Why do ant have to mate with the queen!?

Question

You see i have these ants that i look after in a tub and they wont mate so i was wondering if anyone could tell me why because i havent got a queen and i dont know where to find one!! plz answer all of my questions thatnks xx libby xx

Answer 1

Only the queen will reproduce..........she gives off a chemical that tells the ants to only mate with her....in plain English

Answer 2

It may be because they only live in a tub, are you sure the conditions are right for them?

I found this:

Ants form highly organised colonies, which may occupy large territories and consist of millions of individuals that are mostly sterile females forming castes of "workers", "soldiers", or other specialised groups. Ant colonies also have some fertile males called "drones" and one or more fertile females called "queens". The colonies are sometimes described as superorganisms because ants appear to operate as a unified entity, collectively working together to support the colony.

Most ant species have a system in which only the queen and breeding females have the ability to mate. Contrary to popular belief, some ant nests have multiple queens while others can exist without queens. Workers with the ability to reproduce are called "gamergates" and colonies that lack queens are then called gamergate colonies; colonies with queens are said to be queen-right.[45] The winged male ants, called drones, emerge from pupae along with the breeding females (although some species, like army ants, have wingless queens), and do nothing in life except eat and mate. During the short breeding period, the reproductives, excluding the colony queen, are carried outside where other colonies of similar species are doing the same. Then, all the winged breeding ants take flight. Mating occurs in flight and the males die shortly afterwards. Females of some species mate with multiple males. Mated females then seek a suitable place to begin a colony. There, they break off their wings and begin to lay and care for eggs. The females store the sperm they obtain during their nuptial flight to selectively fertilise future eggs. The first workers to hatch are weak and smaller than later workers, but they begin to serve the colony immediately. They enlarge the nest, forage for food and care for the other eggs. This is how new colonies start in most species. Species that have multiple queens may have a queen leaving the nest along with some workers to found a colony at a new site.

Answer 3

I BELIEVE THEY MAY BE ALL MALE ANTS...AND NORMALLY THE QUEEN IS ALWAYS THE ONLY FEMALE..BUT I'M NOT SURE BUT I BELIEVE I HEARD THAT ON THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL A LONG TIME AGO

Answer 4

Well did you see the Queen in her heyday? I'd have liked to mate with the Queen. Plus you get a palace thrown in for free. No contest.