The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

Hey ACAF! My name is Jordan. I have always loved ants but never took the opportunity to get started. Now I'm head over heals in love!

I recently went camping near my house and stayed in a trailer that been sitting for a few weeks. After a long day of finding A MILLION ant colonies I had no luck at finding any elates. That first night I went to bed, I had my backpack by my head. I layed down and couldn't believe it! Right there on my strap for my backpack was a queen running up my strap! Wow! Totally didn't expect that! I scooped her up and the next morning went to a florist shop and was given a few water pics.

Once I got her home I wraped her in a shirt and placed her in a drawer. I didnt check on her for 2 days. During that time, I registered here and posted in the species identification section. I was super surprised to get a response in just a few hours of her exact name! Liometopum Accidentale! Similar to a Carpenter ant but different in many ways.

When I got home that night I snuck in a little peak and she he'd a huge pile iof eggs! Wow! I'm super excited! Because she was such a lucky find I named her Lucy and her colony will be named "I Love Lucy" like the TV show!

I'm super stoked to join all of you on this amazing journey of raising an e tire civilization! thanks for your help and support! GO ACAF!

Here is a link to her pictures!

http://imgur.com/gallery/yTkEUxn

Welcome to the ant forum and congrats on the catch.

Thank you! I'm glad to see everyone on here working together! Super cool forum!

also their is no such thing as liometopum accidentale but their is a liometopum occidentale. Congrats on the queen and love all of the eggs. now i have not had any personal experience of this species but i have read and heard about them and their care. liometopum occidentale is know the lay a ton of eggs from the start getting them to 30+ nantics from the start. After that it gets harder because you have to be ready for them food wise and also setup wise. They sometimes do not like honey but they seem to like grapes(still does not mean you can't try honey.). This species has huge die offs for their first workers but if you can keep them alive long enough they will produce hundreds of eggs. So it is hard to start but these colony get massive with many nests. Hope yours does well

For More Information
http://www.formiculture.com/topic/14-dspdrews-liometopum-occidentale-journal-38-updated-2-18-2018/