http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mlostants.html
So in order to have an effective ant farm, do you need to have a queen ant? How do you go about finding her? I have a crapload of fire ants in my yard… and I’d love to strangle her…
There’s no succession when the queen gets whacked? There are TOO many ant questions…
how about a link to the greatest Ant pages online? Anyone?
Ant / ant farm FAQ:
http://www.antcam.com/info/faq/AntsFAQ.txt
Depends what you mean by “effective”. If you just want the entertainment value of watching a few ants for a while, you don’t need a queen, but they’ll eventually all die. That FAQ indicates says “a few months”. Note that you may not mail live queen ants in the US - ant farms stocked with ants mailed to you don’t have a queen.
So the next question is WHY can’t live queens be mailed in the US…
Great article, but Doug completely failed to mention that the orphaned insect can seek the mystical Rubber Tree Plant for salvation.
Yeah, but then they get drowned when aggresive male sheep damage local hydrological infrastructure.