82 replies to this topic

[spytim]

Lol, I came her expecting just updates on colonies, not war reports. Something refreshing and new that's for sure! Good journal. ^_^ 

[Vendayn]

65q24g4g5f

Edited by Vendayn, March 9 2018 - 7:24 PM.

[spytim]

 

Unluckily for them, they have big bad monster human who has the power of soapy water. I got rid of (most) of the colonies by the dumpsters,

Nice, they should never underestimate a human with soapy water XD  lol I am really liking this journal. Keep it up! Its a refreshing change from the plain status updates i see a lot in journals I've read so far. (Including my own lol) 

Best of luck in the war comrade! ;D 

[Ants4fun]

Yeas, a really interesting thread. I like the idea or relocating colonies to help the natural diversity. I just relocated a myrmica colony with two queens into my garden bed. Their are no colonies there as I recently put it there. I don't see any on my property, however I have seen them near the area before... I also relocated some Tapinoma sessile colonies which seem to go out at night. I have already seen alates from one of the colonies!

[Vendayn]

65q24g4g5f

Edited by Vendayn, March 9 2018 - 7:24 PM.

[Vendayn]

65q24g4g5f

Edited by Vendayn, March 9 2018 - 7:24 PM.

[Ants4fun]

Watch out for those T.sessile! You probably already know. But, their colonies get massive. In San Diego, a colony I relocated of them grew to 10,000,000 ants (their average maximum size they get in urban habitats). It took 3-4 years to get to that point. They aren't much of a fighter against Argentine ants though, and the Argentine ants had a lot of numbers down there (a lot more than up here in Orange County). But, it sure was awesome to see them grow so much and do so well for so long. It would have been better in a slightly different location of the complex, but hindsight heh.
 
Good luck on your own colonies you put in your garden. I don't really know South Dakota very well, and a google search probably show the ants over there. You get Solenopsis invicta over there I guess, is that a problem in your area?

We don't really have too many invasive ants. Definately not s. Invicta. Winters are really harsh here. Last winter got down to negative 50-60 -70 with wind chill. Here the main ants are lasius, formica, camponotus, myrmica, and cf. Liopetomum.

[cpman]

I'd go for Forelius over Tapinoma. From what I've heard, Tapinoma tends to make very very large colonies in urban areas that can outcompete other ants. If you are trying to increase diversity, that'd be a bad thing.

[Vendayn]

65q24g4g5f

Edited by Vendayn, March 9 2018 - 7:24 PM.

[LC3]

Love this journal. Very interesting, it's almost like a story infact if it were I would rate it 5 starts . Hope you manage to drive the invaders out.. We need Nievamyrmex ants with chemical rocket launchers for faces. (The ant version for nasutes) Also Pogonomyrmex are pretty bad fighters since they're built for 1 on 1 fights and are heavily armoured.

 

May I suggest something? Try putting apples contaminated with pesticides and give it to the Argentine ants or other things like honey with arsenic. or a jack hammer.

 

Now let's have a moment of silence to honour the Brachymyrmex that lost their lives in the front lines fighting for the preservation of a diverse ecosystem. 

Edited by LC3, July 7 2015 - 9:03 PM.

[Vendayn]

65q24g4g5f

Edited by Vendayn, March 9 2018 - 7:24 PM.

[LC3]

I've seen that tactic in lots of ants with large numbers: Occupy space. I think I might make a list on the main fighting styles of ants.

[Vendayn]

65q24g4g5f

Edited by Vendayn, March 9 2018 - 7:24 PM.

[LC3]

The Argentine ant is one ants that enjoys playing the quantity card.  This reminds me of the Winter war.

Edited by LC3, July 7 2015 - 10:50 PM.

[Vendayn]

65q24g4g5f

Edited by Vendayn, March 9 2018 - 7:24 PM.

[BrittonLS]

The smallest biggest war ever. Sounds pretty interesting.

 

I just identified a lot of Forelius in my neighborhood. It's interesting, nearby in a large area of a part it appears that there are ONLY P.barbatus and Forelius sp. I wonder if they're protecting them. Then again, I think I found half of a Forelius attached to the antenna of a dealate queen from another Pogonomyrmex sp. But I haven't seen them in my actual neighborhood. I think it may have to do with the type and density of grass. Either they prefer shorter sparser grass, or I just haven't see them in lawn grass. Around the houses I've seen mostly Bachymyrmex and S.invicta, but not in the places I've seen Forelius so far.

[LC3]

Maybe they ate the dead Argentine ants?

Also Nice description Brit, the smallest biggest war XD or should it be the biggest smallest war? o.O

Edited by LC3, July 9 2015 - 9:00 PM.

[Vendayn]

65q24g4g5f

Edited by Vendayn, March 9 2018 - 7:24 PM.

[LC3]

Technically it's a war and that was just a major battle, like they say you may have won the battle but you haven't won the war. Unless there's a peace treaty officially signed or one side obliterates the other the war is still going. Anyways Good luck.

[Vendayn]

65q24g4g5f

Edited by Vendayn, March 9 2018 - 7:25 PM.