Ants

They are making a go of it, the red ants i captured today, from the brood chamber of their colony, under a rock that must have seemed very safe till an eighteen month old was instructed on the ways of anting. And ant she did, with a plastic shovel first, and an aspirator second, though she did not know how to make the latter decice work, but tried, after removing a brick I had replaced out of mercy to the colony I raided. In fact, that colony showed itself well, rushing about so quickly I was fought to a standstill looking for victims, and moving hundreds of tiny coccoons out of the space before I could really set about to stealing them. Blood colored and beautiful, my small collective of captives is finally out of colony defense mode, and is making the best of things, having piled all the coccoons atop each other and setting about to guard them. Sentries posted. Too bad this new colony will never have a queen.

I had exercised so much restraint until this afternoon, witnessing a colony of Formica sanguinaria raid another colony of a congeneric Formica, two columns locked in deadly battle, slave making begun within the ant world, for the more practical purpose of eliminating the competition and just plain theft. Soon, I place a light trap in that same yard, hunting for queens, blood red or matte black, to start colonies from scratch.