106 replies to this topic

[sgheaton]

Rains this weekend!

[piratechef]

The heat seems right also, I have seen lots of activity these last few days, nothing in terms of drones, but lots of foraging and new nests popping up. Hopefully i can find where all these damn Camponotus are flying.

[sgheaton]

Heh...JUST found a scouting party in a bathroom at work. 

Edited by sgheaton, May 15 2018 - 8:51 AM.

[Waganga]

That's a pretty good picture for a fast snap! Are they scouting for food, most likely? 

 

Noob question: Morning forecast had a rainy evening scheduled, but now it's saying high humidity and warm, but no rain. Would tonight be a good night to attempt a blacklight trap?    

[sgheaton]

It's a freaggin' curse now. Darn Ant Sense goes off all the time. The facilities manager was all, "Gosh darnet you know how many times we'ved sprayed there?! Gonna put down some poison and caulk it." 

Groud/foundation, ants. Ya' know the story. 

 

When its.... I forget...like 65+ degrees when I drive to work in the morning, that's when I'll be expecting to find things. Temperature is really just the final component at this point in my opinion. 

[smares]

I caught a wasp the other day. I thought it was a queen. We'll just call it a practice run.

[Waganga]

I've caught two queens so far this season! Both of them appear to be either C. decipiens or C. vicinus, but I'm not 100% sure yet. Both of them were even on my property, I didn't have to go hunting! 

 

I caught the first one back on 5/11, but the 2nd one today 5/30. I didn't mention the first here because I thought it had traveled up from Texas on a plant I bought at Home Depot. But, since I found another queen just like the first today, best I can figure is that they're both a local species.

[Dethundrel]

Had some really good hard rain for several hours in Grand Junction today. Got a good feeling things will be flying in the next day or two!

[smares]

Saw my first alate today. Pity she was dead. A pavement ant was dragging her away...

[Dethundrel]

Componotus Ants are getting ready to fly tonight. All sites I checked are already sending out males as of 7 pm and they are flying off. Females haven’t quite taken off yet but probly will soon.

[smares]

I'll be sure to look around in the morning. Thanks for the update!

[ACaseoftheMondays]

Found this lone queen running across a sidewalk this morning. Appears to be Tetramorium. Wouldn't be surprised if she were infertile, as there were no others to be seen anywhere.

 

[sgheaton]

Found a dozen Tet-Alates yesterday. 

Some L. Flavus  activity in a Lavender plant but nothing else from that species yet. 

Sadly the Pogonomyrmex mounds are lower than I would have guessed for this time of year, but still fairly easy to find in the fields. 

 

And the Solenopsis Molesta will find me...... 

[smares]

Things I found today at a local park in Lakewood.

Habitat: Oak and tall grass. Many fallen trees. Has a small pond and a stream running through it.

none were found flying. no wings. Some seen running across the sidewalk so might be workers, some found under fallen trees.

 

Just generically wondering if any are possible queens and sharing local finds.

 

seen running across pavment.

 

Smallest of the bunch. looks like one of those vampire ants.

 

Big, maybe componautous. very angry, tried to bite and sting a lot.

 

Found in leaf litter. very tricky to catch

 

blocky. striped abdomen

 

Termites!

 

pseudoscorpion!!! never thought I'd see one of these outside of a book!

Edited by smares, June 7 2018 - 8:02 PM.

[sgheaton]

Excellent finds! Xzero has been hunting for "whatever species of vampire ants" without success I think. 

 

Cross the path of 2 tetramorium queens this morning is trivial in comparison!

 

Are you planning on raising everything? I'd be really excited for a journal with pictures!

[smares]

So they look female?  I'm pretty sure 2 of them are queens. I am definitely going to raise them.

[sgheaton]

I have NO idea. The only ant I know some stuff about is the Tetramorium, and even then I get somethings wrong. I'll almost always defer to someone else. I'm secretly hoping that they are so you'll create a journal for them. Fingers crossed! 

[Waganga]

sgheaton be like JOURNAL ALL THE THINGS

 

I don't know that any of them look like queens to me... I feel like queens have a pretty distinctive body type, with their giant weird humpback look compared to other castes. Maybe post pictures with more of a profile shot? I still have a really hard time differentiating species, but I have no problem knowing if what I am looking at is a queen ant or just a regular ant. I even think I caught a Tetramorium male a few nights before I found my Tet queens! That was cool.

 

Idk about the termite... But that pseudoscorpion is hekken neato. I'd probably keep that just because he looks BA. 

Edited by Waganga, June 8 2018 - 10:28 AM.

[smares]

Dang!  thanks all! 

[sgheaton]

Its the main reason I come to this site! I really enjoy seeing pictures of species I don't come across, peoples set ups, and formicariums. They have severely dropped off as of late and its a bit of a bummer... ...I haven't updated mine in 2 months so I can't say diarrhea.