2454 replies to this topic

[AntObserver]

Anting today at Daley Ranch near Escondido, CA. Wish me luck!

Assuming nothing? Any luck?

Edited by AntObserver, June 30 2023 - 1:44 PM.

[AntObserver]

Pogonomyrmex flew today, I caught 25 of them

Hey Tank, did you catch them via digging them up?

Edited by AntObserver, June 30 2023 - 1:51 PM.

[Tanks]

 

Pogonomyrmex flew today, I caught 25 of them

Hey Tank, did you catch them via digging them up?

 

I caught one queen by digging, all the others were just walking around.

[Tanks]

Do you guys know any spots in or within a 45 minute drive of LA county that are good places to catch honey pot queens?

[AntObserver]

Place I’m going to is about 1hr and 15 from LA. Just over the Los Angeles mountains and into desert country. Will see what’s around tomorrow and will post results.

[AntsCali098]

Do you guys know any spots in or within a 45 minute drive of LA county that are good places to catch honey pot queens?

The southern CA ant map that Drew made may help

https://www.formicul...alifornia-ants/

[Tanks]

 

Do you guys know any spots in or within a 45 minute drive of LA county that are good places to catch honey pot queens?

The southern CA ant map that Drew made may help

https://www.formicul...alifornia-ants/

 

Do you know of any way to filter it by species?

[Jonathan5608]

Do you guys know any spots in or within a 45 minute drive of LA county that are good places to catch honey pot queens?

The southern CA ant map that Drew made may help
https://www.formicul...alifornia-ants/

Do you know of any way to filter it by species?

Use INaturalist

Edited by Jonathan5608, July 2 2023 - 2:45 PM.

[AntObserver]

Found a few large colonies, few dead queens, but not as many founding chambers as I was hoping for. The soil was too hard to dig deep enough to get anything. So I just collected a bunch of decor for Formicarium builds and called it a day! Of course it was a heat wave the day I went out. The heavy rains for first half of year seems to have kinda thrown the nuptial flights off.

[FinWins]

On June 18th I found 11 Pogonomyrmex californicus at my local park and on July 1st I went to Palomar mountain and caught four all red Pogonomyrmex sp. queens. 

[ReignofRage]

Likely P. subnitidus.

[FinWins]

Likely P. subnitidus.

probably

[100lols]

Anting today at Daley Ranch near Escondido, CA. Wish me luck!

Assuming nothing? Any luck?

No luck but saw two different sp. of Myrmecocystus and a tiny Pheidole sp. as well. Beautiful spot that I will likely try again when conditions are better.

Good luck mates!

[CAantz]

My weather app says that it is supposed to rain 50 percent in Joshua tree from tomorrow to next Tuesday. I am assuming that it
would be perfect weather for hunting for queens, however looking online, there is no evidence of rain there. Is my weather app just wrong?

[100lols]

I didn't see anything @CAantz

This weather in San Diego has the ants flying in my neighborhood. Solenopsis Xyloni, Solenopsis Molesta, and Nylanderia vividula.

Craziest thing, had a nuptial flight of Nylanderia vividula in my kitchen

Edited by 100lols, July 12 2023 - 8:21 PM.

[CAantz]

Yah, there are a lot of small ants flying I just caught a bunch of thief ant queens with my backlight.

[100lols]

As a newbie to anting, seeing all this ant action is pretty exciting lol.

One of my short term goals at the moment is to capture some Myrmecocystus queens.

[dspdrew]

Found a few large colonies, few dead queens, but not as many founding chambers as I was hoping for. The soil was too hard to dig deep enough to get anything. So I just collected a bunch of decor for Formicarium builds and called it a day! Of course it was a heat wave the day I went out. The heavy rains for first half of year seems to have kinda thrown the nuptial flights off.

 

Typically in the desert, you won't find any queens unless it's rained recently.

[AntObserver]

Typically in the desert, you won't find any queens unless it's rained recently.

Correct for most desert species. This year has just been unusual with all the consistent rain for first half of year. Usually we get that summer rain in end of June-July which is money but this years a bit odd. And of course it’s the year I need a new Queen Mexicanus for my year old Orphan colony.

Has anyone found any Mexicanus this year?

Edited by AntObserver, July 16 2023 - 7:27 AM.

[dspdrew]

The summer monsoon season usually starts in late June and goes until the end of September. There are usually a few times during this period that the moisture pushes all the way into the desert in Southern CA and causes the popup thunderstorms we need for most mating flights in the desert.