let me start this story off with acknowledging that I know the keeping of these ants seems to be frowned upon. I am not concerned with those sentiments, I am here to tell a funny and cautionary tale.
These ants are a fun ant to keep, I do not think permanent containmemt is a good idea, but temporary containmemt seems to be ok. Say a few weeks to a month with proper care and commitment. Colony 2 containmemt started with a bucket and some little storage bin. Then I attached a nest box. Later a large storage bin was used. The contents of the the bucket and little bin were dumped in. This large bin was then attached to the nest box. The final set up was a nest box, a larger type of box similar to the nest box, and a large round tub for the outworld. Sand was placed in there along with some pieces of branches that were from previous feedings, and some fake plants for color.
Colony 3 was later captured and kept in the bucket and little bin setup.
Maintenance for these ants was pretty reasonable save for feeding which is a bit more work.
A mix of ants and termites was fed to them. Branches were collect that had ants nesting in them, these would be placed in the outworld that the ants could then raid. Aphaenogaster sp. And camponotus sp. were the normal but some brood from tapinoma was collected at one point as well. I collected ant brood manually a few times but mostly let them do what they do naturally... raid.
Termites were also readily taken. I had a DIY humidifier that I would connect to whatever nest box they would bivouac in. It was not constantly connected but every once in a while it would be.
These ants took over a month of monitoring and took way more than one trip to actually capture a good amount of the colony. It was an adventure, but the actual keeping of them turned into a fun adventure as well. I did not expect most of these scenarios to play out the way they did.
I have kept a journal of the events that have taken place from capture to escape.
July 30- the first batch of Neivamyrmex were captured with the queen. I continued to go out on other nights to obtain more workers and brood.
The ants were given some nest boxes and an outworld. The ants were given a heat source and darkness.
August 4-5 The queen was taken from the colony so as to use her to attract more ants for collection.
She was placed in a test tube with holes that were "to small for her to escape". That tube was then placed in a larger container so as the ants could coalesce within that container. So after a while I packed everything up and we headed home. After we got home I went to get the queen out of her confinement, she was gone. She had escaped and I did not even realize. So I ran back out to the location and searched and searched. Finally I came across the trail that went over a curb to the road side and continued on. I found the queen again on that trail quickly and recaptured her.
August 5-6? I think I am not 100% on the date.
I obtained a second batch of ants. Queen and workers.
August 7- I used the queen from colony 2 with the proper containmemt to attract the other colony members with some success.
Her presence seemed to have instigated and emigration. I later dug up a fair amount of ants and brood.
August 9- During the time I spent collecting colony 2, I had obtained a lot of brood. Mostly larvae, but on the 9th I noticed pupae had developed which was a good sign.
So colony 3 got out of there containmemt due to a hole that was left unplugged. I looked everywhere and found only some random dead ones in the kitchen but the rest seemed to have made it out, queen included. I do not recall the specific date of that event. No trails were witnessed, just ants that were not there.
I looked around inside and outside to no avail. I assume they made it outside. So that was the end for that story.
Now to the other colony...
Today the morning of August 15, I woke up to find the outworld that the first colony was given had no noticeable activity( which was strange) I peaked in the nest box to find very few ants, I peaked in the other box, there were some there but not enough. A hole that was kept plugged with a test tube/cap/tube setup had fallen out. They trailed down the stand they were on and on to the floor. They had trails leading to a few areas Some went behind the dishwasher and along that area, some went into the wall were the water heater is, and one other place. I went outside to look for any trails leaving the building.
I came across a trail in front of my neighbors apartment door. It started from a seem in the door casting and went along the back of her door mat and then went across the porch area into a seem in the cement. They did not like it apparently as they started back tracking. I believe this colony is now in the wall and am waiting for tonight to search more as they will be more active. This is ongoing... stay tuned
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, Ponera pennsylvanica, and Pheidole morrisi! 
