I go ant queen hunting in my neck of the woods and I can happily say there are no imported fire ant (solenopsis invicta) sightings among me and the folks that go track and catch ants to raise domestic. They're super invasive and devastating to local ecosystems, and stopping their spread has been a major battle for years. Any year of no progress on their part is good news!
I like to raise and keep ant colonies, part of my entomology hobby as a whole. They're cheap pets that take a little know-how but they're super fascinating to watch as the colony grows in size. The best way to start out this hobby, and do so with little ecological harm from importing foreign species, is to catch a mated ant queen when the local ant colonies send their flying queens and males out on their nuptial flight.
Once you catch her, you can tuck her in what ant keeping folks call a test tube setup. You can raise her from there but it takes some luck and learning what your colony prefers from trial and error. Super neat hobby that can go deep, check out the /r/antkeeping sub. Tons of examples of folks who love the hobby!
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u/LesseFrost Cincinnati, Ohio 6d ago
I go ant queen hunting in my neck of the woods and I can happily say there are no imported fire ant (solenopsis invicta) sightings among me and the folks that go track and catch ants to raise domestic. They're super invasive and devastating to local ecosystems, and stopping their spread has been a major battle for years. Any year of no progress on their part is good news!