When to Catch Queen Ants: Nuptial Flight Schedules | AntsCanada Tutorial #36 

Omg. I literally watched one of your videos on queen ants back in August, and walked outside only to find elates swarming the skies! I found so many queens with and without wings. But I could only catch one without wings, as I had only one test tube, which I had made out of to little parts of a container turned around. It was not a very good setup, but I loved my queen so much. When I got some good, real test tubes later, I moved my queen into one, and went out side to find more. But there were no more ants outside. Just the dead bodies of the male elates who had mated. I was disappointed that I had not caught any other ants, but I was very lucky to catch one for my very first time ant keeping. I cared for her in her new setup, and found out she was a Lasius Neoniger. I later read that most queens caught at the end of the year tend to go into hibernation and lay eggs in the spring. I was conserned that she would not lay eggs soon enough, and that she might die. But once again, I was lucky when I came to check up on her and found that she had two eggs! I was so happy! I cared for her and read everything I could find on lasius neoniger ants. A few weeks later she had a larva. I was overjoyed that she had made it this far, and by the looks of how she cared for her eggs so tentatively, she seemed fertilized. Now, in November, three months after I caught her, she has three large larvae. They should be going into the pupa stage soon, and I’m so proud of my queen for how far she has come! If you read this to the end, thank you for listening to my queen’s story. 😊

One tip I didn't really see here is; Check slow moving water or your friends/public pools during mating season. I can tell you as a pool owner, I find hundreds of queens of many different species in my pool. Also, getting a queen from your friend's pool is like saving a life as pool are a death trap for ants.

The best time to catch queen ants is after a rainstorm or on a humid day **lives in a desert**

Now to convince the parents

Spelling correction: "leave" not 'live'

Decided to start antkeeping this year. I live in Europe and I'm super excited because the species I'd like to keep happens to have their mating season earlier than other ant species. Since it wasn't mentioned in the video - Manica Rubida (the only Manica species in Europe) has it's nuptial flights as early as April with the height in May. Depending on sources they either continue having flights till Fall or have a second season in September only. I found a research paper on the Spring flights for the species detailing the weather conditions required. Basically - they never flight during the days when the temperature is below 18 degree Celsius and preferably when it's around 25 degrees. It is usually a day before it rains. The height seems to occur between the 1st and the 10th of May but across the three years of research they noted a flight as early as the 20th of April. Make a diagram of temperatures day by day - when the temperature spikes just to drop the next day chances are the Manica alates were flying and you can go looking for them. Sorry but I couldn't find any data on the Manica species in America. Hope this info helps you guys!

Are normal pokeballs good enough to catch the queens?

As someone who is generally weirded out by bugs and only just clicked on one of your videos today, it's like watching some sort of Pokemon classification thing but it's strangely satisfying. Good on you.

I didn't even have to hunt for my queen ant. She managed to find my home perfectly fine on her own, and has now unleashed her armada of sisters into my kitchen from a crack in the kitchen floor.

5 years later and this video is still super helpful

I meet flying insects like ant in my room sometimes. Now I realize it's probably black crazy ant queen. I should've capture it

Expectations: I could catch black crazy ants in summer Reality: I caught a red tropical fire ant🇵🇭

Attention all you ant lovers in North America, be sure to look out for Camponotus (carpenter ants) queens flying right now! Go catch them! People everywhere are getting lucky!

At first I was like "ya I'm going to start an awesome colony in these cool out worlds" then I went to the antscanada store and said na I like having money

thanks for all the great help as always I'm in Australia and I'm currently trying to get a red phidole queen

New to the AC Family and I binged 100s of your videos. Decided I wanted to start a colony and found a queen in minutes. Walked over to just look at an ant hill and noticed a solenopsis queen wandering around a little bit away. Could t believe my beginners luck!

I remember when I first saw these vids I thought you fed them rice lmao

ADDITION FOR SOUTHEAST ASIA: Oecophylla smaragdina (Asian Weaver Ants) also fly November/Decemeber in some countries.

I was watching this and went outside with a container and was like “I AM GOING TO FIND A QUEEN ANT AND I WONT COME INSIDE TILL I DO” I went outside 2 minutes later I was freaking out bc I actually found one-

My mom: NO you cant keep ants Me:heh, we'll see about that

I found a campenatus any queen! So excited! Ant hype!🐜

A few minutes ago I caught a queen and it broke its wings of in my hand.

im so excited to start my collection and eventually join the GAN project. still got some more studying to do but i think im getting there. spent the past several months studying ants and reading about them. watched all of your videos now, even antsaus and now nortic ants - small channel but doing real well including watching all sorts of documentaries on it. so ready to start. been going to nests and messing around just to see them with my eyes. about to build my setup as im out of work and money is tight. im also a former IV heroin addict and this is the perfect hobby to get into. i had snakes and spiders but my addiction led me to sell all of them :( not this time tho

thank you so much!! I've been trying to know when queen ant do their nuptial flight and this really helped I just caught Pheidologeton queen ant I've searched but never saw when queen ants have their nuptial flight so seeing this really helped me I've been a fan for about 4 years! already i used to watch on my old phone now on my computer this really helped others and this helped me to thank you.

Yeah right like I'm gonna get a permit to pick up an ant off the sidewalk lmao.

Thank you so much for this video! I'm trying to start my very first colony, but I'm finding it hard to come across the information in this video (in particular Australia).

Two weeks ago, out riding my bike, I stumbled upon a Tetramorium Queen. A block away, I found 3 more Tetramorium queens, and saw several dead male Alates. I feel very lucky to have collected this many Queens within an hour. We now have 4 queens, each in their own test tube! Hopefully, they will survive better this year, as I lost my Queen and her workers during hibernation last year.

Coming back to this video after I just found a few camponotus queens in the end of October. I myself live in Australia and didn’t know they could fly this early.

Do you carry any products in the AC Shop big enough for Camponatus Gigas?

Who wants queen ants? there are tons in our house Flying!! hahaha

The session is just beginning again in North America / Southern U.S. I needed this video so much, as I'll be finding my first queen. Thanks!

This was extremely helpful. I didn't know when to look for ants that much, but now I do.

Really nice guide, thank you for sharing the European Species :D

I live in Africa does anyone know when Tetramorium ants fly in the year

Yep I know in North America it’s around May/June especially after a heavy rain 🌧 you’ll maybe see Bats 🦇 too as they feast on the flying Ants, there’s so many of them. Early May/June insects like this will show even on Doppler weather radar. Crazy time for all insects.

Hey ant keepers a good hint is if you have an outside pool during the flights i have seen hundreds of queens in my pool during spring summer and autumn. Never had enough tubes to catch them all!

So guys, let's goal set! What species of ants are you hoping to catch this Nuptial Flight Season? GO!!! Alternatively (if you're from Australia), did you catch the queens you were hoping to this anting season? I'll start... I hope to catch queens of Paratrechina longicornis (I hope I didn't miss the nuptial flights and I'm not too late).

Great video man! this has really helped along with your other video's. Please Could You Do More Update Videos On Your Colony's? Thank You For Taking The Time To Read This ~Gog

Interesting. I think I have a pretty huge colony of either Formica spp. or Crematogaster spp. in my yard (Albuquerque, New Mexico). I've been feeding them the last two summers and the Colony has gotten quite large. But I noticed late summer last year, dozens of the winged ones coming out.

I randomly found a MASSIVE super colony after watching this video of little black ants aka monomorium minimum, with at least a few hundred queens and males just walking around some with queens some without, and I managed to get 10 queens or maybe a few more, and now they have tunneled like crazy now they have thousands of workers and are thriving thank you!

antkemon. i wanna be the very best!

thanks ant Canada now I can start my own ant farm...when I find a Queen and if my parents agree to it :D

Thank you for making this video and all the others. I have always liked ants and now i have an idea of how to safely catch and raise them

I've been pretty squirmish around insects, but because of your videos it at least makes it easier for me to see any lil critter. It's actually gotten me thinking on starting up a colony of my own, but I'm still thinking on what to truly get myself started with. Though I'm not the most patient, I'd still love to have a colony of carpenters, maybe even winter ants since I live in Canada and I like being in a more colder temperature. I'm going to plan out everything before capturing a queen, so that way I know I have everything to keep the colony growing.

im a year late from this video but im trying to find queen ants here in the philippines, i currently live in a village , and its hard to find queens or its either im just a noob. Any recommendations to where i would find queens?

When it said take a screenshot I did

I'm in my 3rd year of trying to get an ant colony established, hopefully this is the year. Hard lessons learned, don't move the ants too soon or too often! I think ants Canada recommends waiting for at least 30 ants in the test tube before moving I didn't listen and killed 2 colonies last year moving too soon. Thank you for for all the advice!! Love the videos

I finally got my mom to agree to my keeping a colony!!! I just have to wait for my setup and find a queen. This is gonna be a great quarantine project, I've wanted a colony for so long

carpenter ants are always raging through my house and they have nuptial flights right around my birthday I'm gonna try to catch a queen. #antloveforever

I heard that cephalotes ants live in my area. When do cephalotes queens fly? Please answer because cephalotes ants are my favorite. Ant love forever!

There are actually a lot of these ants. Where I lived last year, there was a huge nuptial flight in front of my house. I caught a lot so i let go about half but still had about 20 something queens. (Prenolepis Imparis)

In North America, Bracymyrmex and Solenopsis fugax fly from Aug - Nov. This is also true for Asia and Australia. You can also find semi - culustural types of Tetramorium from July-Oct.

Damn he sounds so depressed in his old vids

I live in desert and I'm having hard time searching for one.

This is great! I think we have Atta Texana in our backyard!

Im new to ant keeping and today on my first day looking for queen ants (4/24/17, on my birthday :) ) I found two queen ants (They are red). I do not know what the Species is though so I should get on that. Thank you to AntsCanada for all the help your awesome my little brother and I couldn't do it without you. We order 50 test tubes but they come in two days. hopefully the ants don't get stressed out. We just have them in a small Tupperware container.

Joe from prison school loves this channel

Is there Lasius in Kentucky?

thanks for the schedule it really helps i was trying to find these

I'm gonna be on Okinawa, Japan for a few years, and I just caught a few Pheidole queens in November-December. I'll be sure to keep my eyes open and take pics of any flights I see for species identification, and I'll list on the AC Forums. Hopefully this helps your data. I also want to join the GAN project but I think I'm the only person on this island interested in ant keeping.

I caught 2 queen today with now wings do they need male, I live in North America

I just watched a lot of your videos.. I didnt know ants were so interesting. I was killing them all the time for no reason and I feel bad now lol

i have also seen tetramorium and lasius neoniger in august-september along with crematogaster here in Ayr Ontario

love your ant videos bro you are awesome

This guy in 11:12 seems familiar!

i'd love to keep a leafcutter's collony, but they seens to be especially huge and brutal here in brazil, if you stand in their area, dude... they will know your adress and come after you :O how in hell im suposed to catch their queen?

I have a question. If u capture a female alate from her colony (which you said not to do when they're boiling out of their nest) can you put her in a test tube setup with an alate male of the same species but from a different colony?

Very useful video, thank you

Guys, also remember to watch this AC Tutorial on how to tell Queen Ants from Males and Worker Ants: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XccAZls7Hns.html then watch this Test Tube Tutorial ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HfzUILyCz8o.html and Queen Ant Care Tutorial ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JMWxDHBu0c8.html for instructions on what to do when you finally find your queen!

I found 7 at first i saw 1 then i tried to catch it then soldiers atacked me

my backyard has a small field full of plants and mostly dirt and big trees, it's humid (but dry sometimes), you think i have a chance of finding ants there?

Thank you so much for advice

Permit to catch an ant? :-D haha

hi can atone with ants help me i have never had ants befor but is thinking if buying is the blue gell cages wich is eatable good for the ants or should i go for the normal plastic ones?

You’re amazing! Thank you ♥️

can have a question I cought a elite queen ants in our yard and then I put it in a test tube and I waited for several months for the queen to lay an egg and then I saw not so much worker ants nursing the queen should I put it in their ant farm or just wait until there's many of them

Love the video.. it's a good one :D

I needed this!

Thanks I will be finding black crazy ants and solenopsis geminia tomorrow

with tetremoriom sp.e do they sting its my first time and im looking for some easy to keep ants

Do you know when bull ants are found from Australia? Im from Australia and I found a myrmecia sillima in April but im not 100% sure when they fly.

i could use some help . im trying to find a queen at the moment on the west coast i cant find any i was wondering if there are any i know the video there where so im wondering if they are on the west coast of canada.

Hi I am from India. I like your chanel. And thanks for sharing those great information..☺ I will start finding queen ant next day.

I found 3 queen ants recently, 2 different species both on my drive way and they were near an ant colony, all 3 have started to lay eggs some time in the 5 days since the capture. I may have to sell some in GAN, I will be the first GAN farmer in my area from what I can tell

thanks for the advice

Where do you find those little plastic bottles with the white caps you have used to catch them?

I caught so many queens on my birthday!!! (February 5th) I found the prenolepis imparis, they look nice to me :)

I'm just wondering if i live in the US and I badly wanted a ant spiches native to Australia. I'm to young to fly there how would I get the spiches Golden-tailed Spiny Ant - Polyrhachis (Hagiomyrma) sp., Polyrhachis ammon

Ang keeping is sorta like pokemon go, you catch the queens, then you train them or grow the colony, Habitats and nests are the pokeballs. Thats awesome

I have an old fish tank could I clean that out fill it with soil and stuff and use that as a place for my colony?

You should make another video for South America and Africa, i would apreciate that a lot! Is my first week into Ant Keeping Research and i'm a brasilian.

AntsCanada what date can i encounter an solenopsis geminata on phillphines or should i say when are they available to catch

Got my first test tube, keeping my eyes out to try to raise a colony of my own! :3

thanks for the tutorial

So many of my friends recently caught O. Smaragdina and I’m still looking ..... even though I see several colonies everyday

Thanks for the info

Hi ants Canada!I’ve been a ant keeper for over 2 years and I’ve not had one successful ant colony but I’ve had over 20 queens and I put them in the test tube and heat them up a tad bit and then leave them in a dark spot where I won’t check but idk any tips?

i was recently looking around my tree that is in my open yard and i found two ants (this is on janurary 31 BTW) one was not moving at all the other was in a hole and was just kinda sitting neither of them had wings i think that the alive one could be tetramorium sp. E but i dont know it could also be a winter ant im just wonndering if they could be queens or not I live in pennsylvania the ant that wasnt moving has just started moving its antenna, front two legs, and head do u think it could be alive it would really help if u could give me some insight. thank you

thanks this really helped.