3 replies to this topic

[Lil-Stinkpot]

Yet another new member. I caught my first queen in February, she was running across the middle of the mat mere minutes after our martial arts class finished trying to KO each other. Lucky ant! Now I have a few more queens in test tubes, more than I can handle! I'll be trading them off soon, once I have workers.

[T.C.]

Welcome to the forum.

[Lil-Stinkpot]

Thanks!

Now that I have a longer moment, here's a list of what I'm starting with.

The lucky queen is Prenolepsis imparis, AKA false honeypot ant or winter ant.

Pheidole sp.

Solenopsis molesta -- I'm debating whether to keep these. They're super pretty, but also super tiny and great escape artists. I'm not keen on that kind of challenge yet, and have never been fond of their cousins, the pharaoh ant. Long story.

Tetramorium caespitum -- I'll probably trade this one out some time later, WAY too fast growing for me. This queen fired off a couple dozen eggs the day I caught her, eight hatched into nanitics almost immediately, and things just keep growing exponentially. She's a good momma -- too good!

2X Formica sp. -- these queens are nearly black with a silvery sheen. I like them, and appreciate that they're big enough to SEE and enjoy.

Always on the lookout for a large, bicolor species of Camponotus, preferably one that hatches out the occasional major.


I'm still reeling from the Photobucket mess. Photos won't happen for a while until I find a better host.

[sericultivist]

Great to see more Bay Area antkeepers! I live in the actual city limits of San Francisco, and so I don't have much luck finding queens just wandering around because of the argentine ant monopoly of urban areas. I'd really love to find a Prenolepis imparis queen, I just saw some workers a couple of days ago in Redwood City.