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[CNewton]

I purchased a black light bulb and a black light flashlight. The bulb I plan on using with a water tub trap set up in a hardwood forest with a kiddie-pool below with some floating objects for queens to climb onto. Hopefully, I'll find some crematogaster and Temnothorax. I'm not really sure how people use the flashlight! For early morning walks? How do you experts use your black lights?

[Bracchymyrmex]

Blacklight
This is a way to get the queens to come to us.
Ant queens are attracted to UV light when flying at night.  Your setup can be as simple as replacing the bulb on your porch light and walking out every 10min or so to see what has arrived.  Or it can be as complex as a portable unit that catches any queens that fly into it.  Some people have noticed that larger queens often fall short, but can be found on the ground in the immediate area.
Putting a white sheet up will increase the effectiveness of the UV bulb.  There are also handheld black light units out there for under $30. 
Some people take a white bed sheet and a handheld UV light into their backyard, they drape the bed sheet over some object like a fence or railing and lean/hang the blacklight against it.  They then just wait or walk around and look for queens that may have fallen short.
Queens flying to a blacklight source often take time to shed their wings, or may not shed them at all.
Yes, you will get other insects coming to say hi.  You can ignore them or collect them for ant food if you have larger colonies.

 

See more about catching queen ants here: http://www.formicult...tch-queen-ants/