Just got my first pair of ladies! [VA]

[killerguppy101]

Was on my way home and saw what looked like ant wings on my dashboard. Looked out the window and thought I saw a bunch of them flying around. When I got home, I had a few minutes to relax, so I decided to go for a walk and see if I could find anything. Not 5 minutes later, I came across 2 queens walking around in the grass, within about 5 feet of each other! Found them near a lake and some pine trees in Ashburn VA.

I'm still pretty new to ants, so I don't know exactly what species they are (or even 100% sure they aren't males), but they have the big abdomen and beefy thorax (or whatever the parts are called.... still learning), and I can clearly see wing scars. I'm going to keep them in a warm dark cupboard for a few days to let them settle into their test tubes, then try to take some good pics and measurements to get an ID.

Hopefully I'll have the start of a brood by spring!

[AntzMN]

Congrats! I've also seen a couple species flying in the last couple weeks due to all the rain and warm weather in the northland. I hope you have a successful winter starting a colony!

[Batspiderfish]

Take your pictures now, so you can figure out what kind of care they need. Not all queens found colonies the same way.

[killerguppy101]

I'm hoping to have some time tonight to snap some pics. My phone has a pretty bad camera (DON'T leave your phone on top of a 1m electromagnet...), so I might need to try borrowing the microscope and camera from work tomorrow. I'll keep you posted, since I'd really like to know what species they are so I can give them the best chance for founding a nice colony. I checked on them for a few seconds this morning, and they seem to be doing ok. Just kinda sitting in different locations in their tubes, twitching their antenna or slowly wandering up and down the cotton balls checking things out.

[Batspiderfish]

Even a regular photograph would give us a pretty good idea of what kind of care they need. Just make sure it is in focus.