2 replies to this topic

[UberDuber]

Hey guys,

 

I'm new to ant keeping and I was able to catch my first queens last night. I encountered the tail end of a nuptial flight of Red Harvester Ants. I caught a total of 15 ants, but only 8 turned out to be queens once I compared sizes. I even caught one digging her new home. There aren't any other huge red ants with big heads in my usual hunting grounds, and the queens are crazy big, so I'm confident in my ID. I'm hoping someone can help me with a couple questions I have though:

 

- I've got all the queens in closed test tubes, but I'm wondering whether I should put the test tubes in larger containers and offer food. I've read that Bartatus are fully claustral, but I've also read that a lot of Pogonomyrmex species aren't. I don't want to disturb my queens and stress them unnecessarily, but I also don't want them to starve. I live in north Texas. Does anyone know if there are more than one harvester ant species in my area?

 

- I'm keeping my queens in a closet I rarely go into and keep closed, so it stays warmer than the rest of the house. How important is it that I heat the area? I'm sure the closet is warmer than my air conditioned house, but it's definitely not as hot as outside during the summer.

 

- Should I worry about disturbing my queens to do things like check temperature or change my containers? How easy is it to stress a queen into not reproducing?

 

 

Thank you! I've already learned a ton from these forums.

[ultraex2]

Sounds like you're doing everything right - as long as the room doesn't get up to 100 degrees and cook the ants it should be okay, especially since you live in Texas where the ants are used to warmer temperatures.  Just let them do their thing, check on them once a week, and it should work out.

As far as the "level" of stress a queen can take, it can vary a bit on the species but unless you're checking them multiple times a day and moving them around they should be okay.

[UberDuber]

Thanks for the advice!