I am here to pick your brains!!!

[Jharrell23867]

Hello I am new here...

Not sure how or where to start so ill just jump right in...

I do not have any ants as of yet but i am saving up for some items from the AntsCanada store.

I have done some research & i have my sights on Prenolepis Imparis a.k.a the winter ant or false honeypot ant since my room has a AC & they like cold temps + they look cool with food coloring in their rumps lol. Wiki says they are a local species to which is a plus.

Uhhh my questions are, Are they really native to southern Virginia & when are their nuptial flights & any tips or details that would help in the hunt for a queen like the kind of area's to look in & what to look for specifics would be great.

Also if anyone can tell me what other species i can find here in southern virginia would be great. I live In a small town called Jarratt which is approximately 1 hour south of Richmond VA, 2 hours west of Virginia Beach & 20 minutes north of the NC state line. The area is all flat land with dense woods & swamps & lots of crops, typical southern rural area. If any other info is needed please let me know.

[AntsRule]

I am sorry to tell you but i think Prenolepis Imparis have already had there nuptial fights, but I am not 100% sure. I hink they fly early spring and sometimes during a frost. Do not worry though because there are a ton of species that are having there flights right now and throughout the rest of the summer.. Check out antmaps.com to see the species that you have.

[lunarae]

I wanna get that species as well too one day but I dunno if they are in my area, I think so though since I am up in montana. But here is a video I found to be very useful on the flight schedules and how to get queen ants and such. Hope it helps.

[Jharrell23867]

Thanks for the Video so between Feb & April... Its ok if i missed the flight but i still plan to hunt for that particular species come time for the next flight. I found another video of the actual flight in progress someone filmed. Seems they are pretty easy to look for as the males will fly in thick swarms around trees, marking the trees as a gathering place which i guess attracts queens... Most of the queens get tackled & forced into some sort of ant orgy with mails clinging to the queens forming chains.



Also it seems you can merge starting colonies of this species together as they accept multiple queens.

[Jharrell23867]

Found my self looking at the ants in my backyard... I saw what i believe to be a Queen usually the huge arse is the dead give away when compared to the other ants in the area... Wish i had a camera to take pics to post for identification but that is another item on my to get list...

I have big Orange/yellow more orange than Yellow ants... I handled a few & they did not seem to want to bite or sting me so i do not think they are fire ants but i could be wrong & just got lucky.

On the same tree as the Orange/yellow ants i found some identical looking black ants. Identical in both shape & size as the black ants only difference is the black ones were far fewer & of a different color but they seemed to not mind each other at all.

On the ground below the tree with the two i described above were black ants of a smaller variety... about the size of a pin head but extremely numberous crawling around in the moss & dirt below the tree... I saw the nest coming out of a tree root that had broken the surface... A living tree root not a rotten termite one.

While looking at the super tiny pin tip sized ants I saw a large black ant with a huge butt. It was all black save for the abdomen which was black but with barely noticeable red stripes.

Flipped over a cinder block & saw a Velvet Ant a.k.a cow killer & decided to take my lilly white arse back inside because i been stung by that wasp once & it will never happen ever again...