r/Antkeeping 🐜

I’m in the north Houston area and all I see are fire ant queens I haven’t found a single other kind of queen.

Hi, I'm very new to the hobby, and I am trying to set up my first habitat correctly. I was wondering if putting the colony over the outworld connected with a tube would be a problem, or if it just doesn't matter.

I’m not sure but this past month I’ve seen 3 illegals… why are so many people being irresponsible now? Like it even shows there irresponsibility by making a post… idk but just had to rant a little. Heard up to 5 years in prison and 250,000 dollar fine on the permit… What’s your opinion? Idk if anyone understands but yh.

I have two exotic species, Navajo Honey Pots and Hapagnathor Venator, hope Im saying that right. Two of the cocoons for the navajo failed to eclose and they put it in the trash pile. How come? As for the venator, no brood yet but how often should I feed? I noticed they have a habit of sealing their nest with the substrate.

Hello i have an ant farm and i would like to add aphid infested leaves or something to it i saw other people do it so that you don't have to make honeywater for the ants is something like that possible?

Well if theres a time to be little humbled its when youve finally get the end result of a mistake. One of my colony queens, my first queen death happened. Pogonomyrmex o. 25w and queen i made the mistake of assuming anything without research gave honey i shouldn't have. 5 survied and her. 22 days nothing wrong with tube workers fine. Found dead. Released among flowers. Lesson 1 dont put your time above the safety of your colony for anything. My lazy moment saved to just google killed a colony 9mths old. Well not making that mistake again. At least i get a big tube back so can swap if out colony needs a fresh one. Hope everyones queen count gets better today and good luck.

I’m in Colorado and it is decently cold here still and I don’t know when or where to go to find nuptial flights. If anyone has any advice or suggestions on what to look for to know when it would be happening.

buckeyemyrmecology Has finally responded and they said they will be sending me another colony april 29th That is why I removed the post saying that they might be a scam. I don't think they are. I think just A Series of Unfortunate Events happened. That let us down this road, but with it being days and days, without hearing anything, it definitely concerned me

I had gotten a messor barbarus colony last week I moved them into a wakooshi Venus nest the next day it's been a week she hasn't layed any eggs since then. I haven't disturbed much only to provide some seeds from them, when will she start laying eggs?

Ok probably a dumb question, but I'd like to buy a species which is polygyne, I look at Myrmica Rubra so far. So how does that work with multiple queens? I've read some interesting but also confusing explanations online.

Will they adopt foreign, mated queens? And if yes, also when they already laid eggs and started to found a colony? (I know they won't adopt foreign workers.)

Will queens from the same colony go back there, after mating outside?

Or are somehow new queens produced which only produce clones, like for example aphids do?

Going away for 12 days. I have 3 small colonies (biggest is around the 60 workers). What do people do when they go away for a few weeks. Add a test tube in the outworld for water? Any tips?

I like gamer gate ants but not a big fan of the idea of a colony dying after Queen passes and they have a short life span. Are there any capable of inbreeding and keeping themselves going? Thanks!

Does anyone know a barrier that works for messors, I would use fluon but a certain company who I will not name has yet to ship my package yet. So I need something in the mean time.

They go crazy on this!

How do I move a colony of ants (tetramorium?) out of this potted plant and into a formicarium (Ants Canada small tower)?

Background: We found some ants in our kitchen and I traced them back to this small plant. There are lots of ants and eggs and larvae in the pot, so I assume it is an entire colony. After doing the Ant Farm thing with my son, I've been wanting to try caring for a real ant colony, and this seems like the opportunity. I put the pot into this dish with vaseline on the rim to keep them from overrunning my kitchen and ordered a small tower from Ants Canada (and some Fluon). So far I've just given them some diluted honey and tiny bits of bread crumbs and fish food, and sparingly watered the plant. I'd be grateful for any tips, but in particular I am uncertain how to relocate them in a way that is not too tramatic but gets the job done.

https://preview.redd.it/y67hkpzla9wc1.jpg?width=1726&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=771ba0fd4dc37600d3c11836802c3c87f04e592e

The person who sold her to me told me that I should feed sugar water and protein every 3-4 days? But I thought they don't need to eat until the first workers arrive?
Also, isn't sugar water / honey water bad for messors? Some people say it can kill them but some people say that they need it from time to time. I'm confused about that.

Is this website any good? https://www.antantics.wales/

It's just that I ordered stuff Saturday, they was supposed to post Monday, it's now Tuesday & the order still says awaiting shipping. Then their email bounced 'address not found'. Then I see they've been banned from Facebook since 10th April. Their Discord wont let me post. & I aint making an Instagram account.

I got this test tube setup like 6 months ago and I completely forgot what species I even got. I was told they were local to Southern California.

They're running out of water in the test tube so am I correct to attach this test tube to an outerworld and just let them stay in the testtube as long as they want?

Thanks in advance!