Hello from the Bluegrass State!

Meet and Greet for New Members

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dinoman9877
Posts: 77
Joined: Sat Sep 17, 2016 7:03 pm
Location: Covington, Kentucky

Hello from the Bluegrass State!

Post: # 11255Post dinoman9877
Sat Sep 17, 2016 11:37 pm

Hi all! I'm an ant enthusiast from Kentucky, just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio! I'm sadly poor and in college so the idea of me keeping ants is a distant dream, but I love everything about them and want to learn a ton more about them! :D

PotatoDelight
Posts: 24
Joined: Sun Sep 18, 2016 6:13 pm
Location: Southern IN USA

Re: Hello from the Bluegrass State!

Post: # 11401Post PotatoDelight
Sun Sep 18, 2016 9:57 pm

Ayy. Welcome fellow n00b. Im about 1/2 a mile outside of Kentucky (louisville). Most of my family lives in kentucky. So i consider my self a HoosierBilly. (lol)

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AntMomo
Posts: 64
Joined: Sun Jul 24, 2016 7:28 am
Location: Wisconsin

Re: Hello from the Bluegrass State!

Post: # 11404Post AntMomo
Sun Sep 18, 2016 10:30 pm

Welcome! Hope you're able to learn a lot for the future : )

mrkingcasey

Re: Hello from the Bluegrass State!

Post: # 11416Post mrkingcasey
Mon Sep 19, 2016 1:05 am

Hi, I'm from Kentucky as well. Louisville to be exact. I've recently developed an interest in ants after watching some AntsCanada videos. I'm hoping to still be able to catch a queen this year.

By the way, do you know if any ants are still flying in the area? I was going to go looking for a queen tomorrow.

dinoman9877
Posts: 77
Joined: Sat Sep 17, 2016 7:03 pm
Location: Covington, Kentucky

Re: Hello from the Bluegrass State!

Post: # 11417Post dinoman9877
Mon Sep 19, 2016 1:20 am

I'm gonna have to hazard a guess to say that the queens are in the ground or eaten at this point. It's starting to get colder already, and it's getting dark faster. I'm gonna have to say I'm glad I missed this years flight, or didn't consider raising ants a possibility this year. It gives me time to figure out the logistics of what species I want to look for, what I'm going to do for housing them, where I'm going to put them, all that jazz.

I know from some digging that the Camponotus (Carpenter ants) are all buried by now, they supposedly finished their flights by July. If you're looking for easy genera to raise, I've been told that Lasius and Tetramorium are good as well. I believe Lasius niger, aka the common black ant, finished their flights by last month, but I'm ALSO seeing that the queens can be found well into November if you're lucky.

dinoman9877
Posts: 77
Joined: Sat Sep 17, 2016 7:03 pm
Location: Covington, Kentucky

Re: Hello from the Bluegrass State!

Post: # 11418Post dinoman9877
Mon Sep 19, 2016 1:32 am

(Can't edit last post)

Tetramorium finished about the same time as the Camponotus, so Lasius is the only one left that could be gotten from what I've seen. Now, again, I'm not sure how this information holds for Kentucky, we seem to be the special snowflake state a lot of the time when it comes to weather, so the ants could be mating early or late for all we know. I mean, especially after last winter, since it didn't even constitute being called winter half the time.

I'm going to wait until next year I think. I have to find out a place to put the colony because the only place with any decent space is next to our bedrooms or the kitchen, so on the chance there's a breakout, we either get ants in our mattress or ants in our pantry. Either one is not good.

We're looking to cleaning out our basement, but I'm not sure how raising an ant colony in the basement of a Kentucky home that is also right next to a forest, thus is bound to and has attracted plenty of wild insects and arachnids, is going to go.

Double edit: I just rechecked my facts. I think now is, like, the perfect time to be looking for Lasisus in North America. Oh temptation...

PotatoDelight
Posts: 24
Joined: Sun Sep 18, 2016 6:13 pm
Location: Southern IN USA

Re: Hello from the Bluegrass State!

Post: # 11425Post PotatoDelight
Mon Sep 19, 2016 5:46 am

Lasius fflights ended in august so you may be able to find a queen or two but it would be unlikely and i think the likelyhood it mated is slim so i wouldnt even bother with searching. But you might want to try if you cant wait for next year.

dinoman9877
Posts: 77
Joined: Sat Sep 17, 2016 7:03 pm
Location: Covington, Kentucky

Re: Hello from the Bluegrass State!

Post: # 11435Post dinoman9877
Mon Sep 19, 2016 9:11 am

I read that flights for species like Lasius niger don't start until autumn, in America that is. And it's autumn now.

PotatoDelight
Posts: 24
Joined: Sun Sep 18, 2016 6:13 pm
Location: Southern IN USA

Re: Hello from the Bluegrass State!

Post: # 11456Post PotatoDelight
Mon Sep 19, 2016 12:33 pm

Hmm... everychart i had looked at said they ended august. But apparently each species of lasius has very different schedules. You may be able to find some but they will need to hibernate soon.

dinoman9877
Posts: 77
Joined: Sat Sep 17, 2016 7:03 pm
Location: Covington, Kentucky

Re: Hello from the Bluegrass State!

Post: # 11469Post dinoman9877
Mon Sep 19, 2016 2:55 pm

Well I'm still trying to find everything out. I'm hoping a small Lasius nest and outworld will be enough to start them with come spring, but I need to get a space cleared for them and then determine how much maintenance they'll need in a basement, which I assume will be significantly higher thanks to lower ambient temperature.

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