18 replies to this topic

[Herdo]

Hello everyone.  I'm Herdo from the Greater Phoenix area and I am pretty much brand new to the hobby.  I've been interested in ants my whole life, but started to look into it about a year ago.  I got disinterested because I was under the impression finding a queen would be an extremely difficult task.  A few days ago I kept finding dead queens floating in my pool.  I mistook them for baby yellow-jackets because I had recently found a yellow-jacket nest in my yard.  After thinking about it for a while I realized the color, size, and overall shape was entirely wrong and they couldn't be yellow-jackets.  I then remembered what I had learned previously about winged ants and realized I had some queens on my hands.  At that point I realized they weren't as rare as I had previously thought so since then I've been reading and watching as much about ants as I can.

 

I ordered some test tubes and some featherweight forceps from Amazon which have already arrived (hooray for free one day shipping!)  I'm going to start looking for some queens probably tomorrow morning.  The ant queens I keep finding lots of are in the genus Pheidole and I've also found a couple smaller black queens and winged males of an unknown genus/species.

 

I'm very excited and I can't wait to get started. 

[Gregory2455]

Well you have one thing on your side: location. Arizona is the best possible place for keeping ants... All the amazing species there... Welcome!

[Herdo]

Thanks Gregory2455.  Yea, I've been learning that about Arizona as well.  I watched "Empire of the Desert Ant" which was very fascinating and took place here in Arizona featuring the honey pot ants.

[Alza]

Welcome lad, I'm alza c:

[Gregory2455]

Thanks Gregory2455.  Yea, I've been learning that about Arizona as well.  I watched "Empire of the Desert Ant" which was very fascinating and took place here in Arizona featuring the honey pot ants.

You should look through this page showing specimens of the ants of Arizona, genus by genus. https://www.antweb.o...nts&images=true

[Herdo]

Thank you Alza!

 

And wow Gregory2455, thank you for the link.  There is a ton of variety in this state.

[LC3]

Oi H'llo and welcome to the forum.

[Ants4fun]

Welcome! I heard that some took the 'ants of the southwest' course, which I believe is in Arizona.

[dspdrew]

Welcome. Arizona is the ant keeper's place to be.

[Foogoo]

Welcome! I was just reading about Cephalotes, it would be awesome if you're able to find any around where you are!

[Jonathan21700]

Welcome Herdo!

[Herdo]

Thanks for the welcomes everyone!

 

Welcome! I heard that some took the 'ants of the southwest' course, which I believe is in Arizona.

 

Ah yes, I kept running across that course while trying to find native species here in Arizona.  It looks like a lot of fun, but unfortunately I think it's cancelled this year.

 

Welcome! I was just reading about Cephalotes, it would be awesome if you're able to find any around where you are!

 

Those things are so cool!  I've heard of them before, but I believe they are only found in southern Arizona around Tucson which is a couple hours south of Phoenix.

 

Welcome Herdo!

 

Hey Jonathan21700, thanks for referring me to this forum. 

[William. T]

Hey there!

[Trailandstreet]

Welcome.

 

I like Phoenix, it was one of the first cities I saw, on my last trip through the "wild west" in 1995.

[Herdo]

Hey William T.

 

 

Welcome.

 

I like Phoenix, it was one of the first cities I saw, on my last trip through the "wild west" in 1995.

 

I hope you made it to Tombstone if you were visiting the "wild west".  Another great old western town is Bisbee.  It's in the far southeast corner of Arizona and i's one of my favorite "get out of town for the weekend" places.

[cpman]

Hi there from Texas!

You've got some great ants there.

[Trailandstreet]

Hey William T.

 

 

Welcome.

 

I like Phoenix, it was one of the first cities I saw, on my last trip through the "wild west" in 1995.

 

I hope you made it to Tombstone if you were visiting the "wild west".  Another great old western town is Bisbee.  It's in the far southeast corner of Arizona and i's one of my favorite "get out of town for the weekend" places.

Yep. We visited a few other towns and also a ghost town in Arizona.

[Crystals]

Welcome!

Yes, it often comes a surprise at how common ant queens can be at certain times of the year.  Some species only fly for a day or two, while others occasionally send a few queens all summer.  The pools are great queen catchers, try (carefully!) hanging a blacklight bulb over the pool overnight to catch a number of nocturnal fliers.

[Herdo]

Hi there from Texas!

You've got some great ants there.

 

Hey cpman.  That's what everyone is telling me.

 

Welcome!

Yes, it often comes a surprise at how common ant queens can be at certain times of the year.  Some species only fly for a day or two, while others occasionally send a few queens all summer.  The pools are great queen catchers, try (carefully!) hanging a blacklight bulb over the pool overnight to catch a number of nocturnal fliers.

 

Thanks Crystals.  That sounds like a great idea.  I've got three queens now so I'm going to hold off on trying to catch more until I get my first stable colony going.  I've seen some of the formicariums you've created and they look great!