      Scoop the entire chunk of dirt containing the ant colony up with the shovel and put it into the bucket.

    • 15

      Put on rubber or latex gloves.

    • 16

      Break up the dirt in the bucket carefully to find the queen ant. When you find her, pick her up gently and place her into the small bug-keeping container. You can also collect other worker ants and put them into a container they won't be able to escape from at this point as well.