New Minnesota Member

[VictorianAntParty]

Hi, I'm a new ant keeper here in MN. I spent all spring and summer trying to catch some queens since I prefer to do everything from the ground up myself when it comes to starting my ant colonies. A lot of the species I WANTED to keep I either couldn't locate any bred queens after nuptial flights or I completely missed the nuptial flights so I pretty much gave up the idea of starting my ant keeping adventure this year at the start of August. Of course then this Saturday after work I walked outside in the evening and found a swarm, and I mean a swarm of thousands of ants in nuptial flights. I caught 6 girls, species Lasius Neoniger. Even if it's not what I wanted I'm really excited to have these lovely girls though since it's late in the year they may not lay eggs until spring. It was really amazing after striking out all year to witness literally thousands of ants on their nuptial flight and then getting my girls. I'm excited to experience their colony's birth and growth after they come out of hibernation next year. Also hope I can have better luck getting the species I want again next year.

[antnest8]

cool. best way to find queens is constant vigilance every day spend like 5 minuets and eventually you will find the queens.

[VictorianAntParty]

The thing that was hard for me was I work days so I only got out at night when the sun went down. The days I had off I went hunting as much as I could but that was normally only once or twice a week so I had really horrible luck. I might try to track weather next year around the months the ants I want have nuptial flights and try to ask for days off or to work night shifts instead. It was really brutal ant hunting with my work hours. Is ant hunting reason enough to take a week long vacation?

[AntsDakota]

Is ant hunting reason enough to take a week long vacation?

That part is up to you.