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I meant lakes because Michigan is around great lakes

and HOW did you catch so many queens. i heard it was a bit harder to get prenolepis imparis.

antnest8 wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 03, 2018 7:58 am

I meant lakes because Michigan is around great lakes

and HOW did you catch so many queens. i heard it was a bit harder to get prenolepis imparis.

Oh haha. We’re not from the Michigan Bay. We’re from the San Franscisco Bay.

In total me and my two friends spent around four hours looking between two days

antnest8 wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 03, 2018 7:58 am

I meant lakes because Michigan is around great lakes

and HOW did you catch so many queens. i heard it was a bit harder to get prenolepis imparis.

I just looked on the road of a park near my house, they were all over the place.

P. imparis Queen https://imgur.com/gallery/UXUC6
These are the queens!!

don't you need to separate them?

antnest8 wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 03, 2018 12:18 pm

don't you need to separate them?

They're polygynous. They have multi-queen colonies. People always try to tell you, you're taking a risk when putting them together but honestly I've never seen it go bad. Almost every single winter ant queen has the genes for polygony.

Very rarely they do fight, it's only been seen a few times. That's why I'll sell polygneous ones for higher, more than just a flat rate/queen because of the risks. If anyone wants some, let me know.

Update: (Feb 17, 2018)
After about 3 months, I finally took my Camponotus hyatti colony out of hibernation. I counted and they have about 31 workers. They have a very large amount of larvae, so I'm excited to see their growth this year. I gave them a drop of honey in their foraging area but none have ventured outside yet. As I write this, I notice that a major and minor have died. Maybe I should get them acclimated to the new temps first? I can see a worker tending the major who appears lifeless. It's weird because all the ants were acting like normal just a few minutes ago so I don't know what's going on. I'll give more updates in a few minutes.

Okay, so I put my colony in the garage where it's a lot cooler, but not too cold. All of the ants including the major and minor now are acting as if nothing happened. I think because my room is the hottest in the house (76F), it was too hot for them coming right out of hibernation.