I have been offered an opportunity to adopt a colony of Neoponera sp (one is a single queen, another is a colony that has a mite issue)

Knowing very, very little about the species, I'm (of course) a bit hesitant...  

I'm not terribly worried about the sting, although I admit the thought of an accidental catastrophe that would have me with a house full of Texas Bullet Ants does get my adrenaline pumping a bit, but hey, they'd be upstairs with my kids, so it's their problem, am I right?  That said, my wife is 134% less than thrilled about this idea...  So, given that, I'm still very, very on the fence about taking this colony on...

All that aside, I also have very little idea what the requirements of this species are, and finding "care sheets" online for this species is pretty tough...  

So, I'd like to get as much input as possible before I give this a shot (or run in fear, take your pick!)...

Keep them well contained, and they should be fine. Depending on the type of mites, they could or might not be harmful. They are a cool species to observe, I personally wouldn't pass it up. Although the mite part is a little concerning.

Edited by T.C., October 16 2017 - 8:13 AM.

I wouldn't adopt them, but not because of the sting. They seem like a really hard species to keep in captivity successfully, so I feel like it would take an experienced ant keeper with a lot of years under their belt. I would be devastated if I got such a rare species and killed them by accident.

That's kinda where I'm at...  I respect the sting, but I'm not really afraid of it...  My biggest concern is that they're challenging to care for and that with me being a novice, I wouldn't be able to keep them alive long term...  And while they've been offered to me, it ain't 'free'...  heh...  if I killed them, it'd be a very expensive lesson...  I'm also concerned that if I took on the colony that had the mite issue, I would risk infesting my existing colonies...

And then there's the pending divorce lol.....

And then there's the pending divorce lol.....

Geez, poor guy. Need someone to talk to... I'm always available.