Polyergus ants

[Hypoponera]

Your best bet is going to be to catch a freshly mated queen while she is running around on the surface of the ground. Then you can just scoop her up and place her in a tank full of dirt. Start looking now as some species start swarming in early spring while others start in early summer.

Digging an established colony out is possible, but not very practical. As you dig, the ants simply move the queen and brood down deeper. You would need to use a full size spade not a plastic spoon!

Chances are you have 2 seperate species of Pyramid Ant. Black Pyramids in the bathroom and Red & Black pyramids outside. Both actually do make very interesting "pets".

A good source of ant info for you might be the Ant Farm:

http://antfarm.yuku.com/

 

[Swipht]

Are they out around sundown? I wont get off work until about then. All I have around work is under brush... No logs or rocks to flip over and look under. I have a wooded area by my apartment I could look at.

 

[Swipht]

well I manadged to catch some ants, even snag a few eggs from them... I lifted up a rock and all the workers were scrambling to move them. doubt I got the queen though, since I just scooped a bunch up.

 

[robo mantis]

Catching some workers and brood definatly isn't worth it. You definatly during the summer will see queens at dusk. A lot of species fly late afternoon then land at dusk. To be honest i'm very against dirt setups! I use testtubes, fill then halfway with water, take a cotton ball and shove it down there till it is about halfway in the water so the cotton is wet, then catch a queen and throw her in, and finally plug up the open end with a cotton ball so she won't escape.

 

[Hypoponera]

Ah, see? We are all different. I like the dirt set-ups myself. But that's because I like watching them excavate and fill in tunnels over time.

 

[robo mantis]

With dirt setups some people lose colonies, some people get mites (like i had mites kill a citronella ant colony i captured.) and when they are in the tunnels most of them make dark rooms in the middle so you can't see.

 

[Swipht]

Dang it! Why can't I have citronela ants around me? I'd love to put those whitish ants in black sand. That'd look really cool. Cotton balls? They can tunnel threw wet cotton balls?

 

[robo mantis]

Citronella ants are near impossible to start but i'm trying one. You have whitish ants??? They might have just hatched. Most of the colonies love the cotton ball and sit on it. Some colonies get creative and start building little cotton mounds. I almost never have ants tunnel into cotton they might dig an indent and stuff but the only time i have seen them dig through is when the water was either gone or almost gone.

 

[robo mantis]

Here is the long awaited for video of my slavemaker ant colony. This is them feeding the queen.

 

[robo mantis]

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY SLAVE MAKER QUEEN LAYED ABOUT 8 EGGS!!!!!

 

[Katnapper]

Here is the long awaited for video of my slavemaker ant colony. This is them feeding the queen.

Interesting, Robomantis... I enjoyed the video! In fact I was wishing it was longer, lol.

Congrats on her laying eggs for you!

 

[robo mantis]

Thanks!!! I wish the video was longer too!! I actually kept filming and thats the exact time i ran out of memory!!! I didn't stop the video my camera did haha at least i got the video!!!!

 

[Hypoponera]

8 eggs? Very cool indeed!! Now you need to start planning where to get new pupa for the work force. Those slaver "workers" ain't too good at actually doing any real work.

 

[robo mantis]

Yes. She actually layed more now!!!! They have a decent size cluster!!!!

 

[[email protected]]

Hay there I read all of your ant updates cool about your eggs, now I don't keep ants but I have allways watched them over the years, now in Colo we have fire ant [ 1/8 of inch all red] that are biger then the ones I'v found in tex also called fire ants [1/16 of inch or so also red], now the ones in tex are the same size as what I'v grown up calling suger ants also red 1/16 inch about do you know what the name of this common ant?, by the way Im in the planes not the foot hills or Mt's.

 

[robo mantis]

They could be Argentine ants. They could also be thief ants or pharaoh ants.

 

[Hypoponera]

You will need to provide a photo of your "fire ants". Ants are very hard to ID correctly even with the ant in front of me!

I have not been able to locate any mention of actual fire ants, (Solinopsis sp), in CO. However, you should have no trouble finding the much larger harvester ants, (Pogonomymex sp).

Several species of Pogos can be found in CO. And yes, they have a very nasty sting! I think it is much more potent then any fire ant sting.

 

[[email protected]]

You will need to provide a photo of your "fire ants". Ants are very hard to ID correctly even with the ant in front of me! I have not been able to locate any mention of actual fire ants, (Solinopsis sp), in CO. However, you should have no trouble finding the much larger harvester ants, (Pogonomymex sp).

Several species of Pogos can be found in CO. And yes, they have a very nasty sting! I think it is much more potent then any fire ant sting.

 

[[email protected]]

Ok I will try to find to find the fire ant that are around me for a pic, now do you know what kind of ant the small red common ant's that I grow up calling sugar ants.

danny

 

[Hypoponera]

Again, I would need to see the ants to give you a positive ID. But red imported fire ants, (RIFA, Solinopsis invicta), are very common in TX. However, there are many other ants that could fit the discription as well. There's also at least one species of native fire ants, (Solinopsis xyloni), there as well. Most people call any stinging ant a fire ant which makes it hard to guess which species you might have seen.

If all else fails, PM me for my mailing address and you can mail me the ants to ID. While I don't have keys for CO, I do for NM, TX and NV. So I should be able to give you a good idea of what species you are dealing with.