Things You'll Need
- Ant colony
- Burlap
- Lighter
- Jar
Instructions
Capturing the Queen
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 will have a pronounced thorax, or middle body section. This is because they need more muscle to support wings. Sometimes the queen is bigger than other ants in the colony, but the best way to tell is to look for an ant with a highly developed thorax, bigger than the other ants.
Capture the queen in your jar.
Take the queen to your ant farm and introduce her to the other ants. Your new queen won't be active. Mostly she'll sit in one place. She will feed off her own body fat for some time until workers start bringing her food. If she lays eggs, she'll stay with the eggs. If you feel she needs nutrients, you can supply her with sugar water, which she may drink. Make sure the sugar water doesn't mold.