Ants

[carvell]

Right.

2 days ago I decided it would be a really good idea to buy an 'Antquarium' [1], "great!" I thought, "I can watch little ants crawl about and make tunnels and stuff!".

The 'Antquarium' arrived a couple of hours ago, I ripped open the packaging to reveal the Antquarium, in all its glory.

"Collect 15 ants from your garden" it read. So off I went into the garden with a head torch (it was dark..), a trowel and a small container. After much digging all I had managed to achieve was a trench you could fight a war out of and not one ant, NOT ONE!

So, I ask the all-knowing BCF (there's hope yet), where the hell do ants go in the winter, and how do i obtain them?!

I know the description says that there is a voucher which you can send off to get some ants, but:

1) I don't want to wait 28 days just for some bleeding ants.
2) I didn't get a voucher anyway.

[1] https://www.iwantoneofthose.com/ProductDetails.aspx?language=en-GB&product=ANTQUA
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Yamaha TDM 850

[Jay]

Have you tried stamping on loose slabs in the garden, or even those little metal cover things on the pavements where the main water switch is.

Usually get loads out of places like that. Of course I only used to do stuff like this when I was a young boy.
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4 out of 5 people SUFFER from
diarrhea.Does that mean the 5th one enjoys it?

[Susi]

There's ants in the winter? Don't they sleep or something?

You could always try leaving sugar trails all over your garden and then wait a few hours to see if anything happens. Then again considering it's December and we get rain instead of snow, it'll probably washed away at some point and your hard work would have gone to waste.

So anyways I Google for "Where to find ants in the Winter" and came up with some interesting bits:

When it become cold outside in late fall, the ants move deep into the nest looking for a warm place. Millepedes and springtails living in a litter sometimes hibernate during winter in a shallow place in the nest. The exit becomes closed naturally with soil and sands during this period.

Ants living in the soil pass winter deep in the nest. Some species pass winter gathered together in a place that is not so cold, such as beneath the bark of a tree, inside a plant, or in a gap in the base of a tree.

Most types of ants do not eat food during winter. They survive the winter utilizing the fat accumulated during fall. However, the Messor aciculatus ant stores many grass seeds in the stock-piling chamber of the nest during fall and remains in the nest during winter.
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Sometimes, I like to think I'm 'spe-cial'.

[The BeefMeister]

When I was younger I used to play round the garden with me little toy cars etc. If I saw one ant, that would lead to another one and then I'd end up right next to a ants nest. Great!

Also look for little holes in paving slabs and you should get some by stamping on the as >Jay said.
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"Put your hands up motherstickers, this is a f*ck up!"

[Mrs_Hippy]

Basically you have chosen the wrong time to set one up but you might find this site helpfull:

https://www.antcam.com/

There are places online where you can order ants, worms and ladybirds but that too would envolve waiting.