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Neoponera Villosa


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#1 Offline neoponera - Posted October 25 2018 - 7:17 PM

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Neoponera villosa is a neotropical species that ranges from Argentina, all the way to Texas, US.

They get as big as myrmecia and are friendly pets. As foragers they are quite peaceful.

 

as feeders, one of their favorites are termite alates and earwigs.

 

They do not hibernate, i recommend using a lamp that heats up when feeding in winter to wake them up.

 

as housing they seem to like nests with soil because they can't grip to plastic or glass as well as other ants, they also like terraforming their nests depending on the brood stage they are housing.

 

for an out world i recommend a vertical setup with branches an logs to climb, but the entrance hole most be on the floor. Recent studies on ponerine venom show that when these ants nest in the ground their venom becomes milder because living in a tree implies more predators and fiercer competence. Most of us might know acrobat ants or Azteca ants, they re both very aggresive.

 

At their founding stage the queen will perform semi claustral behaviors so i recommend getting a pair of queens. One of them (usually the one that mated with less males) will be nominated the "inferior queen" and will be the most aggressive queen.

Colonies of these ants can have about seven queens, introduced in different times, if you re going to introduce a new queen i suggest covering the nest from any light so that they can determine her rank. When not covered, the queen will fight with the other queen of her same rank.

 

if you feed them live prey, every time you show up they will open their mandibles and pounce at every thing that moves

 

queens are usually found in or near trees or logs

their sting feel electrocuting followed by intense pain. X6 a bee sting in summer


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#2 Offline Superant33 - Posted October 26 2018 - 8:12 PM

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I have 3 of these queens. They were collected on Oct. 7 (not by me) in south Texas. They have shown no interest in insects (fruit flies, crickets, termites). They have consumed sugar water. No eggs.
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#3 Offline FSTP - Posted October 27 2018 - 6:43 AM

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Interesting post, thanks for sharing.

 

 

When I read the thread title I thought it said Nepenthes villosa at first glance. That would have been cool too.



#4 Offline neoponera - Posted November 5 2018 - 3:30 PM

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i find neoponera likes termite alates, and find workers disgusting

 

also, giving them a test tube with soil might motivate the queen into egg laying, if not, mix the queens together, they are polygenous.

 

update: this is very bad news. most queens escaped leaving two queens with two workes, one worker just died.

 

ps: is cardiocondyla introduced in texas?


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#5 Offline neoponera - Posted November 5 2018 - 3:49 PM

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i am planning a island setup for them to reduce escapes.


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#6 Offline DaveJay - Posted November 5 2018 - 7:15 PM

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I have 3 of these queens. They were collected on Oct. 7 (not by me) in south Texas. They have shown no interest in insects (fruit flies, crickets, termites). They have consumed sugar water. No eggs.

It's not unusual for Queens to refuse protein foods if they have no larvae to feed it to.

#7 Offline neoponera - Posted November 6 2018 - 4:16 PM

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dave jay is right, although they would still accept them every now and then. Even without larvae






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