New Horizons

 In fall of 2024, my son posted a picture of a Tar Heels Ants formicarium on Snapchat and mentioned adding the goal of becoming an ant god. Normally, I would chalk this up to the late-night, addled postings of a young man without enough to do. Then he mentioned it in conversation a day or so later. And then a day or two after that. I decided to step in and make sure he didn't do something he wouldn't regret (re. a ferret, two cats, and a dog that my wife and I now own). In an effort to keep things under control, I told him it was close to Christmas, so he should hold off, and we would get him set up. I ordered him a Hearth XL from Tar Heel Ants. Then I decided I might need to parallel his endeavors to make sure I could help should he have any problems, so I ordered another Hearth XL for myself. At that point, I realized that there were tons of ants around us in southern Tennessee and I had so many opportunities to lean into this, so I ordered materials to begin fabricating my own formicaria for the ants we did not yet own.

It is probably important to note that my primary hobby is collecting hobbies, and when I start a hobby, I really jump in. All of the way in.

Fast forward to early January 2025. He and I both have Hearth XLs, I currently have a Lasius Neoniger queen with a small brood and a few workers and a Pheidole bicarinata queen. these two future hordes are currently in test tubes while they propagate. My son's Camponotus castaneus starter colony is yet to be shipped. I also inadvertently ordered some Dubia roaches. I did not realize that I would be getting a starter colony, so now I'm raising roaches. Fortunately, we have chickens (our daughter has left us with many, many chickens, a cat, and a horse that she can't ride, but we still board because we are amazing parents), so I have stand-by roach population control for whatever is overhead from the roach or two we might need once our ant colonies are fully established in a year or so. All of the way in.

I've got a heater cable, a thermostat, and a cardboard box to keep things dark and warm enough for now. I'm trying to leave things alone for a while to let the ants settle from shipping. I've got a pretty full work schedule for the foreseeable future, but I'm hoping to begin building formicaria. I'm hoping I can sell some off once I figure it out to offset costs, but I'm also okay if I can't.