First time ant keeper!

[AntsNorCal]

I discovered AntsCanada YouTube page a week ago and have been ant crazy since!

I found 3 Lasius lepites the first 3 nights I started looking and I think a Formica sp.

I did not have a proper container to put them in and all died from some season or another.

So today I'm at a job and I need to move 3 big rocks so we can start working. I had my ant container with me just in case.

I got lucky there was a colony under the third rock, I gathered up 4 queens and about 30 worker with one worker with a mouth full of new eggs!

After I got home I set them up a test tube with water and cotton, then wrapped it in dark paper to darken the tube. It only took about 10 min before the workers started dragging the queens to the tube!!

I'll try to get some pictures so I can get some help identifying them!!

[Batspiderfish]

Lasius latipes is a social parasite, FYI.

[AntsNorCal]

Lasius latipes is a social parasite, FYI.

Yes, I know thank you!!

[AntsNorCal]

10-5-16 update
I fed them a mosquito hawk and a cricket witch they happily carried back to there nest. I put some honey in there as well and they don't seem to care for it.

10-6-16 update
The colony I got from under the rock is doing well. I left them alone in there setup for two days, I decided to take a peek to see what is going on and i see a lot more eggs there's 1 more large clump 3 times larger then the one they had when I acquired them.

They are nocturnal it seems, they hide all day till it gets dark and they don't do much in the out world, maybe because they have lots of food and don't need to forage?

[MichiganAnts]

try to post some pics if you can!

[Brain007]

welcome to the ant world here...
can you share some pics of your ant keeping hobby?
it'll be great for newbies to motivate...

Cheers!

#Brain