9 replies to this topic

[ZTYguy]

Hello, as I am sure most of you experienced ant keepers now that L. humile otherwise known as the Argentine Ant is one of, if not the most invasive species on the planet. It has dominated all over North and South America as well as Australia, Asia, Africa, and Europe. This ant is highly adaptive and has mauled ecosystems across the world, and what I wish to do is take you all on a journey through the endless life of an L. humile colony and show just how fast they grow and how hardy they truly are. I am fully aware that the housing and keeping of invasive species is frowned upon by many but I assure to all my non invasive keeping ant folk that if I at any time wish to haunt this I will NOT be releasing them as that in my opinion is horrible but I will euthanize them via freeze. NOW with that all out of the way I would like to introduce this 4 queen and approximately 50-100 worker colony of L. humile:

 

As you can see they are being kept in a quite simplistic tubs and tubes setup with a large test tube and a few liquid feeders. They have a fluon barrier and are surrounded by a 3 inch wide moat of water. I plan on making this more escape proof and I plan on also adding more to this colony as a way of showing how hardy they are. This will sort of be like what AntsAUS did but will be stretched out. ANYWAYS....Thank you for reading and I hope you learn a thing or two from this about the infamous Argentine Ant.

Edited by ZTYguy, April 2 2022 - 9:23 PM.

[ANTdrew]

Mix some vinegar into the water in your tray. Some tiny ants can walk on water if desperate enough.

[ZTYguy]

Mix some vinegar into the water in your tray. Some tiny ants can walk on water if desperate enough.

Thank you for that!

[ANTdrew]

You’re welcome. I learned that the hard way with their off-brand cousins, Tapinoma sessile.

Edited by ANTdrew, April 3 2022 - 9:17 AM.

[ZTYguy]

You’re welcome. I learned the the hard way with their off-brand cousins, Tapinoma sessile.

Oh no

[ZTYguy]

Update 3/3/2022

They have finally started their conquest into the test tube and two queens were spotted in there today. Hopefully they are fully moved in by end of the day.

[ZTYguy]

Here are some photos after they have finished moving into the tube.

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[That_one_ant_guy]

Wow I didn't know the brood was so yellow, the ones i dug up for ant food were light white

Edited by That_one_ant_guy, April 6 2022 - 7:05 AM.

[ZTYguy]

Update 4/12/2022

 

The colony got a male alate today and have another enclosing as of right now. The brood production is going great and maybe we will get to witness first hand the inbreeding of Linepithema humile. It just goes to show how hardy they are and how incredibly hard these ants are to eradicate. 

[ZTYguy]

Update 4/18/2022

 

They are up to about 100 or so workers and brood production is chugging along. I suspect that most of the larvae I had collected is in fact alate larvae so I’ll probably be gathering up all of them and feeding them to my colonies. Anyways I’ll have pics for the next update.