8 replies to this topic

[Okeedoke22]

1st picture is a queen collected at a big wooded park.
New York
9mm
Brown color.
Pretty sure it's Lasius Flavus.

2nd picture is a Queen caught in my back yard. Our house is in the city but the neighborhood has quiet a few big cemeteries. My house actually backs up to 1.
8mm
Black color.

2nd queen My 12 year old son was hitting off the tee in our yard and said he seen queen land next to him. By the time he bent down the wings were gone. He wasn't even sure it was a queen as he really isn't interested in them. He caught it a called me. I told him look for more. He found a total of 3.
Thank you in advance!

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[123LordOfAnts123]

First is a parasitic Lasius claviger, and the second Tetramorium caespitum.

[Okeedoke22]

Thank you

[Okeedoke22]

Just found another 2 Tetramorium Queens in my yard. I put them together because I am low on test tubes. I know a few people have done this but it sounds risky.

[Okeedoke22]

I found 8 more Tetramorium Queens in my back yard. Actually found 10 but I need to order more test tube before I collect anymore queens.  I have 14 Tetramorium queens so I really don't need anymore.  Maybe I will just collect them to trade or give away to people new to hobby.  It would be nice to help someone new to Anting.  So funny how many Queens I can find now that I know what I'm looking for. Last year I had no clue and they were right under my nose.  Thank you all for that. 

 

Yesterday I found 6 bunched up together with a clutch of eggs.  I thought this was pretty cool as these queens were helping each other. They had to be there at least a few days.  I have a blow up kid pool that I let the air out to clean last weekend. I started to clean it but then left it laying on floor with pool cover over it. They must have thought that was a good founding chamber. I lifted the pool cover and they were in the empty pool.  I really should have taken a picture but I wanted to make sure to catch them. Weird thing is they didn't try to run. I put them all in same test tube since they were together already.  Hoping to get at least 3 good colonies going from all these queens. 

[Loops117]

Be careful though. Tetra queen can start off together, but i was told they'll kill off the weaker queens once the colony starts to thrive. As for collecting extras for noobs, love the idea. I've been keeping all the queens i can in hopes to be a GAN farmer, and helping out others start in the hobby.

[Okeedoke22]

Be careful though. Tetra queen can start off together, but i was told they'll kill off the weaker queens once the colony starts to thrive. As for collecting extras for noobs, love the idea. I've been keeping all the queens i can in hopes to be a GAN farmer, and helping out others start in the hobby.

Yes. Definitely sounds like only 1 queen remains at the end. I was going to try to separate them before that.  Hoping it goes as planned

[Loops117]

I housed my tetra queens together at first, and they groomed each other like they wanted to stay together. But the end result would have been possibly one less queen and a faster starting colony. Also, i've read that these queens almost need a substrate rather then a casted nest. To test this, 2 of mine will go in dirt nests, and the other 3 will go in pre-cast nests.

[Mdrogun]

I housed my tetra queens together at first, and they groomed each other like they wanted to stay together. But the end result would have been possibly one less queen and a faster starting colony. Also, i've read that these queens almost need a substrate rather then a casted nest. To test this, 2 of mine will go in dirt nests, and the other 3 will go in pre-cast nests.

I've always kept my queens in a test tube setup and they did fine. These are probably the easiest queens to raise just make sure you don't disturb them too much.