r/Antkeeping 🐜

I am looking to purchase atta Texana fungus dm me

Hi, I recently got this Queen and she was marketed as a Camponotus Auriventris. I've seen in some posts that these species are often incorrectly identified and was wondering if anyone here could give me some info. Would like to be sure I'm researching the correct species.

Founding p dives, any tips are welcome

I used room temperature bottled spring water and there's a drop of clover honey by the top, she hasn't touched it but she drank a lot of water so far. I have the tube rolled with tin foil, sitting on a cloth under a desk / on a box where I'm trying to not bother her. I screwed up the cotton ball on the first try (huge air bubble) but I think I got it pretty nicely on my second! How does it look?

A big colony near my house is producing queens and drones. Yesterday I managed to catch one, sadly today I got home from my job to find other two dead, problably my cat doing. Which species are they anyway?

Are these fire ant queens? can't figure it out Sorry for bad camera quality

Wondering what you folks would say is the best beginner species. I have a Messor Queen now whose on around 9 larvae, I'm interested in perhaps getting Nico's.

This girl is brownish red. Very beutiful girl.

I boiled everything except for the sand and I was just curious if it's killing my ants? I found a worker laying on its back in the sand by the water a few minutes ago and it won't walk around just moves its legs

I am trying again to keep Camponotus in a 20H naturalistic aquarium. The first attempt went well but the colony died out due to other issues. I did, however, have some escapees no matter the barrier I put along the top edges.

I have tried using a custom-cut piece of acrylic that is the exact dimensions of the top of the aquarium but it ends up bowing downward over time due to lack of support and, more importantly, the inside of the aquarium could not breathe and grew mold and you could barely see through the glass of the aquarium. I would air it out periodically but that re-introduced escapees.

Since Camponotus grow so slowly I don't want any escapees. Every new ant is precious. I assume that very successful vivariums like you see on the NordicAnts Youtube channel are actively ventilated in some way but he never goes into how he did it. I have looked into brass mesh grommets to insert into the acrylic but I don't know that it will allow enough air circulation to prevent mold.

So I am looking for someone with experience to help me out.

Please no comments suggesting some alternative to fluon or theorizing on a solution if you haven't done this before. I want tried and true methods. Thanks!

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https://preview.redd.it/ovq7cqnfa24b1.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=f1def598d171f68bcce99a40ce785c9bcfe68376

I can’t get a good picture at all it’s where she is

The end of cotton that the queen is on does not look wet, should I push it further down or is it fine? I don’t want to kill my queen from dehydration

I guess the title is self explanatory but I’ll be specific. I wanna get into ant keeping-I’m thinking of a gel ant arm but I’m not sure. But beyonf that, are there any beginner species, alternate farm ideas beside gel, and generalized tips regarding how to start ant keeping? I’ve watched a lot of videos and read alot on ants, but that’s not as good as asking people who actually do it, so I just want to hear what actual ant keepers suggest, because I wanna do it right. Also, would keeping it outside be ok? Or purely inside?

As you can see, a couple of months ago I putted red foil around a testtube and I’ve realised this doesn’t work for Messor Barbarus. So I want to remove it because I cannot check on colony growth. But I can’t unwrap it because it will cause the testtube adapter to go out the testtube and it will bring a lot of stress. Any ideas?