Hi everybody,
My name's Dusty. Although I've always been fascinated by the social structure and efficiency of ant colonies, I had never really considered the idea of caring for and raising an entire colony from a new queen on my own until I started reading the Formiculture forums and watching all the awesome progress videos on YouTube by CalifornianAnts, AntsCanada, Antimidation, Andrew Smith, and others. I've started carrying a couple of test tubes with me just in case I happen to find a queen while I'm out and about. The only ant I've caught so far was identified as an invasive fire ant, so I got rid of it and started researching nuptial flights of other species that I'd like to try raising.
One of my goals for this summer will be to try to capture one of the native species on Catalina Island in order to create a formicarium for the educational program of a camp on the island. There are a few species that are notable on the island, though any of the native ones would be fantastic. Even better would be the capture of multiple species such as a Camponotus clarithorax, Pheidole clementensis, and the Solenopsis texana catalinae species that is believed to endemic to Catalina, so that visitors can see the comparison between all the species.
Can't wait to get started with my first queens, hoping to go on some Anting expeditions with other SoCal folks when the timing works out, and I'm looking forward to starting my own journals and formicarium construction threads when I'm able to :-D
See you around,
~Dusty
