9 replies to this topic

[TennesseeAnts]

So, today did not go as hoped... I found a Stigmatomma pallipes queen under a rock. Now you may want to know why I am not excited about this... I dropped her into the leaf litter...   So, my first chance this year, and I failed thirty seconds after I find the queen.

[FeedTheAnts]

Are you sure it was a queen? The workers are actually pretty easy to mistake as a queen. I once caught what I thought was three of these queens, but it turns out that they were just workers, which are almost the same size.

[TennesseeAnts]

I know. It was a queen...

[Rstheant]

Ok same thing happened when me and Ys were looking for clarithorax queens, I spotted one on a tree, and we lost it during catching!

[TennesseeAnts]

I dropped her though because she stung me!

[Rstheant]

Oh, I got a Pogonomyrmex sting on my vein, but steeled myself long enough for me to put the worker in her nest, then started babbling like a baby. Key to catching ants by hand:

Gently grab the queen near their abdomen. Barely touch the ant, and put it in whatever you want.

Edited by Rstheant, March 21 2019 - 3:33 PM.

[Zeiss]

Damn, that sucks to lose an ant like that.  The key to not dropping the ant due to stinging is to ignore the sting, haha.  At least that's what I do when I'm catching stuffy by hand: ignore the bites and stings (of course that all depends on what I'm trying to catch).

Edited by Zeiss, March 21 2019 - 4:41 PM.

[TennesseeAnts]

The thing is, I was so excited, I forgot they could sting so it startled me.

[Somethinghmm]

Ouch. How bad are their stings?

[TennesseeAnts]

Not too bad.