Hi everyone!
I've been successfully creeping the internet recently for all things anting and I came across this fun forum so I'd thought I'd join up! To be fair, I kind of ventured first to AntsCanada (with it's super fun youtube videos, which got me hooked) and found my way here.
I've always been interested in ant keeping for a long time but never successfully kept a legitimate colony. I used to own ant farms in the past and just collected workers, only to find out that they wouldn't last very long without a queen. I was very young back then and the plethora of information about the anting culture wasn't as readily available to me as it is now; so I want try to bring back my lost hobby!
At the moment I'm happy to say I caught the recent P. imparis nuptial flight and have some queens in their test tube setups. Hopefully that wave of good luck will continue with me as we approach the busy nuptial flight season in New England. I'm really hoping to try for Camponotus noveboracensis this spring/summer.
Also - I'm a bit of a gamer and really interested with things related to anting, like SimAnt and Empire of the Ants for the PC. If there are others who are into this genre as well some upcoming titles to look out for are: "Formicarium" (http://formicarium.org) and Empires of the Undergrowth (http://www.eotugame.com). If anyone has played or know of any others, I'd love to hear about it!
Hope to continue chatting and meeting like minded people on here!