Ant keeping? That's what I do.

Totally_Tortoise

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Yup, I like ants and think they're awesome. I have a professional formicarium made from acrylic. I had a colony of Solenopsis Xyloni (the local fire ant in California) however the colony died for an unknown cause, BUT IT'S ANTING SEASON NOW THAT SPRING IS COMING!!! So I can now find a new queen out for her journey to keep. So many different species have nuptial flights in spring than any other season (nuptial flight is when the queens and drones (male ants) fly out and breed). They mostly have their flights at night so I normally go out in the dark with a light or during dusk. Does anyone else keep ants? I've spent about $300 dollars on ant supplies because I think they're so cool! I don't have a job so 300 is a lot for me. I may be able to catch some fire ant queens or but that would have to be late spring or all through summer. But I can catch many of the formicas and carpenter ants and some solenopsis.
 

wellington

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I would love to see pics too. I bought my son one of those ant farms when he was young. We didn't have good luck with them lasting long, but it was fun and interesting to watch them while we did have them.
 

Kapidolo Farms

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That is very interesting. Some of the most game changing ecological theories and social science theories have come from the study of ants.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._O._Wilson

Have you considered raising carpenter ants for horned lizard keepers? I hope that doesn't sound to carnivorous?
 

Totally_Tortoise

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That is very interesting. Some of the most game changing ecological theories and social science theories have come from the study of ants.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._O._Wilson

Have you considered raising carpenter ants for horned lizard keepers? I hope that doesn't sound to carnivorous?
I've considered raising a carpenter colony and if i could make money for selling carpenter ants for horned lizards i would.
 

ZEROPILOT

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Cool
I had an ant farm when I was a kid.
Are Fire ants interesting to watch?
I've only dealt with them as they were attempting to eat me and my pets.
Can you order them online I wonder?
As I recall, it was a mail order thing back then.
 

CarolM

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I've considered raising a carpenter colony and if i could make money for selling carpenter ants for horned lizards i would.
Did you have any luck finding the Queen? I would love to see your set-up now (if you have the ants) as The first picture didn't make any sense to me. (Can you tell that I am not familiar with ant keeping. :D) So am just wondering what it looks like with the ants in it.
 

Totally_Tortoise

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Cool
I had an ant farm when I was a kid.
Are Fire ants interesting to watch?
I've only dealt with them as they were attempting to eat me and my pets.
Can you order them online I wonder?
As I recall, it was a mail order thing back then.
you can order ants online, however if you order a queen then it cant be more than a few miles away. because ants can destroy an ecosystem they are not native to
 
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