Backyard Exploration

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DeeJayX
Posts: 15
Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2018 5:20 pm
Location: Ridgecrest Ca.

Backyard Exploration

Post: # 41960Post DeeJayX
Sat Jul 21, 2018 9:47 pm

So, I have recently purchased a formicarium and next week I should be picking up my first queen from The GAN Project. While I wait I decided to Check out some black ants that have been in my back yard for some time. Image When I found them (they seam to move every 3 to 6 months) I was surprised to see two other ant colonies very close to theirs. I have assumed that the black ants are harvester ants. Not sure about the red and black ants. Maybe another type of Harvester. Image Then there is a small orangish ant that was very hard to take pitchers of. Image I was surprised that the ants where not fighting each other. Making me think that maybe someone could have more than one type of ant in one enclosure. Although it would have to be very large. Then as I was looking at the picture I took I seen small black things near the red and black ant colony entrance. Image I think they may be the bodies of the black ants. So maybe there was a war and I missed it. It’s hard to tell. As you can see I dropped some honey. I did that so they would stay still to make taking pictures easier. The orangish ants did not seam to care about the honey at all. Here are a few more pictures. Let me know what you think.
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DeeJayX
Posts: 15
Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2018 5:20 pm
Location: Ridgecrest Ca.

Re: Backyard Exploration

Post: # 41971Post DeeJayX
Sun Jul 22, 2018 12:10 am

I went out after dark to check out the wild ants. The black ants where still consuming the honey. The red black ants had finished off there honey and appeared to be making new entries to there colony. I could not find the orangish ants. Where I thought they were the red black ants appeared to be driving rocks into the ground. I think they may have been covering the orange ants entrance.

DeeJayX
Posts: 15
Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2018 5:20 pm
Location: Ridgecrest Ca.

Re: Backyard Exploration

Post: # 41978Post DeeJayX
Sun Jul 22, 2018 3:44 am

I was doing some research on what the red black ant is. It still might be a type of carpenter ant. It might also be a type of fire ant that is indigenous to southern U.S. (Solenopsis xyloni) I didn't even know there was a U.S. fire ant. Tomorrow morning I'm going to get my good camera and try taking some pictures with it. Maybe I can get closer and find out for sure.

DeeJayX
Posts: 15
Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2018 5:20 pm
Location: Ridgecrest Ca.

Re: Backyard Exploration

Post: # 42013Post DeeJayX
Sun Jul 22, 2018 1:08 pm

Well I went out to the backyard again to see how the wild ants are doing. This time I through down some chickin that was going to get thrown out. The tiny orangish ants came out. The must close there nest off at night. The red black ants (witch I'm sure are a type of harvester ants) are digging in what looks like random spots. Not sure why. I'm going to throw up some more pictures and a link to some videos. If anyone know exactly what type of ants these are please let me know.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL39fkDWbCZCBTdtWssTaiBsa9JjCYytRd

I mostly took pictures of the red black ants because they are the ones I was most unsure of.

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DeeJayX
Posts: 15
Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2018 5:20 pm
Location: Ridgecrest Ca.

Re: Backyard Exploration

Post: # 42016Post DeeJayX
Sun Jul 22, 2018 1:27 pm

just a few more pictures
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Idahoantguy
Posts: 136
Joined: Mon Jun 05, 2017 11:48 am
Location: Idaho

Re: Backyard Exploration

Post: # 42036Post Idahoantguy
Sun Jul 22, 2018 4:19 pm

Those are some nice pictures! I’m not sure about your questions though
Keeping:
Tetramorium immigrans x2

Anything but tetramorium please :cry:

DeeJayX
Posts: 15
Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2018 5:20 pm
Location: Ridgecrest Ca.

Re: Backyard Exploration

Post: # 42045Post DeeJayX
Sun Jul 22, 2018 5:56 pm

Idahoantguy wrote:
Sun Jul 22, 2018 4:19 pm
Those are some nice pictures! I’m not sure about your questions though
Thanks. I'm starting to think that both the black ants and the red black ants are Carpenters. With some of the closer pitchers they look a lot alike except for the color. But the behavior is a bet deterrent. If I had to put money on it I would say the black ants are Harvesters and the red black ants or Carpenters. Still have no idea about little orangish ants. They are so small.
I tried to leave a link to some videos I took with the same camera. Ill try again.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL39fkDWbCZCBTdtWssTaiBsa9JjCYytRd

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