Hello everyone. I am new to ant keeping. I starting looking into it last summer to start with my young kids however i did not have any luck when searching for queens. I found 2 queens last year both i think tetramorium and 1 still had her wings but i captured her walking along the ground. She did lay eggs but nothing ever came of them. She eventually died and the other one i caught somehow damaged herself in the test tube and could only move around in circles. She died a few days later.
This year i am ready and will be hunting now that i am early in the season and can be ready for all nuptial flights.
I do have a couple of questions i am hoping you fine people can help me with. I have already found 2 queens, both by complete accident that i am already much more confident in that i was last year. However it is not even close to flight season for the types of ants i think they are so are they laying eggs that will be male elates? Neither have wings and both laid several eggs almost the next day after catching them.
The black one i caught walking up my front door so i am assuming this one is tapinoma sessile but i didn't think these were so much bigger than pavement/tetramorium. This thing is a LOT bigger than what i thought was tetramorium that i caught last year. I assumed at first it was Camponotus Pennsylvanicus, until...... a couple of days later i found a MONSTER crawling in my back yard. I found a black and red HUGE queen that i am assuming is camponotus novaeboracensis but after reading realized it could also be chromaiodes. Maybe you find people can help me out here.
The questions i have are what are my 2 species? and Do you think its possible both are mated since it may not be time for nuptial flights yet?
Edited by Intimidator, May 7 2022 - 10:18 PM.
