Other Hobbies?

[Mr_Knightley]

Hey ya'll! Today I've been working on my other hobbies a bit (Carnivorous plants and Bioactive vivariums) and I was wondering if you guys had any other hobbies? I think its always so cool to see what other things people are doing (and can somehow afford lol)

 

[Gareth elliott]

I keep a crested gecko, tree frogs, inherited a turtle trying to sell that lol, i also have a freshwater planted and an outdoor pond.

My other main hobby is bee keeping, which i do some gardening for, i also have grapes that the original vines i planted about 17 years ago. Moved so had to take grafts with me. But still going to call them my 17 year old grapes lol.

 

[Peace River]

Here is a similar thread that may find interesting:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/what-other-hobbies.682510/

 

[Alexreefer]

Well, I am very much into fpv drones, love the shots and moves you can do with them!

 

[sp1187]

birds..... shooting. (I do have pics ;) )
cooking. (see above)
wood sculpting.

 

[Daniel92481]

LOL

 

[cromag27 Verified Sponsor]

i collect human remains. see all the other threads for photos.

 

[Saltyreef]

Gunsmithing, target shooting and snowboarding.
Amongst other things :)

 

[StatelineReefer]

I'm a supernerd... so my other hobbies are more expensive and geeky than my reef tank... Magic the Gathering and Warhammer 40k.

 

[Jaco2420]

I do ant keeping, I have a western hognose snake, I have a planted tank, breed lake tanganyikan cichlids, play hockey, and occasionally pan for gold!

 

[Saltyreef]

Hockey,Hockey,Hockey,Hockey
Hockey,Hockey,Hockey,Hockey
Hockey,Hockey,Hockey,Hockey
Hockey all day long!

 

[Waters]

Have always been into reptiles (currently have a large Purple Tegu and Bearded Dragon) Have kept many large monitors and snakes over the years. Also into cars.

 

[Han]

I have 3 leopard geckos and a corn snake, and collect anything star wars.

 

[Paul B]

I build these things which sell in a gallery in NY

 

[tankstudy]

I do ant keeping, I have a western hognose snake, I have a planted tank, breed lake tanganyikan cichlids, play hockey, and occasionally pan for gold!

Where does one get an ant queen? I've been interested in keeping an ant colony if legally possible for many years.

 

[Jaco2420]

Where does one get an ant queen? I've been interested in keeping an ant colony if legally possible for many years.

There are two ways you can attain a queen, you can buy one from a local ant keeper or catch one during nuptial flights throughout the year. It is legal in most places if the queen is native to the area. The female elates (virgin queens) have wings, larger heads and Are large for the most part. My largest queen is 1.5 inches and the smallest being 0.1 of an inch. And you shouldn’t feel bad taking them from the wild because only 1 percent make it to the egg laying stage in the wild, the others are eaten or killed. You start the colony in a test tube with water in the bottom half capped off with Cotten balls and Cotten at the end. Then you just keep them in a dark place. It is a highly fascinating hobby and I highly recommend it. It is really cool to see how they interact with the queen and to see how intelligent they really are.

This is a calendar of when the ants fly in North America by Ants Canada. I recommend watching the old videos by ants Canada on YouTube as they are very informative and interesting, he is actually currently starting a new colony of fire ants right now.

 

[Jaco2420]

Where does one get an ant queen? I've been interested in keeping an ant colony if legally possible for many years.

These are also north American sp.
My favourite is camponotus Sp. because they are big and very intelligent. The only downside being it can take 2+ years to get a colony of only 20-40 workers, but well worth it in my opinion. They don’t take up much time at all maybe 10-15 minutes a week. Let me know if you have any more questions

 

[jeffrey750750]

I breed savannah cats and trying to be a stained glass artist

 

[tankstudy]

Arkansas has 3 GAN farmers but no queens. Looks like I'll attempt to hunt queens during the nupital flights.

These are also north American sp.
My favourite is camponotus Sp. because they are big and very intelligent. The only downside being it can take 2+ years to get a colony of only 20-40 workers, but well worth it in my opinion. They don’t take up much time at all maybe 10-15 minutes a week. Let me know if you have any more questions

Looks like prenolepis imparis and camponotus are coming up. I'll probably skip fire ants, solenopsis yeah?, I have a mild allergic reaction to them.

Any tips on finding camponotus queens?

 

[Jaco2420]

Arkansas has 3 GAN farmers but no queens. Looks like I'll attempt to hunt queens during the nupital flights.


Looks like prenolepis imparis and camponotus are coming up. I'll probably skip fire ants, solenopsis yeah?, I have a mild allergic reaction to them.

Any tips on finding camponotus queens?

Prenolepis are very interesting ants but quite rare, they fly just after the snow melts. Camponotus I find fly mostly around may/June in my experience, but can definitely be found earlier. I just walk on gravel trails and side walks with my test tubes and keep an eye out for them, just do some research on which ones are queens and it is very easy to find one. I found like 30 queens last year of all different types which was a mistake, I recommend 3-4 queens of species you really like and work on them. Then you can sell them and keep your best colonies. Queens live for 10+ years for most species some much longer. I have 1 fire ant queen but I’m going to sell her after hibernation because the colonies grow too fast for my liking. I also really like Formica which are really common and fly in huge numbers, they tend to get scared and start running around crazy really easily though.