Last week, I caught more queen ants. These queens all have brood now. This is a great thing because I want to have a colony before nuptial flights end for the year in late September/early October.
I also saw my first nuptial flight! This flight happened in my driveway, and the queens were so darn cute that I caught two of them, one was caught on the roof of my moms car (I climbed onto the roof of her car to catch this queen) and the other was found on my dads boat cover.
Below are pictures of the queens emerging from their nest entrance.
Today, one of these alates has brood, and she has shed her wings in the test tube which is annoying to me because it may start a MOLD OUTBREAK, but no problems have arisen from the wings yet. The queens have been doing well and none of the current queens are dead. Mold is present in all ant nests in the wild, but if it becomes too widespread in the nest, it is a threat to the colony.
Here is a cool nuptial flight video. Enjoy!
