Hello, I kept ants growing up but never had any resources to learn about them. Now I do and I am excited to find my first queen this spring/summer! Unfortunately, everything is covered in ice and snow for several months yet so the ants will all be hibernating. This gives me time to learn as much as I can before I get her and learn what the BEST way to house her is. I want her to live as long as possible (someone said that could be 30+ years!?) and for the colony to grow as large as possible, not necessarily quickly. As the colony grows I will experiment with their nests, moving them into different types each time and tracking the results, to see what kind of nest the ants prefer since there are so many on the market.
I plan to work with Camponotus Novaeboracensis or Pennsylvanicus for my first colony(s). But my dream is to have a massive connected multi nest colony of polygamous black crazy ants, In theory they will live forever as long as someone takes care of them! I could add on to the system yearly for the rest of my life! Then I could even sell queens and workers as well as doing my experiments (I will experiment with their nests, as well as lighting/darkness long term).
I'm so excited and inpatient that I don't want to wait to find queens, Can I buy queens here??? Is there anyone else here in Michigan?