10 replies to this topic

[AntTitan]

Hey all my fellow Idaho Ant keepers. I created this thread to discuss and talk about General ant keeping, Nuptial flights, colonies you have, and any other question or comments you may have.

[AntTitan]

One of the questions I have, and one of the reasons I made this thread is that I am new to Idaho and I wanted to ask about when ant Nuptial flights happen here and some of the species the commonly fly here. Also If you guys could tell me what some polygynous ant species here are, that would be greatly appreciated. 

[Otrebor707]

Hello same here ! New to the ID area looking for local anters . I found this https://antwiki.org/.../Cole_1934c.pdf

[AntTitan]

cool

[Otrebor707]

Found two queens . Nampa ID red was found today and the other late may * but not sure if is a Queen .

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[NickAnter]

WOW! The first one appears to be Formica curiosa, a socially parasitic queen. Not sure what else in Idaho would have that coloration.

 

The second one is likely C. hyatti.

[Otrebor707]

Thank you Nick I googled and you r right to my eyes. So Formica requires a host colony right? . Can they be set in test tube .

[NickAnter]

Yes, they can be in a test tube. I sure would love to see a journal on that sp.!

[Bern]

Hi AnTitan   ---   I'm also fairly new to ID.    Also a newbe to anting, and have been doing quite a bit looking around on the net, Utube, and some other misc. places I have found on anting.  

 

At this point (12-20-21) I am getting ideas and sort of planning on being ready when it warms up come spring.  I hope to go looking for queens in several areas.  I do quite a bit of walking and checking out various areas to check when the weather is better.

 

Wondering what area you are located in.  I live very close to Marsing, with a Caldwell address.  Within a few miles, there is farmland, forest, high mountain, and desert.  I am hoping this will give me an opportunity to find some different species.

 

I would like to meet others who are in this same general area, and kick around a few questions and ideas.  Wondering how this thread is doing, and if there is some way where some sort of communications could be set up where people could contact others in a group.  I know there are many, just nothing set up at this time, that I know of.

 

 

Thanks,  Bern

 

[Chickalo]

I've heard anting is also better with friends (plus you can share experiences).  If I remember correctly, Idaho has some pretty diverse regions to it.

 

Also, Idaho is a made up name.  Just wanted to point that out.

[antboyidaho]

I am also in the Idaho area! Nice to know there are other fellow ant keepers in Idaho. I was wondering if anyone had noticed less flights this year, I haven't seen many queen ants and was wondering if everyone else was noticing the same. I think that because it has been so cold and rainy the ants are delaying their flights until later in the year. Thanks for the responses! Just wanted to make sure that I haven't just missed the spring nuptial flights!