Purifier: (17. Okt 2007 07:00)

Yeah sure. Thats the reason you never should let exotics get free ;)
And thats the reason why you have to sign a document when you order ants with risk-class 2 or 3

mpir: (17. Okt 2007 07:18)

Very hard choice to be honest. I guess South European because Central Eurpean have longer hibernation and because Exotic one need a lot of attention and care. So I guess South European ants are sort of compromise and therefor my favourites. :D

Antlord: (17. Okt 2007 12:29)

My vote goes to exotic ants, you can enjoy them all year long. My favourites are weaver ants, leaf cutter ants and the very interesting Pheidologeton diversus because of the different casts.

JimmyVe: (17. Okt 2007 17:07)

Nice to read all the reply's, and to see the votes. ;)

@Antlord: Hello and welcome. ;)

ant dude: (31. Okt 2007 23:32)

central european ants r my favourites simply because there not to hard to keep and i just usually prefer centrual eurpeon ones rather than south and exotic,although south and espesally exotic ants are very very intresting like army and leaf cutter ants :) sorry im a bit late replying but i only joined recently lol :joker02:

darradar: (1. Nov 2007 13:02)

I guess though i admire the exotics, I am not knowledgable enough yet to keep them, I would have to vote European, my Camponotus cruentatus, not a native to the UK, I am finding these fascinating, (indeed check my latest update).

Necturus: (1. Nov 2007 13:40)

I went for central european. Theres more then 100 different ants in germany, most exotic keepers dont know much about them. I find the local "wildlife" very exciting. Heres some pictures i took of a social parasite, Chthonolasius sp., abducting a host worker to acquire the nest smell before invading the host colony.
http://ameisenforum.de/fotoberichte/30646-lasius-sp-kolonie-und-sozialparasitaere-lasius-sp-koeniginnen.html
Red circle shows a hovering parasitic fly, probably Phoridae. Best place to start observing ants is right in your garden or near forests:)

Philsen: (1. Nov 2007 13:49)

My favourite ants are all the Camponotus species. So I cant
choose any category. But if I have to choose I would pick
the south european ants. They are very interesting species and
good to keep.

hypervelocity: (1. Nov 2007 17:24)

Hi all,

I prefer exotic species because you can learn more about ants from different cultures, and also i prefer exotic ants because they are more active than other species (they keep no hibernation). :D

JimmyVe: (3. Nov 2007 18:03)

@ Necturus: good job with the pictures. nice. Never saw that happening.

All ants are so interesting so i still not decide which i'm going for. ;)