6 replies to this topic

[Mathiacus]

I had a nice catch up with an old friend who we have not seen in a long time. She took an interest in ants and we ended up digging up a colony from my yard for her to take home. 😃. Spreading the hobby, one person at a time.

one of us. One of us. One of us.

[dspdrew]

Well who on Earth could see YOURS and not realize how interesting and entertaining ants can be?

[Mathiacus]

This one started with a harmless little black ant. Unlike lance.. who went straight for myrmecia 😉

[DesertAntz]

How do you dig up colonies without destroying it in the process? Ant nests are so intricate in the wild I would be scared of sticking the spade of the shovel right into the queens chamber. 

 

I assume you see where the mound is and then start digging at a 5ft radius around it. I'd still be worried. 

[Crystals]

It really depends on the species, where you dig them, the soil type, amount of vegetation, among other things.  Also depends how long and deep you want to dig.

Formica in my yard in northern Canada only dig about 12" deep, Pogonomyrmex in California happily dig 8+ feet deep.

[dean_k]

Bull ants' large size and their non-black color help, I bet.

[Mathiacus]

I have a tutorial on how to dig up a nest of large agressive ants if you want to look at it desertantz. Search "so you want to dig up myrmecia" or something like that.

These little black ants from the yard that we got yesterday were less than a foot down. And there are about 3 colonies every square meter or so. Plenty of ants to practice on. 😃