ANTSTORE World of Ants

[ItsJason]

Hey everyone! My name is Jason, I live in southern California, and I am 16 years old. Since I was 8, I have been fascinated with bugs, but more specifically, ants. For a while it has been my dream to own a queen ant and help her grow in my own ant colony.
The problem is, it is illegal to buy or sell queen ants in the US, and I have not had much luck catching a queen.
I have decided to look for a solenopsis invicta queen, because they live around here and reproduce quickly. I also believe they should be easy to keep alive, as their range of habitats is huge (from jungles of South America all the way to the deserts of here in California.) Last year a solenopsis invicta colony was eradicated by my father because I couldn't convince him to let me capture the colony, which I have done now, so I know there must be more colonies around my area. I plan to look out for their mating flights and also keep an eye out for colonies. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I might capture a queen if I find a colony, and also how to spot a mating flight? Also, I would love any suggestions/criticism to anything else about my plans.
Thanks!
~Jason


PS: I am fully aware of the dangers of keeping a fire ant colony, and I am prepared to take precautions to keep them contained. I also don't mind some pain if I get bitten, as my sport cross country is all about taking pain! And apart from tapinoma sessile, there aren't any other ants where I live.

[hador]

a mating flight isn't hard to spot.
You will see the queens and the males flying around, so you just have to pick up a wingless queen and keep it.

[SteveUK28]

However.. i could try and keep fire ants if i was you.. Im sure there is bound to be some nice Camponotus queens there somewhere.

[JimmyVe]

Fire ants are dangerous ants but they are common where you live so it would be acceptable if you keep them.
But like Steve said, i'm sure there must be other ants species where you live. Maybe you could look for one of these.

Good luck.

[ItsJason]

Thanks for the input guys. And about finding a different species of ant, there are just very few here. There are a few harvester colonies, but I would hate to dig one up with the danger of destroying it. The ant and that is really everywhere is tapinoma sessile (thanks for the id Jimmy!) but at only 2.5 mm long, it is too small for my liking, and I can't for the life of me find a way to keep them from escaping.
I'm always on the lookout for any nuptial flight of course, and if I do chance upon a harvester queen, I'll definitely keep it. It is cloudy and cold today, so I'm hopeful that it might rain tomorrow, with a good chance of a flight!
So if I do find a queen tomorrow, should I put her in a test tube? It seems like the common thing to do, but for some reason, it just doesn't seem very healthy to me. And if I do put her in a test tube, about how big (relative to her size) should it be, and how should I take care of her while she is in it?
Thanks!
Jason

[SteveUK28]

Well the bigger the better really.. and as for taking care of her.. as long as there is plenty of water in the test tube all you have to do is keep her warm and dark.. nature will do the rest.. Then when she has first workers put the test tube into a small outworld and offer them small bugs and honey.

[AndyB]

wow 2.5mm is a small ant. anyway good luck finding a queen And remember the (water/cottonwool/ ants /cottonwool when you prep the test tubes.

[Andrew]

How large do fire ant colonies get?

[damondeionno]

Vast. 100's of thousands.

[Andrew]

Even from one queen?

[SteveUK28]

yes.. queens will live for many many years.. and produce eggs all time.. so yes.. 100's of thousands.

[Andrew]

Ok this will be interesting, i have a queen fire ant, and she just laid eggs, i was planning to put her in a cork nest would that suffice?

[JimmyVe]

I'm not such a big fan of Cork nests, it can work out but better would be if you used a sand nest or a ytong.

[Andrew]

I would use ytong, but it wasn't difficult to obtain it.