The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

I'm new to ant love. Like, brand spanking new. I only recently started thinking about having my own ant colony someday because I stumbled across a video from AntsCanada, and got totally drawn in.

I'm from Michigan, near the Jackson area, and I've been trying to figure out what species I should start researching about, as well as what species are around my area in general. I'd probably not be starting one until my 5 month old is much much older, so I have years to study up and learn before I get into it.

So my questions are:

1)What species can I find in my area?

2)What species would you suggest a newbie start with?

Welcome to the community Wolfsong,

I'm also new to this wonderful hobby. I'm going to be searching for my first queen this coming nuptial flight. Since I'm new, without doubt I know the more experienced members of the community will have much more enlightening replies. However, I have learned of a website that shows all the ants in a specific area. Many users on AntsCanada use this website: http://www.antmaps.org

As for the best beginner species of ant: I can not speak with full certainty, but I believe Mikey discusses this topic in one of his YouTube videos in the tutorial section. Also, I know for a fact the north american ants are a lot easier to handle compared to the tropical ones Mikey and many others handle.

Best of luck with your child, I hope the whole family enjoys the ant keeping experience!

Dreslin

With the map, is there a way to see without searching every species individually?

The "diversity view" provides a list of all native ants in the region.

So I've been trying the Antmaps...but I can not for the life of me figure out how to get a list of ants in the different areas. I'm on mobile, does anyone know how to use the site with mobile that may be able to help?

Wolfsong wrote:So I've been trying the Antmaps...but I can not for the life of me figure out how to get a list of ants in the different areas. I'm on mobile, does anyone know how to use the site with mobile that may be able to help?

Ohhhhh. There's your problem.

Batspiderfish wrote:

Wolfsong wrote:So I've been trying the Antmaps...but I can not for the life of me figure out how to get a list of ants in the different areas. I'm on mobile, does anyone know how to use the site with mobile that may be able to help?

Ohhhhh. There's your problem.

Yeah you need to do it on PC to click on the country/state and it gives you the list.