4 replies to this topic

[Unfrozen]

i bought a colony of 300 workers and one queen but i can't find much info and alot of it contradicts its self

to clear some thing up here are my questions

 

1. any good ratios for sugar/honey water so they won't drown?

 

2. I'm worried about keeping them in a tubs and tubes setup because they dig into the cotton I'm thinking that I'm going to have a extra test tube in at all times

 

3. some people say queens live 2 months others say a year some people say multiple years i hope i they don't die in a year

 

4. some people say they eat a lot and others say they barely eat

 

5. are they sensitive to light some people say they don't care but some say they hate it

[Dethundrel]

I’m no expert but I have kept several of these and can share my experience.

I use a slightly diluted honey mix and they accept it very well. Maybe 1 part water to 7 parts honey (clover) to thin it out a touch. They are tiny ants and don’t take a lot. 2 drops is more than enough for per 100 to last more than a week at a time.

I still have mine in only test tubes. I have never had a problem with them digging into the cotton.

My current biggest colony is over 3 years old. Queens will live for many years if cared for correctly and they were not delt a poor hand genetically. Queens die all the time for no apparent reason regardless of your quality of husbandry, nature’s a [censored] sometimes.

In addition to honey water, I feed them fruit flys (dead). Again, they are tiny so don’t seem to eat much. I usually go with 5 flys per 100 per week and there is always leftovers.

All of mine don’t give a flyin @&”$ about light. Anytime I try to move them tubes due to it drying out. I leave them under an 80 watt light for weeks at a time before they finally and reluctantly move. I’ve had to force move most of them. I’ve tried soft white, warm white, and “daylight” bulbs. Zero F’s given.

I have also tried doing multi queen setups as I’ve heard most people say they are fine with it. Every single time I’ve tried, it’s ended in disaster. They always kill each other off until only one is left. These tubes tend to do really bad, have super slow growth, and die within a few months. Solo queen is the way to go for me.

Again, this is 100% based off my own personal experience and doesn’t mean everyone will experience the same things as me. I wish you good luck and hope they last a while for you.

[Unfrozen]

I’m no expert but I have kept several of these and can share my experience.

I use a slightly diluted honey mix and they accept it very well. Maybe 1 part water to 7 parts honey (clover) to thin it out a touch. They are tiny ants and don’t take a lot. 2 drops is more than enough for per 100 to last more than a week at a time.

I still have mine in only test tubes. I have never had a problem with them digging into the cotton.

My current biggest colony is over 3 years old. Queens will live for many years if cared for correctly and they were not delt a poor hand genetically. Queens die all the time for no apparent reason regardless of your quality of husbandry, nature’s a [censored] sometimes.

In addition to honey water, I feed them fruit flys (dead). Again, they are tiny so don’t seem to eat much. I usually go with 5 flys per 100 per week and there is always leftovers.

All of mine don’t give a flyin @&”$ about light. Anytime I try to move them tubes due to it drying out. I leave them under an 80 watt light for weeks at a time before they finally and reluctantly move. I’ve had to force move most of them. I’ve tried soft white, warm white, and “daylight” bulbs. Zero F’s given.

I have also tried doing multi queen setups as I’ve heard most people say they are fine with it. Every single time I’ve tried, it’s ended in disaster. They always kill each other off until only one is left. These tubes tend to do really bad, have super slow growth, and die within a few months. Solo queen is the way to go for me.

Again, this is 100% based off my own personal experience and doesn’t mean everyone will experience the same things as me. I wish you good luck and hope they last a while for you.

thank you so much i decided to cancel my order however and I'm thinking what type of ants I'm going to get now

[AntsDakota]

I have heard that S. molesta on the East Coast tend to be polygynous, while those on the West Coast are strictly monogynous. In my experience, they do eat a lot, and my founding queens are fairly sensitive to light, although it isn't as bad as some other species I've kept.

[MegaMyrmex]

Very fast growing and steadily reproducing species. I don't find them to be picky atall in terms of feeding but if you're worried about the ants drowning you can always soak the sugar/honey water mixture ina  cotton ball and give it to them in a small water bottlecap. The biggest concern in my opinion would be escapees and drowning, since they're so small. Make sure that if you do keep them in a test tube setup that it doesn't leak into the nesting chamber, especially during hibernation.