18 replies to this topic

[ChicagoRollerDerby]

Hello fellow enthusiasts, new member here from the Chicagoland area! Found this forum via a shoutout to Drew in one of Mikey's recent videos. I see for the most part that this forum is independent, which is great news. I am not signed up as an AC GAN farmer yet, but I will be making the majority of my very young Tetramorium sp.E colonies available for sale to local residents here in the spring.

Backround: Successfully kept and raised 2 Tetra colonies as a child in home-made formicariums. Not sure what happened to either since it was such a long time ago. Almost two decades later, I've stumbled back into the hobby after YouTube recommended one of Mikey's videos. Despite being a totally random and somewhat creepy recommendation (typical of YT), watching that video last summer reignited an old spark. I've since founded 15 Tetra Sp.E colonies and 2 Camponotus Pennsylvanicus colonies.

[Connectimyrmex]

Welcome!

This forum is quite active. You can expect any of your questions or comments to be answered. I hope you enjoy!

[ChicagoRollerDerby]

Thanks Hawaiiant!

Pleasure to meet you sir!

[Connectimyrmex]

Thanks

[T.C.]

Welcome

[ParaStatic]

Hello from Upper Michigan. 

[Leo]

hello from China, Hong Kong

[Mdrogun]

Hello from the Chicagoland area (Naperville, IL)! Have you caught anything besides Tetramorium? We have tons of ants. I caught a bunch of Solenopsis molesta queens last year but all of them died

[ChicagoRollerDerby]

Thanks T.C.!

Hello ParaStatic!

Hello Leo!

[ChicagoRollerDerby]

Hello from the Chicagoland area (Naperville, IL)! Have you caught anything besides Tetramorium? We have tons of ants. I caught a bunch of Solenopsis molesta queens last year but all of them died

Hello Mdrogun! Pleasure to meet somebody so close to me! Yes, I have 2 very young Camponotus Pennsylvanicus colonies in addition to the Tetramorium (caught all around the same time). I caught two more that looked exactly like Camponotus at work, but they were a deep red and remain unidentified (I had to release them due to supervisor looking at me like I was on drugs and screaming to get back to work). Apparently we do have a bunch of ants here, which is exciting news! That's unfortunate that all of your Solenopsis died though... sorry to hear that. At 100% die off rate, it sounds like it was very much founding setup related? To be honest, I didn't even realize we had Solenopsis here because I immediately think "Fire Ants" and "SouthWest" when I hear that name.

Edited by ChicagoRollerDerby, January 21 2017 - 2:50 AM.

[antgenius123]

Welcome to the club

[ChicagoRollerDerby]

Thank You antgenius123!

[James C. Trager]

Welcome aboard, CRD! 
You Northern Illinois and other upper Midwesterners need to work with and tell us everything you learn about the various Myrmica species up there. I have a feeling they'll be interesting candidates for captive rearing and observation, but we don't get many reports on them

Edited by James C. Trager, January 30 2017 - 2:08 PM.

[Alabama Anter]

Welcome from Central Alabama! (The state that
No one gives a **** about

[dspdrew]

Welcome.

[ChicagoRollerDerby]

Welcome aboard, CRD! 
You Northern Illinois and other upper Midwesterners need to work with and tell us everything you learn about the various Myrmica species up there. I have a feeling they'll be interresting candidates for captive rearing and observation, but we don't get many reports on them

  

Thanks James! Yes, I look forward to working with Myrmica if possible. Interesting that there haven't been many reports on them, since they seem to be widespread with dozens of species in North America alone. I'm not sure which species are unique to my specific location and I've yet to find a good, easy to use map. AntKey looks like a phenomenal tool for those gifted enough to easily and accurately able to navigate through it, However, I'm no taxonomist and it was far too complex for me. What makes it worse is that apparently all the species are morphologically similar and very difficult to identify.

Welcome from Central Alabama! (The state that
No one gives a **** about

  

Hahaha... Thanks Alabama Anter! At least the weather round those parts isn't too bad this time of year?

Welcome.

Thanks Drew!! I can't wait to pick your brain. I already have a question that I've been eagerly aiming to post.

[FSTP]

Welcome From California!

[Mdrogun]

 

Hello from the Chicagoland area (Naperville, IL)! Have you caught anything besides Tetramorium? We have tons of ants. I caught a bunch of Solenopsis molesta queens last year but all of them died

Hello Mdrogun! Pleasure to meet somebody so close to me! Yes, I have 2 very young Camponotus Pennsylvanicus colonies in addition to the Tetramorium (caught all around the same time). I caught two more that looked exactly like Camponotus at work, but they were a deep red and remain unidentified (I had to release them due to supervisor looking at me like I was on drugs and screaming to get back to work). Apparently we do have a bunch of ants here, which is exciting news! That's unfortunate that all of your Solenopsis died though... sorry to hear that. At 100% die off rate, it sounds like it was very much founding setup related? To be honest, I didn't even realize we had Solenopsis here because I immediately think "Fire Ants" and "SouthWest" when I hear that name.

 

well, I didn't quite have a 100% die off rate. Probably like 98%. I had one colony that survived but I ended up trading them. The main reason they died was because the test tubes I had them in were either too big or I put too many in there (I caught about 70 queens and one of the test tubes had close to 40 queens).

[ChicagoRollerDerby]

Thanks FSTP! Appreciate the welcome!