Greetings from Boise, Idaho!

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Grimshadows
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Jul 22, 2018 9:58 am
Location: Boise, ID

Greetings from Boise, Idaho!

Post: # 41996Post Grimshadows
Sun Jul 22, 2018 10:29 am

Hey everyone!

I'm from the Boise, Idaho area- very new to the hobby, and looking to start my first colony!

I have over a decade of experience keeping arthropods (mostly tarantulas and other arachnids, but a variety of insects, as well) and it baffles my mind how I never had considered keeping a colony until now considering how amazing they are!

Would love any tips from the other Boise area natives on what queens I can still find this year in the area and when/where the best time to find them is. Or if you have any queens you're willing to donate or sell please let me know! Really hoping to get a Camponotus as my first colony run, but I will definitely be happy with whatever is available!

P.S. If you're interested in knowing what other arthropods I've kept and/or still keep, or if you're interested in keeping any arachnids (my area of expertise) and need some pointers - just let me know. I just didn't want to get TOO off subject. :D

Idahoantguy
Posts: 136
Joined: Mon Jun 05, 2017 11:48 am
Location: Idaho

Re: Greetings from Boise, Idaho!

Post: # 42038Post Idahoantguy
Sun Jul 22, 2018 4:30 pm

Hey Grinshadows,
Welcome to the forum, we actually have quite a few Idaho people here! I do have a few tips for ya...
We mostly have tetramorium immigrans (pavement ants), but if you keep your eyes open you can spot some other species. You might still be able to find some flying now. My biggest tip is probably to always be ready. I’ll just see them outside randomly, (like once I saw a queen while I was out playing tennis), and I just grab them whenever possible. You won’t always know if they’re fertile so just get as many as possible to start out. Those we just a couple of tips for you.
There are a lot of really good ant keepers here from Idaho, like Idahoantgirl, she is probably a good option to ask any questions :)
Good luck!
Keeping:
Tetramorium immigrans x2

Anything but tetramorium please :cry:

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idahoantgirl
Posts: 1521
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2015 11:52 am
Location: Idaho, USA

Re: Greetings from Boise, Idaho!

Post: # 42053Post idahoantgirl
Sun Jul 22, 2018 6:54 pm

Lol I don't know about really good, but I do enjoy answering questions :) Welcome to the forum! We always get super excited when we see new Idaho people here. :lol:

Here are the main species I have seen around here in the last two years.
Camponotus (flew in spring) I have only seen one queen in my direct area of this species, but this spring when I went up to Bogus Basin there were a ton of those beauties.

Tetramorium Immigrans (flies May-July) like idahoantguy said, these ants dominate the area. They are a great pet, but you just kind of get tired of seeing tetramorium...and only tetramorium...and more tetramorium... (Idahoantguy's signature says it all :lol: ) But they are a great starter species.

Tapinoma sessile (june ish)- I have only seen one queen of this species in my area, so they don't seem to be super common, but they are out there.

Lasius Neoniger -(September) This species is your greatest chance for finding a queen this year. They don't lay eggs till after hibernation, but after they do, egg to worker time is only about a month. Also a great beginner species.

I have found a few other queens up near Twin Falls that I haven't seen around here:

Pogernomyrmex queen-- These gals are semi clausteral and have a nasty sting, so I released her since i was a beginner.

Temnothrax curvispinosis -- This colony only gets to about 100 workers max. I didn't have a proper set up when I found her so I couldn't keep her either.

As far as tips, The VERY best thing you can do is watch all of AntsCanada's old tutorials. The new videos are...dramatic...and... some people really like that, but you will learn a TON from the old videos on their channel. Like almost everything you need to know. And then for the rest you come to this forum :)
Proverbs 6:6-8

Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.

Keeping Tetramorium immigrans, Tapinoma Sessile

Idahoantguy
Posts: 136
Joined: Mon Jun 05, 2017 11:48 am
Location: Idaho

Re: Greetings from Boise, Idaho!

Post: # 42064Post Idahoantguy
Sun Jul 22, 2018 7:32 pm

idahoantgirl wrote:
Sun Jul 22, 2018 6:54 pm
As far as tips, The VERY best thing you can do is watch all of AntsCanada's old tutorials. The new videos are...dramatic...and... some people really like that, but you will learn a TON from the old videos on their channel. Like almost everything you need to know. And then for the rest you come to this forum :)
Totally agree with you there. Now they’re mostly just storytelling with really nice looking video. I bet tons of people love it, but yea, his really old videos are the best for learning about actual antkeeping. He has tutorials, but even his old videos about his colonies are interesting.
Keeping:
Tetramorium immigrans x2

Anything but tetramorium please :cry:

Grimshadows
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Jul 22, 2018 9:58 am
Location: Boise, ID

Re: Greetings from Boise, Idaho!

Post: # 42078Post Grimshadows
Sun Jul 22, 2018 10:48 pm

Appreciate all of the tips! Definitely have several dozens of the Tetramorium colonies in my neighborhood, back yard, and front yard. I actually did have two small Camponotus colonies that decided to take root on my property for a while about 8 years back, but neither of them lasted more than about 5 years for some reason - not that I was encouraging them at the time, either. I'm not familiar with the Tapinoma genus, I'll have to check those out!

I was really hoping to start with Camponotus - I heard they fly through August in Idaho, is that not accurate in your experience? Definitely would be one I'd be willing to make some trips up to the Basin to hunt for if you think it might still be possible this year. Otherwise I SUPPOSE I can be patient. :P

I've actually been watching the old and the new AntsCanada videos pretty religiously lately (which actually is what lead me to this forum). I definitely agree on the "dramatic" part of the more recent videos - more than a few of the newer ones had me rolling my eyes pretty regularly. But still some useful information in all of them, even in the newer ones. :D

Also thanks for the private messages, I'll respond to them as soon as I can, but apparently I need to "participate more in discussions to use this feature." :lol: But I definitely appreciate the heads up on the rules, and I apologize to any mods who happen to skim through my post for my trade/buy comment - I've properly read the rules now, I swear! :geek:

Grimshadows
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Jul 22, 2018 9:58 am
Location: Boise, ID

Re: Greetings from Boise, Idaho!

Post: # 42081Post Grimshadows
Sun Jul 22, 2018 10:57 pm

Oh, also, I can't tell you how much I'm kicking myself because in the last 5 years or so I've seen one Camponotus queen, two smaller queens that I (now) assume were Tetramorium, and several alates (don't know and/or remember what genera) - all in my backyard at various times; and of course I never thought of keeping them at the time so I just left them alone.

And now this year, since I want to start a colony, I haven't seen any. :lol:

Lancelot
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Mar 01, 2019 4:56 pm
Location: Boise, ID

Re: Greetings from Boise, Idaho!

Post: # 56202Post Lancelot
Fri Mar 01, 2019 5:04 pm

Whats up!!! I know i'm late to the party, but I can't help but say hi as I am also from Boise, Idaho. I have tetramorium and camponotus colonies I think. Both are first year colonies in hibernation at the moment. I also had a beautiful pogonomyrmex colony with workers that unfortunately were all killed in a moving accident. It was terrible. That was two years ago now. Since then, getting another pogo colony has been my #1 priority.

PS. If anyone in Idaho ever finds another pogo queen please let me know where so I can go find one. I'd also love to (legally) buy one.

-Cheers!
Lancelot!

Ritri122
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Jun 02, 2019 11:16 pm
Location: Boise

Re: Greetings from Boise, Idaho!

Post: # 59071Post Ritri122
Sun Jun 02, 2019 11:37 pm

Hello to all from boise!

This is my first post, but reading few some recent posts on camponotus...I thought I'd throw out some help on finding camponotus.

So this is my 2nd year of looking/exploring for ant queens and general anting so I don't know much...but if we're talking about camponotus queens I'm pretty sure I can help anyone looking for them.

So ... The hot spot for camponotus is going to be cascade idaho and the time is now. Last week I caught 5 camponotus queens in about 30 mins. I'm up in cascade building a cabin for the family every weekend. So every now and then I'll take a break and look around and I literally find them everywhere. Yesterday I counted 20 in about 15 mins, flying... Running around looking for something to hide under. Today was even more insane approaching 3-4 every 6 ft circle about 200 yards from the lake. You can literally look under anything, and find them or just park on a side road to the neighborhoods and wait for one to land on your vehicle. The woods around pelican cove... 2 miles down (left) from the main lake Marina... I believe them to be camponotus modoc.

I'll try to post a few pictures tomorrow..

Hope this helps! Cheers!

GotAnts
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Jul 01, 2019 11:59 am
Location: Meridian, ID

Re: Greetings from Boise, Idaho!

Post: # 60141Post GotAnts
Mon Jul 01, 2019 12:11 pm

Thanks for the tip Ritri122. I'm going camping near cascade this weekend. Do you think there are still queens up there right now? Can you post a picture of what the queens look like?

Thanks!

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