There are far too many colonies within a 15 mile radius of my house to actually need the maps anymore, but they were useful later to spot new colonies that had appeared where none were before, and also to determine which might have died out or moved. I recently revisited some locations that I hadn't been to in 2 years. Almost all colonies I started visiting 3 years ago are still around. A few just didn't come back after winters, some were destroyed by landscaping, and some have been under attack by other smaller parasitic ants. I witnessed one actually moving to another location 20 yards away one night.



I do a few hand counts every year to stay calibrated within reason to both a scale and a visual measure. They are weighed straight from the wild after refrigeration, then measured visually in a marked container while completely dormant.



For hatchlings, there are a few locations with some smaller size workers I can use, though I never determined if they were a subspecies or just a lot of young workers there. I usually get enough small workers that I am able to pick out by hand and place in another container. I also raise a small amount of crickets and allow the nymphs a way to make their way into the tank ad libitum, as well as culturing fruit flies in home made medium.




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freewebs.com/wichitafallsreptilerescue



groups.yahoo.com/group/HornedLizards

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