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MY hobby

Ant

Your one and only pest!
lol, I keep ant colonies. Here is my new Camponotus colony. They are known as carpenter ants because they love to nest in strong, yet soft moist wood and not the ground. Ok here are the pictures, the queen is somewhere under one of the ant piles. This species has queens that don't like to wake up after their 4 or 5 month sleep. lol.
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Aren't they dangerous to keep...as far as them getting loose?

Ants are cool though. Even the fire ants.
 
VERY nice Ant! I've always wanted to raise ant colonies ever since I was little but back then my parents (for good reasons) wouldnt let me so I got an Iguana instead lol

Do you raise other species of ants or just Camponotus?
 
I think I would get tired of people sticking their feet in my face all day every day.

xvart.
 
Aren't they dangerous to keep...as far as them getting loose?

Ants are cool though. Even the fire ants.

not at all, the larger members of the colony can't escape and the minors will just be any other ant in the house, besides their current home is much more welcoming then the wood in my house. They like their wood rotting a moist.

I lost a few colonies last summer and let the rest go so only this colony atm.
 
I love ants, and always wanted to get into them, but in the US it's so hard to do. I'm always envious of UK keepers that have all sorts of exotic species. Maybe one of these days I'll give it a shot. I've always been fascinated by acorn ants, so perhaps I can find some one day.
 
well, where do you live? Some parts of the U.S. have leaf cutters and some other interesting species that European ant keepers would LOVE.
 
New Jersey, unfortunately. I believe the leafcutters are pretty much from the southwest, like Texas. Although...I do have a friend who moved to TX a while back...hmmmmm.

Though from what I understand, their fungus garden has to remain intact and undamaged. So shipping may be out for that. Unless there's some crazy packing involved. Perhaps I'll think more about it as summer rolls around.

I know acorn ants are found in the Northeast, but with something that tiny, I need to work up the patience to try to find them. Haha.

I remember when I lived in Alabama and we had the "cow killer ants." Not really an ant, but more a solitary fuzzy red/black wingless wasp. I used to keep those, and they were awesome. Velvet ants would be cool, too, though I've never located any.
 
Very cool. I've always been interested in ants.
 
  • #10
New Jersey, unfortunately. I believe the leafcutters are pretty much from the southwest, like Texas. Although...I do have a friend who moved to TX a while back...hmmmmm.

Though from what I understand, their fungus garden has to remain intact and undamaged. So shipping may be out for that. Unless there's some crazy packing involved. Perhaps I'll think more about it as summer rolls around.

I know acorn ants are found in the Northeast, but with something that tiny, I need to work up the patience to try to find them. Haha.

I remember when I lived in Alabama and we had the "cow killer ants." Not really an ant, but more a solitary fuzzy red/black wingless wasp. I used to keep those, and they were awesome. Velvet ants would be cool, too, though I've never located any.

shipping a colony or bringing one across state lines is illegal.
 
  • #11
Seems like Ant would have a fresh, ready-made supply of "nutrients" for his CP collection. ;)
 
  • #12
Figured as much. Wasn't sure if it was that strict or not. I know that exotic ants (i.e. all those awesome Asian ones they get to keep in Europe) are not allowed, just wasn't sure about US natives. Especially since you can get harvester ants across state lines.
 
  • #13
Well, the restriction is actually on the queen. If i wanted I could send you an entire colony minus the queen without breaking any rules, but since the queen is the only one able to reproduce she is the main invasive ant problem. You could find an ant keeper near by to buy a colony off but, only if is in your state and you can drive to meet him.
 
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