20 replies to this topic

[FSTP]

Would just like to introduce myself. I'm Jess, 31 from Fresno in Central California area and I'm new to ant keeping. I've had an interest in insects and entomology my whole life but ended up going into botany. For a year or so I've been researching ant keeping and ants in general. I've been casually trying to find someone to purchase a queen from but have had little luck. So yesterday I went out anting since the day prior we had a rain storm so I thought maybe they might be flying. I was able to catch 7 queens, all solenopsis. I didn't have any test tubes since I wasn't confident I was going to find anything, being wheelchair bound I'm relegated to the pavement and walk ways. So I ended up improvising and using 10cc syringes capped with the plungers removed using cotton and water as one would in a test tube method. 

 

All the queens I caught were all on the ground walking around still with wings fairly close to known colonies. So I'm worried that they've not been fertilized. So I guess time will tell.

 

You guys seem to have a great community here, there's lots of great info to learn.

 

Thanks,

Jess

 

the ants

[dspdrew]

Welcome.

[MrPurpleB]

Welcome to the forums, hopefully you find the forums helpful. Wow, what a catch you have there.

[Solenoqueen]

How did you find them in the cold climate we have now xD

[MrPurpleB]

Global Warming. 

[Leo]

welcome dude

[FSTP]

Thanks for the warm welcome!

 

Well I was really worried that the queens I caught yesterday are unfertilized so I decided to go anting again about an hour ago. This time instead of looking for wandering queens I decided I would try and find queens that have recently constructed a claustral chamber. So I looked for tiny little freshly piled mounds of dirt. Using a stainless steel spatula tool I scooped them out. I managed to catch 7 more this way. It would have been 11, however 4 of them ran away and I wasn't able to catch them. 

 

Here is a pictures of the little mounds I would find them in:

 

 

this is the queen I found in that chamber:

 

And here are the rest of the queens. You can also see the tool I used.

 

Three days ago we had a good rain, so yesterday there was a nuptial flight. 

[MrPurpleB]

Good Job, on finding those queens.

[Canadian anter]

Those aren't solenopsis those are some type of formic in or dolichoderine
*formicine

[FSTP]

yeah these definitely look different then the ones I caught yesterday. They're all brown and black were as the ones I originally caught are black and orangey. I'll try and get macro shots of each one and post them in the ID forum.

[dspdrew]

Those are Dorymyrmex insanus. They fly almost year-round.

[Enderz]

Those are Dorymyrmex insanus. They fly almost year-round.

Really? that's cool, Drew do you know any place i should look after rain?

[Solenoqueen]

Yeah, same, but this time, near San Diego xD

[dspdrew]

Places with lots of open dirt.

[FSTP]

Thanks for the ID Drew! I really appreciate it. 

 

I found these in sandy dirt(you can see in the pic) several inches from an asphalt bike path. I could see many more claustral mounds but they were to far away from the asphalt for me to reach. 

 

-Jess

Edited by FSTP, October 30 2016 - 8:29 AM.

[Enderz]

Sucks not being able to get something so close but at least you got something. Maybe ask a friend to help you!

[T.C.]

Good job on the ant hunt and Welcome to the forum.

[NightsWebs]

sounds like you are doing well welcome to the hobby

[FSTP]

I was moving the ants to a more secure and safe area and placing the tubes in a dark box, while I was doing this I was examining the queens. I noticed a singular queen that is much different then then the Dorymyrmex insanus. She is a bit larger and her gaster is differently colored. Here is a picture. Its the best I was able to do with my cell phone.

 

 

 

[Canadian anter]

looks like dorymyrmex bicolor