South Carolina Queen Catching

[Antlover84]

So I live in South Carolina, right on the Northwest state line with North Carolina. I just got into antkeeping this September, and i've searched for weeks on end now to no avail. (I got one queen but how I lost her is a complicated story). What seems to be killing me here is lack of knowledge. I have a few scraps of recommended videos and advice, but nothing definite on the ant species of South Carolina! If I could figure out the species, I could figure out their nuptial flights, and finally know when to catch queens in my area. The biggest two factors that keep me guessing though, despite research are these: One, our winters here are incredibly wild, as you can have it be 40F one day, and 60F the next! Or a 70F day in late December. (Yes that happened once). Will wants here even hibernate at all since our winters can sometimes blow over with fairly warm temperatures? Two, my biggest concern of all: SC, ESPECIALLY upstate SC has a LOT of fire ants. Like, a lot a lot, like, WOW. So will this massive population of fire ants smother my chances of finding my first egg-laying queen? Any help is appreciated!

-Antlover84

[Jharrell23867]

Try Antmaps.org it will tell you what species of ants live in your state & you can copy & paste the species names into google to find out more info on the individual species that live in your state that way...

Just look in areas away from the fire ants if your not looking for fire ant queens... fire ants from my experience tend to leave a trail of satellite nests from open dry locations like fields & playgrounds that you can almost always follow to a body of water somewhere. Like try going into the woods & flipping over rocks & logs or even breaking open rotten wood. Heck come your yard or take a walk around the block on a sunny day that follows a rainy day & you might find some queens wondering around...