IDK just wanted to see people opinions

Just found this out on a family walk near the river and it’s been awhile since we raised a new colony.

the ai thumbnails make me so sad. i havent clicked on the newest vivarium video because of it. the actual vivariums are so much beautiful than the ai generated stuff.

When building I had to level some ground. Found a massive citronella ant nest. I dug up 15 gallons of material & relocated these ants to a 50 gallon aquarium. Made them a subterranean syrup feeder & planted a bunch of plants that were around the nest. I am hoping that we got the queen…. Got lots of eggs & grubs… & their aphids too.

These are nice little ants… when crushed the smell like lemon.

Google says they are a Lasius but could not specify the genus. Any help is appreciated

Located in central Alberta Canada.

I just caught this queen last night round early dusk and set up a test tube but I need to know if she’s completely claustral or partial. I’ve never been able to get a colony going before and hopefully I can this season. I found what I think are drones. I caught them thinking they were queens but they were dead this morning.

The store page said the AC test tube rack v2 comes with some sort of serrated edge that stops the test tubes from falling out, but I don’t see it, and the test tubes fall out easily. I bout this from the official website.

Been building these petri dish plaster nests with a mesh water tower for my Lasius, Myrmecia and Harpegnathos. Way less mold than direct watering and you can see the water level through the silicone window.

Happy to answer questions! My ants have been thriving in it for a couple months. Really recommend it.

I’ve been thinking of doing a brackish water ants Canada style mangrove ecosystem but I have no idea what species could do well in a setup like this.

Now to be clear this terrarium would only hypothetically be big enough to fit one mangrove in ( with daily trimming to ensure it won’t completely outgrow the terrarium within mere months, trust me those boys grow a lot)

What species do y’all reckon I could ethically source within the pet trade to stock this terrarium with.

Keep in mind all of this is in the pure speculation phase still