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Hello from Massachusetts!

Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2018 4:52 pm
by mallonje
I am completely new to the hobby.

I had made my own farm back when I was a kid - it was a cocktail olive jar inside a peanut butter jar with sand and about 40 or so worker sugar ants. I recall that setup lasted for almost a year. This led to an interest in keeping insects as pets: various stick bugs, tarantulas, and scorpions, all culminating in the straw that broke my mother's back - madagascar hissing cockroaches.

I stumbled upon AntsCanada while surfing YouTube for science videos out of boredom one snow day and now the kids and I are very interestested in raising local native species this summer.

We've already seen one nuptial flight, and have found some males. But no queens yet.

Any advice is always accepted and would be greatly appreciated.

Re: Hello from Massachusetts!

Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2018 7:18 pm
by antnest8
queens can be found walking on sidewalks and looking at water sources like birdbaths, pools and here is one i just heard, the condensation on cars in the morning :lol:

also some words from my failure :lol: . if you plan on keeping only one or a few colonies of ants. don't release extra queens/colonies until the colony you want to keep is mature (20-50 ants depending on species). just in case a sudden decline of a colony just in case they can not recover

and WELCOME :D

Re: Hello from Massachusetts!

Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2018 2:27 pm
by mallonje
Welp I've caught my first queen!

A P. Imparis.

We had a pretty nice day Tuesday so I took my kids out and in my backyard and there she was, just walking on my picnic table. I had found a few dead males earlier in the day, so I'm hoping she's mated but only time will tell.

Re: Hello from Massachusetts

Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2018 11:13 pm
by AntsDakota
If you want some tips on keeping Prenolepis, go to the topic "Ant Care Sheets". Antnest 18 here wrote it, while I wrote the rest.

Re: Hello from Massachusetts!

Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2018 11:17 pm
by AntsDakota
Also, they are polygynous, so you can put many queens in a colony and they will get along. So if you find more queens, please consider this. You might want to look for more queens on tree bark. They love to congregate there.

Re: Hello from Massachusetts!

Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2018 9:46 am
by Mortamir
Hello and welcome to the ant world