3 replies to this topic

[Bugmomma]

Anyone selling ants in Virginia? My son needs a new colony!

[bmb1bee]

Anyone selling ants in Virginia? My son needs a new colony!

ANTdrew is from Virginia, though I'm not sure if he has any available around now. 

[ANTdrew]

I unfortunately do not.

[rptraut]

Hello Bugmomma;

 

I applaud you for helping your son with his ant keeping efforts.    My mother was deathly afraid of most of the critters I brought home and kept in my room.    For the longest time I told her there was a chameleon loose there and she never once tried to clean my room.   My privacy was secured for years by an imaginary lizard!

 

Seriously though, this is not the best time of year to acquire a colony.    Here, in Canada, most colonies are in diapause, resting for the winter.    I'm pretty sure it's the same in Virginia.   Anyone with colonies has them in storage and shipping in winter is always risky.    You're better off to wait until spring to buy a colony; in the meantime, you should research the ants you want to keep.    This forum and the search function is a good place to start.  

 

I first learned about ants by watching the colonies around my home.   I knew where the big colonies were and although I didn't know their names, I learned their habits as I watched them day to day.    In my Journal located here   RPT's Journal - Ant Keeping Journals - Ants & Myrmecology Forum     and in other posts, I document how I've acquired colonies that I originally found living in a hollow walnut or a hollow acorn.   I've also lured entire colonies into a formicarium.   There are many ways to learn about ants and acquire a colony.    Plan a strategy now for spring.

 

By far the most rewarding way to get a colony is to start with a fertilized queen that you've found or captured during a nuptial flight.    Using the test tube method, that queen will raise her first ants and begin your new colony.   Even though you may not find any queens, I'm sure there are other ant enthusiasts like ANTdrew that will be finding them.   You'll probably get a more positive response if you look to buy a queen after their nuptial flights and people have queens to sell.    Until then, do your research, begin a Journal of your own, find out the likely times for nuptial flights of the ant colonies in your area.     I stopped actively looking for queens a while ago and I still had five queens cross my path this year.    Just knowing what to look for and when to look for them is often the biggest challenge.   The second biggest challenge, I find, is to remember to always bring a small collecting bottle with a piece of paper in it.    Use the paper to scoop up your treasure and direct her into the bottle.   Not every queen is successful, so get five or six if you can, hurry home and get them into test tube setups and your ant keeping journey has begun.   Good Luck

RPT