08/29/08 Found a queen decided to keep her.Put her
in my sponge ant farm.

08/30/08 No eggs yet but its only the second day Queen seems to move lots i decided to put in a peice of moist cotton
hope this works as a feeding place.Ill keep you updated everyday.

09/1/08 Moved her to a test tube with moist cotton hope she lays
me some eggs well i cant see any eggs but they could be on the cotton.

09/2/08 Got some pupae from a wild nest they should hatch into ants in about a week

8/25/08
Finally!
I've always had many colonies of Odontomachus in my back yard.
At times I'd find very many queens and males of this species,
but I could never find a mated queen...until now
I noticed Odontomachus love wet an warm places, such as rotten wood. So about 5 months ago I placed a small rotten log out in some bushes, hoping to attract a small colony seeking a new home, and it worked
I had captured the colony with 20 workers, 10 coccoons, a few larvae, and of course, the queen.
They now live happily inside a plaster nest where the queen has laid several new eggs. I always find it fun to place a cricket into the plaster tunnels, wait, and then hear a series of small but suprisingly loud clicks coming from the closing jaws of Odontomachus.
8/31/08
I had to move these guys out of their plaster nest for my fire ants who are growing rapidly. They now live inside a small container full of moist soil, they seem to like it and have made a few tunnels next to the walls so I can see em. I can also see 2 batches of eggs now so the queen must be happy.

07/13/08
Found a Crematogaster sp queen crawling on the edge of my house around 6pm at night. There was a light rain the night before. I put her in a test tube.

07/16/08
She finally laid her eggs. It's hard to tell but she has laid about 5 to 8 eggs.

08/17/08
3 new babies have arrived. These acrobat ants are very cool looking

Buy a few kid pools. You can find these almost anywhere. Place the pools in your backyard. Keep checking the pools and you will find lots of queens almost every day especially after a rain.

6/21/08
Flipped over a mat I had outside and found a new colony of Tapinoma melanocephalum
that had recently budded off from their main colony.
There was no brood and the queen still had a small gaster.
There was about 50 workers and I captured 20.
They are now resting in a test tube now feeding off sugar water.
6/22/08
The queen has already begun laying eggs and they have around 7 eggs.
3 injured workers have died.
8/28/08
These guys grow just as fast as fire ants!
They started out with 20 workers and already have 100+ workers. Thats pretty fast for a colony with only 1 small queen. I'd say there are now 50 pupae and larvae, and of course many, many eggs.

6/15/08
Captured Technomyrmex albipes queen (Florida's most common pest ant)
last night. This morning she has already laid an egg.
6/16/08
Looks like she has around 20 eggs now
6/19/08
She now has about 30 eggs, I didn't feel like waiting longer so I captured some
pupae from a wild colony. It should take 2-3 weeks for them to hatch...
6/20/08
Well, she didn't make it
A fungus had infected her and her head split!
Her eyes turned white and now there is a white stick of fungus
sticking out of her head.
Creepy!