The Lasius species are great for beginners if you can find them.👍

Where in the US? I am in California so I have mostly desert species.

I’m in the USA and I want a native species

I want to object. Camponotus spp. usually have a very slow start, so they are rather boring in the first year(s). While they are easy to keep, one might loose interest due to their slow development and lack of recruiting while they are small.

Formica is not really easy to keep as they are often picky with diapause parameters.

Messor are pretty high maintenance ants, as they require nests with dry and humid places. I strongly suggest to get some experience with easier ants first.

Lasius spp. and Pheidole spp. however are easy to keep and interesting to watch. They are good beginner ants IMO.

Camponotus, Formica, Messor, Lasius Niger and a couple other lasius, pheidole. It kind of depends on where you are from

I started out with the idea to buy antscanda. It's now 14 months since I started keeping ants and not one of my colonies has outgrown their test tubes.

Save that dough and just buy a pack of 10-50 test tubes.

I’d recommend not buying an antscanada starter kit. Huge waste of money especially since you’d only be able to use it when your colony hits a large number of workers, id recommend keeping your queen in a test tube setup until she has usually 20+ workers (depending on the species) then I’d place them in a tubs and tubes setup where I have a row of a couple test tubes that I can house my ants in until they get big enough for a formicarium. You could go with an antscanada formicarium but if you’re going to spend like $80+ just buy a TarHeelAnts ants formicarium. Make sure that you don’t give your ants a formicarium to large as they will dump their trash in it, make it mould and potentially dangerous for them to live in. They’d rather a small and safe space, rather than a large and dangerous one

Lasius species can be found all over the world. I also recommend Campanotous species because they are much easier to find. (Sorry about the spelling)

If you live in Alabama your best bet is Camponotus

Sorry I’m not to familiar with ants from Alabama or just Alabama in general. You probably have some sort of Pheidole or lasius

What’s a good starter species?