I live in Florida 20 miles away from Jacksonville in a suburban area and I'm very interested in keeping ants as a hobby because I have no pets, I wanted to start with Camponotus ants because I prefer bigger ants and a slower growing colony without a complete swarm of ants. Most of the ants I see are all RIFAs, other ant species are pretty uncommon because in the suburbs here, the soil in front yards aren't very suited for most species of ants for some reason so the only ants I see in front yards and pavements are RIFAs, any other species of ants I have ever seen here are all in my backyard because it is less effected by human activities. Despite how common fire ant queens are around summer and autumn, there is no way I am keeping a species of ants that is so aggressive.
I have seen presumably two species of Camponotus ant workers in my backyard. First one I assumed to be Camponotus floridanus, I have only saw two ants of this species in my backyard (so they probably don't live in my yard), a worker and a major. They have relatively skinny and long bodies with a color of bright red, orange and black, they are huge in size compared to RIFAs.
The second species that is presumably in the genus Camponotus is unidentified. They are a bit smaller in size compared to the other species but are still much larger than RIFAs. Unlike the other species, I think these ants actually live in my backyard (or at least the one next to mine), they are almost foraging everywhere around my backyard. I think they are Carpenter ants main because of their size, I've done some research, which says that Camponotus ants loves sweet food like honey from flowers and also sort of does a "conga line" with fellow sisters sometimes to enhance their ability of finding food. These are exactly what the ants in my backyard does, they feed on a yellow wild flower's nectar that grows in my backyard and also follow each other a lot while foraging in a line of 2-3.
Other species in my backyard are: what seems to be a small Ponera colony, so I don't think it will be producing alates this year, and a very very small species of black ants that I managed to catch a few winged queens from a few days ago in the early morning (queens are about less than 4mm in length and workers are around 1mm), I have two of those queens together right now in a test tube setup but I think they are likely infertile but even if they are fertile I don't think I can handle a species this small.
There is a very old wooden gate in my backyard that leads to the woods with some rotten logs and I went there a few days ago breaking dead logs with a hammer in search of Camponotus queens (I found none because Carpenter ant queens aren't in season right now in Florida). The place is very overgrown, full of tall grass, pine needles stacked upon pine needles over many years, and creepy crawlies I'd like to avoid contact with. I think it's very unlikely that any queens will actually inhabit the logs when the time comes because I don't see any ant activity in the woods at all. But I really don't know what else I can do to find Carpenter ant queens, perhaps the more common Carpenter ants in my backyard are a ground-dwelling species. I could go to local parks and try my luck or just try to find dead trees at the side of the road, whatever I do I really want to find a Camponotus queen ant and raise my own colony.
If there's anybody here who lives in Florida and has any experience you would like to share with me related to Camponotus or other ants here I'd greatly appreciate it.
