Howdy y'all, I thought it a good idea to introduce myself. My name is Dawn and I am in Oregon, looking to start my own any colony. I recently found out that you're only allowed to keep endemic species of ants, which crushed my dreams of owning leafcutter ants, my one true love in the ant world. But, there are plenty of other species to love and enjoy and I am looking forward to and one of my main goals is to make some friends here in Oregon. What kind of ants do you keep? Why do you keep them? What was the biggest mistake you made with keeping them? Let me know it all!
My only experience keeping ants was when I was younger (I am 27) and they were fire ants if my memory does not fail me. They were rather large and red is most of what I can remember. I do fish keeping and I grow a lot of plants so husbandry is not new to me, but when you get a new pet it is best to check all the boxes, cross your I's and dot your T's. My personal goals with this new colony is to have it focused around Hydnophytum and pairing it with an ant that will not only live in the plant, but have a symbiotic relationship with it. Granted, they're native to SE Asia, and I can only keep Oregon ants, so it may present some issues but I am confident that something could be arranged.
Anyone from Oregon feel free to reach out! Anyone else also feel free to reach out as well~
