C. Pennsylvanicus Journal, My first
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2018 3:48 pm
Hey guys,
I'm AmatureAnt, and this is my journal! I've never had a journal, let alone one about ants, but i'm going to give it a try. Ill start with my story of how i got into ants.. and honestly.. i don't know.
One day i was on the internet, and i fell into a Youtube hole. I have no idea how i stumbled onto ant videos, but they intrigued me, and i eventually came to AntsCanada. It was amazing, and instantly i was enthralled. I spent the next 3 days watching everything i could on AntsCanada. I then moved onto ant keeping videos, and i thought, id love to own a colony. I've never been into bugs, they all basically creep me out, but ants and i have always had a good relationship with one another. They truly are fascinating creatures, and I've always respected them more than other bugs. I have cats, and a 7 foot boa constrictor, and I've given them a great life, so i know i could also raise ants and do them justice.
I began looking for queens to buy, i inquired through the GAN project my first year, but i never found any sellers. The next year, after hibernation, i was once again watching ant videos, due to the wake up videos, either on AC channel, or other ant keepers. I began looking to find sellers again, and just never could. In GAN projects defense, i had only inquired 3 times total. I eventually lost interest, and i stopped watching videos. Id occasionally would watch the random weekly AC vid, but thats about it. That year too came to a close, now its 2018, and something amazing happened!
For some reason, this was my year. Other than contacting the GAN project, i was keeping an eye out for wild queens. I went on a few outings solely to search for queens, but never had any luck. Well, my luck changed, A LOT. One day i was on my porch, sitting and enjoying the day, and out of the corner of my eye, i seen movement. I inspected, expecting to find some sort of weird bug, it was large, and had wings. I immediately was like... no way, is this a queen?! IT WAS! It was a Camponotus Pennsylanicus, and she was 2 cm long! I had never seen an ant that big in my life. I was vastly under prepared to have her enter my life though. I had a glass test tube, which would probably be fine for other smaller ants, but this queen was way too large, and could barley turn around. She died the next day, i believe she exhausted herself to death. She wasn't happy at all the whole time, and i thought, this cant happen again. I jumped online and ordered a 10 pack of proper tubes.
The spark had hit me again! I was all in, and was now dedicated to having a queen of my own. I went back to the AC website and inquired once again to the GAN project, and again, there were no sellers. I was determined though, and i began going out almost daily. Walks through my neighborhood, to the local parks, keeping an eye out at work. I was going to find them, i had a mission. I began in early May, after i found the first queen, i started re-watching the videos to know all i could. Then one day, about a week after the first queen, another Camponotus came to ME on my porch! It was awesome!
This little lady, or should i say, big lady, has come to be known as Freddie Mercury. Get it? GET IT?! I quickly set her up in one of the new tubes, and again, it was too small. Really? These new tubes are great, i use them all the time now, but these ladies are far too large for even those. I consider myself "crafty", and decided i was going to start my new hobby as cheap as i could lol. I didnt want to go all in, buy all the nests, all the tubes, multiple outworlds, feeders, the works. I DO want them, but for my dedicated colony, the one i want to keep forever. Also, i didnt know if i could be even worthy of keeping my ants. My very first queen died because of the home i tried to give her. Even though i watched all i could, i still felt in the dark.. i still do. The mission still continues though, and i'm not easily defeated.
Cont.
I'm AmatureAnt, and this is my journal! I've never had a journal, let alone one about ants, but i'm going to give it a try. Ill start with my story of how i got into ants.. and honestly.. i don't know.
One day i was on the internet, and i fell into a Youtube hole. I have no idea how i stumbled onto ant videos, but they intrigued me, and i eventually came to AntsCanada. It was amazing, and instantly i was enthralled. I spent the next 3 days watching everything i could on AntsCanada. I then moved onto ant keeping videos, and i thought, id love to own a colony. I've never been into bugs, they all basically creep me out, but ants and i have always had a good relationship with one another. They truly are fascinating creatures, and I've always respected them more than other bugs. I have cats, and a 7 foot boa constrictor, and I've given them a great life, so i know i could also raise ants and do them justice.
I began looking for queens to buy, i inquired through the GAN project my first year, but i never found any sellers. The next year, after hibernation, i was once again watching ant videos, due to the wake up videos, either on AC channel, or other ant keepers. I began looking to find sellers again, and just never could. In GAN projects defense, i had only inquired 3 times total. I eventually lost interest, and i stopped watching videos. Id occasionally would watch the random weekly AC vid, but thats about it. That year too came to a close, now its 2018, and something amazing happened!
For some reason, this was my year. Other than contacting the GAN project, i was keeping an eye out for wild queens. I went on a few outings solely to search for queens, but never had any luck. Well, my luck changed, A LOT. One day i was on my porch, sitting and enjoying the day, and out of the corner of my eye, i seen movement. I inspected, expecting to find some sort of weird bug, it was large, and had wings. I immediately was like... no way, is this a queen?! IT WAS! It was a Camponotus Pennsylanicus, and she was 2 cm long! I had never seen an ant that big in my life. I was vastly under prepared to have her enter my life though. I had a glass test tube, which would probably be fine for other smaller ants, but this queen was way too large, and could barley turn around. She died the next day, i believe she exhausted herself to death. She wasn't happy at all the whole time, and i thought, this cant happen again. I jumped online and ordered a 10 pack of proper tubes.
The spark had hit me again! I was all in, and was now dedicated to having a queen of my own. I went back to the AC website and inquired once again to the GAN project, and again, there were no sellers. I was determined though, and i began going out almost daily. Walks through my neighborhood, to the local parks, keeping an eye out at work. I was going to find them, i had a mission. I began in early May, after i found the first queen, i started re-watching the videos to know all i could. Then one day, about a week after the first queen, another Camponotus came to ME on my porch! It was awesome!
This little lady, or should i say, big lady, has come to be known as Freddie Mercury. Get it? GET IT?! I quickly set her up in one of the new tubes, and again, it was too small. Really? These new tubes are great, i use them all the time now, but these ladies are far too large for even those. I consider myself "crafty", and decided i was going to start my new hobby as cheap as i could lol. I didnt want to go all in, buy all the nests, all the tubes, multiple outworlds, feeders, the works. I DO want them, but for my dedicated colony, the one i want to keep forever. Also, i didnt know if i could be even worthy of keeping my ants. My very first queen died because of the home i tried to give her. Even though i watched all i could, i still felt in the dark.. i still do. The mission still continues though, and i'm not easily defeated.
Cont.