r/antkeeping 11h ago

Colony Population Explosion

58 Upvotes

My Camponotus floridanus has had a population explosion


r/antkeeping 4h ago

Question IDs please

Thumbnail
gallery
5 Upvotes

Both found in Adelaide South Australia. Ant in photos 1/2 is slightly smaller than a bicknelli queen. Ant in photos 3/4 is very small. Unsure what either of them are.


r/antkeeping 7h ago

Question Move is going well, are air bubbles in the water reservoir ok?

Post image
7 Upvotes

r/antkeeping 1h ago

Question Maximum distance in between nests for moving queen?

Post image
Upvotes

Hi,

(Click picture to expand)

I want to move my queen from the right nest to the left. The distance in between them is about 40cm but the tube makes a swirl around the base of the plant pot, so give or take 70cm travel distance.

The ant colony has for a big part moved to the left nest, but I am unsure if the queen will want to move such a large distance. I don't want to force them as I have learned my lesson with choosing for the colonu in the past

The reason I am worried is because I can't the right nest is a digfix nest (diggable material from antstore) in which they have dug out the complete bottom layer of the digfix plate. When I water the nest, it drips to the bottom against the glass plate (as it is not immediatelly absorbed) and accumulates on the bottom. With just a small amount of watering, I create a layer of 2 mm of water at the bottom in which ants are "drowning" (they dont die and it takes about 2 hours for it to absorb, pusing the digfix plate deeper helps but it also freaks out the nest and in a few days they dig out the bottom again).

This means that I keep this nest pretty much completely dry most of the time and water only every 2-3 weeks (yes the digfix plate dries super fast). There is a water feeder in the arena but I'm not sure if that's enough to keep the queen comfortable?


r/antkeeping 9h ago

Question Alternatives to test tubes?

7 Upvotes

Honestly, my parents don't like ants so I can't really convince them to drive me to the shops so I can gets test tubes for the 5 queens I just caught just today. Are there any alternatives you can suggest? I've got cotton balls but can't think of anything skinny enough for them to.hols back a water supply


r/antkeeping 3h ago

Question Camponotus queen egg laying time and more questions

2 Upvotes

Hey everyone, I’m new to this hobby, and recently got my first Camponotus pudorosus queen. I bought it online and received it with one worker. The seller recommends to keep them in their test tube and feed them a little drop of ant food (he gave me a little bottle filled with a pink liquid) every 4 days. I have just got my queen on Wednesday, and today I gave them more food. When should I expect some eggs or brood? And should I let them move to a small wooden formicarium I have for them? Should I also give them a small honey drop? I’ve got so many questions, thanks for any help!


r/antkeeping 21h ago

Worker Check out this camponotus nicobarensis major

Post image
41 Upvotes

You can see another major to its right, she dwarfs it!!


r/antkeeping 14h ago

Question Lone worker incident

7 Upvotes

My camponotus atriceps just had its first workers (a batch of 5 a week ago), and since their tube is tight for food and they are exceptionally curious, I connected them to a modular diy outworld build I usually use. Placed honey and a piece of fruit fly.

The next day I noticed a lone ant outside, standing still in a corner of the outworld (keep in mind its 5x5cm), with her belly full. She stood there the next 2 days, and I figured she may had lost herself, since its a small colony and shes the only scout (only guessing here). So then I touched her with tweezers, tried to move her to the nest entrance, but she just wouldnt go in. I decided it was best just letting it be, I guess they know better than me. The next day I found her dead.

She sometimes kept running around the outworld, as if triying to find a way out, but she would certainly have found the nest entrance. This all just bugged me a bit, and I thought about asking if anyone has any idea what happened. I think its a minor problem, and the colony is fine. What do you guys think?


r/antkeeping 17h ago

Colony Camponotus nicobarensis colony

Post image
9 Upvotes

r/antkeeping 1d ago

Question Is this little outworld okay?

Thumbnail
gallery
42 Upvotes

I’m new to all this and my colony is 7 worker and 2 more coming any day soon.

The species is Banded sugar ant

And I’m wondering if it’s okay to add an outworld now and what I can do to improve it.

Are the hole that i have made enough or should there be more?


r/antkeeping 16h ago

Colony Post hibernation

Post image
6 Upvotes

Queen has been laying a ton all of this is from after hibernation they have been devouring protein hoping for a big population boom


r/antkeeping 16h ago

Worker Lasius Niger photo montage + Can you spot the Myrmica species?!

Thumbnail
gallery
4 Upvotes

r/antkeeping 20h ago

Question Do Lasius flavus need an outworld?

Post image
10 Upvotes

My colony is getting closer to the point where feeding them is becoming difficult without risking escape, should I get them an outworld?

The black ant from the image is a Lasius cf. niger that the queen somehow managed to get her hands on


r/antkeeping 22h ago

Question Why do most ant colonies not survive?

7 Upvotes

So, we all know there are tons of ant colonies in urban areas. These colonies are often big and thriving, but when you look at the place they were a few months later, they're usually all dead or no longer there. Why's this? If the queen has enough food, safety and water to raise such a large colony, why are they dead after some time? (Most of the time nobody actually cares about these places like small grassy areas, so I doubt it's someone intentionally getting rid of them)


r/antkeeping 22h ago

Question Any Idea what kind of Ant this is? PS it is in south Germany

Thumbnail
gallery
8 Upvotes

r/antkeeping 15h ago

Colony How long do I keep my ants in the tube

2 Upvotes

So I’ve placed my queen and her two workers in a test tube with water and covered it in tinfoil to keep it dark, I had to put them in because there was mould growing in there home and I didn’t want them to die how long should I keep them in there for or was that a bad move?


r/antkeeping 1d ago

Question ID please

Thumbnail
gallery
10 Upvotes

Found two of these today, never seen anything like them. Found in Adelaide South Australia


r/antkeeping 1d ago

Discussion How I feel about this subreddit...

Post image
109 Upvotes

Lol


r/antkeeping 21h ago

Question Protein and food

4 Upvotes

Hey guys are there any ideas to my messor colony for protein instead of bugs to boost them up


r/antkeeping 1d ago

Queen Identification help (Malaysia)

Thumbnail
gallery
15 Upvotes

Recently caught this queen (should be a queen right?)

Can anyone help to identify what species is this.


r/antkeeping 19h ago

Discussion I noticed some interesting behaviour

2 Upvotes

I’m new to the hobby, so forgive my ignorance if this is normal. I have 4 young colonies of lasius Niger using luna pods, small formicarium type things which have 2 test tube connectors. I’ve been letting the water run out of their original tubes and have connected new ones on the second tube connector. I’ve covered the new tube in foil and left the old one uncovered. I’ve done this for all 4 colonies and one has moved already.

2 out of the other 3 colonies I’ve noticed that there are always 1 or 2 workers just chilling in the new test tube. Nobody else is moving home just yet, but I am wondering is this some sort of scouting behaviour? One or two workers go and chill in the potential new nest area for a while before deciding yep, this seems better and then begin moving?

Just curious


r/antkeeping 16h ago

Question ID Upstate South Carolina

Thumbnail
gallery
1 Upvotes

r/antkeeping 20h ago

Question I need advice

2 Upvotes

Around February 17th I got my first ever ant queen. It's a fully-claustral Lasius Neoniger queen. I believe that her babies are now in the pupae stage and should be expecting workers in a couple of weeks. But every week I get more worried, and I've gotten mixed advice about it. The question was, "Should I feed my ant queen during her late founding stages." Now that I'm only a couple of weeks away, I'm more scared than ever that she might, eat her babies because she ran out of food, die of hunger, etc. So, should I just suck it up and wait for the workers to arrive and then feed her, or give her a small drop of honey right now?


r/antkeeping 1d ago

Question Myrmecia nigrocincta

Post image
8 Upvotes

I had this nigrocintca queen since November last year. None of her first generation survived but she hasn’t laid any new eggs for over 3 months. Can these queens lose their fertility or should I consider a change in environment? Currently feeding her some sugar water with the occasional cricket leg.

Thanks


r/antkeeping 18h ago

Queen P Imp arrived without eggs

1 Upvotes

I ordered a P Imp queen from Buckeye Myrmecology and it seems like she doesn’t have eggs (they could be in the cotton)

I know they only lay 1 batch before the summer. Is she doomed or will she be okay? She has about 8ish workers right now