I already have many founding nests for these, but my ultimate plan will change the world! its basically just two phalanx with two sides connected to each other which allows around 200-300 ants I think to live in it. I plan on connecting more as time goes on because these are water tower gals so what do you guys think?
Also i've been getting mixed messages, do they need hibernation or not ?I really would not advise you go through with this. If you're caught the fine can be something like $5k. Not to mention the USDA is finally starting to trust us antkeepers with inter-state selling of ants (without needing permits that is). If you do for some reason decide to buy these ants, please, for the sake of all that is holy, don't get caught.
Edit: Also, just fyi, there's plenty of ants in VA that are very similar to Novomessor. The native Aphaenogaster are just as cool, and are legal to keep....
Edit #2: Here's a couple pictures of two ants. Can you tell which one's which?
the upper one’s novomessor isn't it? its more leggy and has that big spike (which is what i like about them)
what ant is the lower one? it looks deceivingly similar.
Yes, Novomessor do have a fairly impressive propodeal spine, don't they? The bottom ant is a VA native, Aphaenogaster picea. I love my colony, and they're very similar to Novomessor. They were once even the same genus, and collect seeds and pieces of fungi.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but Novomessor and Aphaenogaster are shockingly different. I've kept 7 species of Aphaenogaster and none of them can even compare to Novomessor. Without even mentioning that Novomessor nanitics are larger than mature Aphaenogaster lamellidens workers (largest eastern Aphaenogaster) they also differ in pretty much every other way.
Novomessor are mass-recruiters, have social stomachs, grow insanely quickly. Aphaenogaster are primarily solitary foragers, have no social stomach, and don't grow particularly fast. And that really just scratches the surface.
I don't want to sound like I'm supporting illegal trade, but anybody who does import ants illegally knows the risks. Not to mention the risks themselves are embarrassingly low. The USDA isn't "out to get" antkeepers. Unless a person is specifically reported for having exotic ants with a detailed report, a name and address, and possibly other info, there's no way the USDA would be able to find them and/or "catch" them. If the guy wants to keep Novomessor, let him do so. Clearly himself and the seller are fine with it, and if so that's their decision to make.
The illegal ant trade debate is the biggest issue in the hobby, and in my opinion the only way to resolve it is to ignore it. We tend to forget that isopods have the exact same restrictions by the USDA that ants have. When was the last time you heard an isopod hobbyist complaining about importing exotic isopods. When was the last time you heard about somebody getting "busted" for having exotic isopods. There is absolutely no chance that this guy importing Novomessor to Virginia could cause any harm to his ecosystem, as a desert species would be entirely unfit to survive in the Eastern US. There is no risk of him doing this other than the chance that somebody finds out his address and reports him to the USDA. If you see somebody posting about an exotic species, it's not your "duty" to go immediately to the comments and blast them for "illegal trade". Just pretend they have a permit or something for your own peace of mind and move on. It's not worth any of our time to keep making these argument threads out of nowhere just to discuss the same issue, make no valid points ever, change nobody's mind, and then do it all again a month later. It's getting ridiculous.
I am simply saying there's native alternatives. Morphologically, both genera are fairly similar, though.
I'm keeping them in apartment so they would immediately die from the liquid they put down.
