20 replies to this topic

[jushi]

Hello! Just wondering when to catch T. Sessile queens/how to care for them! My whole backyard is covered in a super colony of these guys and I'm eager to get a colony of my own started! I love keeping "pest" ants because colonies are extremely easy to care for. I couldn't find any info on YouTube or these forums, so any and all help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much! :)

[Antkid12]

I have a 2 queen colony of these guys, and they are fairly easy to keep, except for the part that they are escape artists. Just feed them sweet liquids and crushed liquids. Another cool thing about these guys is that they can inbreed! so you can have many, many, queens if you keep them for a long time.

[AntsDakota]

Hello! Just wondering when to catch T. Sessile queens/how to care for them! My whole backyard is covered in a super colony of these guys and I'm eager to get a colony of my own started! I love keeping "pest" ants because colonies are extremely easy to care for. I couldn't find any info on YouTube or these forums, so any and all help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!

I would dig up a nest. They are known to have nuptial flights sometimes, but they usually bud, meaning colonies will split up into new ones. If you found one queen, that would be more than enough to found a large supercolony.

[AntsMaryland]

I have a roughly 20 queen colony of these guys. Make sure to feed them a large variety of sweets and some protein every once in awhile. 

[ANTdrew]

Just look under rocks and logs, and you’re bound to find many, many queens. I have them invading my house all the time, so I have no interest in keeping them.

[AntsDakota]

They are invading my house as well, although that is only one of two colonies I’ve ever seen around here, so I am interested in keeping them.

[PurdueEntomology]

Depending on your geographic location, usually in leaf litter in a sunny location you will find colonies now.  Just have a  fluon-lined tray and scoop up the leaves and dump into tray.  If you have an aspirator use that to collect gyne/gynes and then get the workers you want with brood.  Right now most colonies will have both reproductive and worker brood.  I use a fluon-lined tray to collect them, I do am studying them for my masters.  Actually a fluon -lined tray works great to collect all kinds of  species if you go that root as you can place pieces of wood, soil etc in them, sort through without ants escaping.  using an aspirator works great but with Tapinoma  sessile they release volatiles and you will breath them in so it could be discomforting.

[Mdrogun]

In my backyard I also have a massive colony of the polygynous variety. Earlier in the year, sometime in Early April, I set out stones in my mulched area that gets a lot of sun. Yesterday I checked them and could of got thousands of queens and many thousands of workers, haha. That's probably the best strategy you could use right now. All you need to do is simply scoop em up, use fluon to contain them like PurdueEntomology also suggested, and let the material dry out over the course of a few days or a week so that they're forced to move into some kind of artificial setup. 

[PurdueEntomology]

In my backyard I also have a massive colony of the polygynous variety. Earlier in the year, sometime in Early April, I set out stones in my mulched area that gets a lot of sun. Yesterday I checked them and could of got thousands of queens and many thousands of workers, haha. That's probably the best strategy you could use right now. All you need to do is simply scoop em up, use fluon to contain them like PurdueEntomology also suggested, and let the material dry out over the course of a few days or a week so that they're forced to move into some kind of artificial setup. 

Yes, T. sessile will definitely move into tubes with cotton/water after a few days if leaf litter dries out.

[AntsMaryland]

There is a giant polygynous colony of Tapinoma sessile in my backyard, and they love to congregate against a flowerbed that is up against my house. On a sunny day, I just scoops up a big chunk of that dirt that I saw them making trails out of… and caught a ton of them. And walaa – now I have my prisoners… I mean pet colony...

[jushi]

I might actually dig up a colony of these guys. They're invasive where I live and they are constantly out competing other native ants, so I'm not very worried about that. I've heard they make shallow nests like Linepithema humile. I'll let you know how it goes!

[AntsDakota]

I might actually dig up a colony of these guys. They're invasive where I live and they are constantly out competing other native ants, so I'm not very worried about that. I've heard they make shallow nests like Linepithema humile. I'll let you know how it goes!

Well, Tapinoma sessile are actually natives across North America. Any competition you're seeing should be natural.

[jushi]

 

I might actually dig up a colony of these guys. They're invasive where I live and they are constantly out competing other native ants, so I'm not very worried about that. I've heard they make shallow nests like Linepithema humile. I'll let you know how it goes!

Well, Tapinoma sessile are actually natives across North America. Any competition you're seeing should be natural.

 

Sorry wrong choice of words I think. Better way to put it would be incredibly prolific, not invasive

[jushi]

Just dug up a small colony of them. They are currently in a bin with an escape proof barrier. I've seen the ants cross it though, so I'm a bit worried. There is an Ants Aus nest in the bin and I'm hoping any queens or workers will move in! I checked up on them this morning, and they are currently nesting under a slab of dirt and grass. I'm hoping they move in soon. I'm a bit worried I dug up a satellite nest, but fingers crossed.

[AntsDakota]

I would assume even some satellite nests would contain queens.

[PurdueEntomology]

I would assume even some satellite nests would contain queens.

That is not necessarily the case with T. sessile.  

[AntsDakota]

I said some, not all.

[steam_funk]

I have caught 5 queens. They seem to prefer to fly in late evening to nighttime they also flew more when it was humid.

[jushi]

UPDATE: 

They are still nesting under the soil I caught them in! They have made tunnels and chambers and have been really hard at work! I still don't know if they have a queen in the colony yet, and I haven't seen any signs that there even is one. I also caught what could either be a T. Sessile queen or a Lasius Umbratus queen. Figuring I have nothing to lose here since I'm pretty sure they don't have a queen, I placed her in the setup. I checked up on them a few times since, and found her wandering around their nest, and I eventually saw her find the nest entrance. A few workers noticed her and seemed a bit distressed. Fingers crossed they accept her! If these ants really don't have a queen they might accept her as a queen from one of the neighboring colonies. If it is a social parasite, I've actually seen Tapinoma Sessile become hosts so this should work as well. In a week or so, the soil should dry out and they should move into the Ants Aus nest I put in for them. That should give me a good look at how many I actually captured. 

 

I will be making a journal on these guys, so stay tuned!

[AntsDakota]

Post an ID request for the queen.