7 replies to this topic

[thosaka]

When I first got into ant keeping 3 years ago, I tried to look for some queen, but came out with nothing. It was very discouraging. Since then, I just wanted to give up ant keeping altogether. Then, for some weird reason, maybe because of spring fever, I decided to try this one more time, but go all out, on a 10 hr hunt. I had low expectations going into it again, but with the help from you guys, the motivation grew again. I drove to Cleveland National Forest in San Diego County for an hour at 10 am. I had no luck the first 7 hrs, but I decided to go early just in case to see if there were any mating going on early in the day. I was desperate. I couldn't find any queens. I saw a lot of big black beetles, small black beetles, flies, earwigs, and lots of ants, big and small, but no queen in sight. Of course, I was talking to myself how much of a loser I am at this point. I even dug 1 or 2 holes that had a lot of ants coming out of them, about 6 inches down. No luck there either, as I only saw worker ants by the hundreds. I decided I shouldn't dig anymore holes at this point because I didn't want to ruin their nest. I, then decided to dig the ones that had a little bit of dirt around the hole expecting to maybe see a queen because it would have been a fresh one and the queen wouldn't have dug that deep if there was little dirt around it. I hit jackpot! The first one was not the biggest, but a decent sized black colored queen. There were more holes with very little dirt around. My heart was pounding. I dug more holes in the same area. Nothing. I tried a few more holes, and got lucky. A huge orange colored queen. At 9 p.m, I rechecked to make sure there weren't any ants flying around, before deciding to call it quits for the night. I came out with 4 queen, 3 without wings, and 1 with wings. This was euphoria. I will attach some pictures later.

 

Cleveland National Forest 3/12/2017 11:00 AM - 9:00 PM

[soulsynapse]

Congratulations!!

[thosaka]

Congratulations!!

Thanks soul. The poma road you told me to go to worked out. A little past it, there was a hiking trail entrance.

[T.C.]

Congrats on getting them queens. I as well stopped for almost three years. Then just kind of wandered back to the hobby after seeing yuku forums died and formiculture had exploded in size. Really was just bored and was doing some browsing that day.

[nurbs]

Don't let one outing discourage you. Can't tell you how many times I've driven 1-3 hours somewhere and came back with nothing, on a hunch there would be something there. It's part of the game, if you can call it that. It's why Drew has that ant spotting/mating thread, so we as a community can share where the flights are instead of blindly driving out somewhere.

 

But yeah, once you find something, it's exciting. Like playing Pokemon GO but way better

Edited by nurbs, March 12 2017 - 9:55 PM.

[thosaka]

Don't let one outing discourage you. Can't tell you how many times I've driven 1-3 hours somewhere and came back with nothing, on a hunch there would be something there. It's part of the game, if you can call it that. It's why Drew has that ant spotting/mating thread, so we as a community can share where the flights are instead of blindly driving out somewhere.

 

But yeah, once you find something, it's exciting. Like playing Pokemon GO but way better

Oh man. That's why, in a way, it is kinda of more fun to go out with a friend like how you and Drew, and soul are doing, but of course, you kinda have to divide the queens, but if you guys come out with nothing, you had someone to talk to and share the same experience with, so it all works out. I agree, way better than pokemon GO.   10 hrs alone sure felt like an eternity.

Edited by Tagassi, March 12 2017 - 10:20 PM.

[dspdrew]

Nice job. You wouldn't believe how many hours I've spent anting alone.

[Jelly]

congrats on the finds! If i have the time I'm always down to team up for an ant hunt btw!