Can anyone guess the size of the colony here, and make some suggestions for a newbie jumping in with this situation? My guess is 50-100 ants. I'm assuming they're Camponotus but I don't know much more than that. Should I leave them in the Sycamore branch? I have an AntShack Natural Formicarium (medium size) but I don't think that's going to help me here.

Late last fall I was cleaning fallen Sycamore branches from the roof of the garage, when I noticed one branch had a swarm of ant burst out of it when I tossed it down to the ground. I have long wanted a colony of ants, so I grabbed a saw and started cutting it to fit a 10-gallon aquarium. Unfortunately, during the second cut, I realized I had cut into their nest and they came streaming out of that spot also. I finally was able to cut through a little farther down, and I had a 20-gallon aquarium available also, so I hurried up and smeared petroleum jelly around the top rim and put the branch in there.

I didn't have any good place indoors for diapause, so I left the aquarium out in the garage over the winter, and I cut a plywood lid to keep out any predators, but not seal the air off entirely. This spring, I went out and was happy to find a few scouts, so I gave them some sugar water and mealworm pupae (which I had on hand). Yesterday was a moderate temperature and overnight last night was a freeze, so it seemed like a good time to bring them inside. Today, they are quite active. I got some crickets from the pet store and I froze them. I pulled out 10 of them to thaw and put them into the aquarium.

I'll probably need to use the garage again for diapause next winter. I do see probably 20 of them with wings. I am worried that they are ready for a mating flight because it was quite warm overnight all of a sudden when I brought them in.

Jumping in with all six feet