Shriveledradish

I found her today in a wood pile while looking for black widows.

I have a bigger test tubs coming in tomorrow btw

I am unsure of the species, I am thinking Camponotus pennsylvanicus or Formica subsericea.

I'm leaning more towards C. pennsylvanicus because those are carpenter ants and I found her in a wood pile but I'm not sure honestly.

Got her some new things and she decided to explore

Also does anybody know any good uvb lights I can use for my frog? Preferably one that isn't super expensive but I want to make her enclosure as good as possible.

They are growing:)

The babies started leaving their mom and it is very exciting.

Not all of them have left their mom but a large amount have (about 76!)

So far I have separated them into small condiment containers with 4 spiders each

Once they start molting I am going to separate them into individual containers.

The spiders that I removed yesterday have already received their first meal and the spiders that were born today will have their first meal tomorrow. (And the ones that hatched yesterday will get their second meal.) I am waiting until tomorrow so that they are all on the same feeding schedule.

For their food I am feeding them pieces of pre-killed mealworms. When spiders are older it is better to feed them live food but while they are little it is fine to feed them pre-killer prey (and in some cases can be safer because the prey can't kill the spider)

I moved her from her bin cage into a proper tank

My next plan is to make it bioactive and get a proper lid for it lol

I've seen mixed opinions on if tomato frogs need uvb but I am going to get it for her soon. Better safe than sorry.

She dug herself a hole and sat in it and has barely moved since then except to eat some mealworms.

I thought Petricors eggsack wasn't fertilized but I was wrong

They were born while I was traveling home so a few babies fell off of her and I just sat them beside her

New queen already laid an egg

The one with wings did end up dying but the other two are doing well and laying eggs

I caught another queen to go in my empty test tube

Here are the ladies with eggs

I keep my ants in a box where it is dark

This is the first one

I think she is a Camponotus castaneus. I am not super knowledgeable on ant species in the area.

This is the second queen. I believe she is Formica subsericea.

This ant I am not certain is a queen. I don't know if it is a male ant or a queen who still has wings, there is also not a certain chance she has mated yet. It is a waiting game to see if she goes onto lead a colony. Also have no clue of the species

With the first two ants it may be hard to see on camera but if I saw correctly you can see the scars from where they tore their wings off.

Currently I am keeping them in rain tubes from tractor supply because they are basically test tubes where you can see how big the ants are and they come with something that holds them in place and will prevent them from rolling around. I have about a third of the tube filled with water and then put a cotton ball so that they stay hydrated but can't drown. I also have the entrance blocked with a cotton ball. This is what I saw to do on the few videos and articles.

I probably won't update on them super often for now because you are supposed to leave them alone for a few weeks after you find them and set them up in the tube.

I am open to any advice as well. I want to increase my chances of starting a colony.

Hard to tell in these low quality images but the black blob is Raisin and the other blob is their molt.

I had to move the dirt down because it's a hazard that she could bolt out or her babies can when they are born and she peeped her little head out from under the leaf and I thought she would be annoyed but she just didn't care that much

All the bugs arrived safely and are in their temporary containers

A lot smaller than I would like but I might swing by the dollar store and grab slightly bigger ones.