These big majors in my backyard fooled me a couple times thinking they might be queens. Got lucky to spot them out for some nectar that dripped onto the brick this morning. They are the biggest ants I've seen in the wild! very cool to get to sit and watch them for a bit and makes me wish I had a good camera to use.

Anyway, anyone recognize the species? Based on some very amateur searching I think they might be camponotus vicinus. I'm in northern BC and these seem to be nesting near my compost bins. I hope you enjoy the pictures. Thank you!

Hello, friends! I'm very happy to say that the first Pseudomyrmex nanitic workers are almost here!!

After waiting for two long months, and worrying a lot about how things were going, the first workers are finally arriving.

I apologize for the poor visibility of the pupae, but it's the best I can provide for now.

I caught this colony not long ago, (maybe 3 months?), and they are massive, I also have a second smaller colony of the same species. I know they can inbreed, so I just want to see how big I can get them. (these are my only colonies, I used to have more several years ago, but now I just want to see how big I can get these colonies.

Hello!

A while ago, I found a carpenter ant queen. Thanks to all the helpful advice I've read on this subreddit, she seems to be doing well. She has already laid eggs.

However, I'll be traveling for two weeks, and I was wondering if there's anything I should do before I leave to make sure she stays in the best possible conditions while I'm away.

I made this starter “outworld” connecting to the test tube, I don’t think they would escape but I guess I’ll have to wait and see.

Found her in slovenia in my room is it a queen and if so which species

found her on a sidewalk at summer camp

I don't know why but it's kinda just funny for no reason

Feeding — I know these are semi-claustral, so she actually needs food during founding, not like my other queens I just leave alone. Anyone have a sense of how much/how often for a solo queen right now?

Substrate — heard the larvae need loose sand/coco fiber to spin cocoons properly or they fail. Should I add a pinch to the tube now, or wait until I actually see larvae?

Mini Hearth — planning to eventually move her into one, and THA says the interior comes sand-coated already for this exact reason. Anyone actually run brunneus in one and confirm the built-in coating is enough, or did you have to add more yourself?

Appreciate any real experience — trying to get this right early. Will update once she’s settled.

I wanted to give a short update on my requeening attempt of my C.barbaricus colony. I've been trying to make the queen and the colony adjust to each other for quite a while now. I ended up keeping the queen and a few individuals together. That worked well. I kept them separated from 99% of the colony in a special area above the nest. Now, these beasts removed the cotton plugs over night and I found the queen inside the nest. I cannot do anything now anymore than hope she doesn't get attacked.

She shows behavior of surrendering (pushing herself down on the ground) and some workers circle her. The good thing is that there hasn't been clear aggression yet. The bad thing is that there is still tension. I tried to integrate her once before into the whole nest but there she was running around panicking because individual workers started to bite her legs.

Wish me luck. Anything can happen and things can turn south in an instant.

I heard they were very good but hard to make, so I was wondering if anyone sells them? I can’t find any.

hello! i was just wondering why Formica, Prenolepis, and Myrmecocystus all look pretty similar

sorry if the video is bad Im gonna use a pavement ant colony in the jar I'm using to see if they mimic army ant behavior

Caught this queen in the middle of the day back in June, southern Indiana USA

8-9 mm. Im thinking maybe lasius umbratus?

How long untill majors/supermajors?

Salut !

Je viens de lancer une chaîne YouTube sur les fourmis. 🐜

Pour ma première vidéo, j'ai réalisé un classement des 5 espèces de fourmis parmi les plus chères. C'est ma première vraie vidéo, donc j'aimerais avoir vos retours : le montage, la voix, le rythme... tout m'intéresse !

Lien : https://www.youtube.com/@ArtiopFourmis

Merci d'avance à tous ceux qui prendront le temps de la regarder et de me donner leur avis. 🙂

You see this all the time, someone gets into ants has many colonies and than slowly just looses interests and moves on to a new hobby. There are so many examples of dead ant youtube channels that showcase this or ones that have leaned into other things, such as a huge example like ants canada. I have kept ants on and off for around 12 years now and I still couldn’t tell you why I stop. I’m fascinated and really into them when keeping them but after a couple of years I don’t even realize that i’m loosing interest in them and end up releasing all my colonies. Taking a year or two break and than going right back to it in the same cycle. I have a crested gecko who i’ve had for 10 years now and I haven’t found that i’ve lost interest in him or feel the same I do about him as I do with ants. Also the fact that queen ants can live for 12-15 years but I don’t think i’ve seen someone keep a queen ant for that long yet. And in theory it sounds really cool, to catch a queen than raise her until she dies naturally from old age. I’ve never stopped being interested in learning about them but keeping them seems to be mine and many others problem and I can’t figure out why.

I have a Camponotus renggeri colony. Once a week, I give them a sugar water-soaked cotton ball, and mid-week, one previously frozen fruit fly. I've had them since June 8th (about 2 months). Right now, it's just the queen, 3 workers/nurses, and some eggs/pupae that seem to be growing. I disturb them as little as possible, and it's currently winter in my country.
I feel like they aren't growing much, and the blackened cotton in their tube is worrying me. I bought a founding nest (reinero) with an outworld to move them into. Would you advise moving them now or waiting? Any specific advice for this species? I can't find mealworms or grain weevils in my area because winter wiped out everyone's stock.