13 replies to this topic

[Zhuge]

Hello everyone! I got a Tetramorium colony from stateside ants today. They came in great shape with only 1 dead worker. Their diet will be Chia seeds, sugar water, and fruitflies.

2/27/25

The colony has about 25-30 workers and a decent pile of brood. I will soon house them in a larger formicarium. Pictures coming soon!

[Zhuge]

3/1/2025
Pictures! They are not the best though. The colony has like 30ish workers and are eating the seeds they came with and the almond I gave them. They are very active, and they have switched nesting chambers recently. The first and third pictures are of their new chamber and the second one is of the old chamber. Thanks for reading!

[ANTdrew]

The nest looks too big for a colony of that size.

[OwlThatLikesAnts]

The nest looks too big for a colony of that size.

AntDrew is mentioning this because if the nest is too big they can get stressed and leave their trash around the nest, like in the photo, which has a risk of moulding, you should move them back to a test tube and move them back to the nest when it looks like they occupy most of the nest. Personally I’d give move them to a bigger nest when they occupy 40-60% of the nest depending on the growth rate (how fast the will fill out the nest)

[Zhuge]

The nest looks too big for a colony of that size.

Yea it is kind of big but I think they will be fine because the tunnels are very small and i think they will grow to fill the nest in a couple of months.

[Zhuge]

 

The nest looks too big for a colony of that size.

AntDrew is mentioning this because if the nest is too big they can get stressed and leave their trash around the nest, like in the photo, which has a risk of moulding, you should move them back to a test tube and move them back to the nest when it looks like they occupy most of the nest. Personally I’d give move them to a bigger nest when they occupy 40-60% of the nest depending on the growth rate (how fast the will fill out the nest)

 

Yes the stress is kind of a problem but I have springtails that I can use for cleaning things up. I will try to move them back to the test tube though.

[Zhuge]

Ok i moved the colony to a test tube. They have grown by like 20 workers since my last update. 

[RushmoreAnts]

They came in great shape

I beg to differ. I'm assuming the queen was caught in summer 2024, making the colony around 10 months old. I caught Tetra queens at that same time, and in February they had around 800 workers, and right now my largest colony has around 1,200 workers. There were some months where I somewhat neglected that colony, and they still have over 20 times the population. I would say your colony was severely neglected and underfed before you got them. Make sure to feed them a lot.

Edited by RushmoreAnts, May 12 2025 - 11:30 AM.

[AntBoi3030]

Yeah I agree. For a while, I only fed my old colony 2-3 times a week and they still grew like crazy. I think a lot of stores underfeed tetras because it is hard to manage large amounts of quickly growing tetra colonies.

[Zhuge]

Ok ima feed them lots. Fruit flies and sugar water right?

[RushmoreAnts]

Ok ima feed them lots. Fruit flies and sugar water right?

Those are good, but don't feel limited. Tetras are not picky, and mine will readily accept crickets, mealworms, superworms, honey-water, and sunburst. I haven't tried roaches or hummingbird nectar, but I would bet they would love them too.

 

I needed to make a separate paragraph for this one. Note that Tetras LOVE pistachios. They can't get enough of them. By far their favorite food. I cannot emphasize this enough. They will always go for them first over all other foods (the other foods are also really important, though), but pistachios are where it's at.

Edited by RushmoreAnts, May 12 2025 - 5:51 PM.

[AntBoi3030]

Ok ima feed them lots. Fruit flies and sugar water right?

Feed them as much as possible. It shouldn't be hard as they eat everything. You can even feed them multiple times a day. If you feed them often, just make sure you aren't giving them large portions. For example: I used to give my colonies a small peice of meat or egg in the moring and then later in the day fruit flies or crickets.

 

Heat is also very important. Make sure that they have a warm spot in their nest. 

 

 

Ok ima feed them lots. Fruit flies and sugar water right?

Those are good, but don't feel limited. Tetras are not picky, and mine will readily accept crickets, mealworms, superworms, honey-water, and sunburst. I haven't tried roaches or hummingbird nectar, but I would bet they would love them too.

 

I needed to make a separate paragraph for this one. Note that Tetras LOVE pistachios. They can't get enough of them. By far their favorite food. I cannot emphasize this enough. They will always go for them first over all other foods (the other foods are also really important, though), but pistachios are where it's at.

 

I had no idea tetras liked pastachios. I'll have to try this with my Pheidole.

[RushmoreAnts]

 

 

 

Ok ima feed them lots. Fruit flies and sugar water right?

Those are good, but don't feel limited. Tetras are not picky, and mine will readily accept crickets, mealworms, superworms, honey-water, and sunburst. I haven't tried roaches or hummingbird nectar, but I would bet they would love them too.

 

I needed to make a separate paragraph for this one. Note that Tetras LOVE pistachios. They can't get enough of them. By far their favorite food. I cannot emphasize this enough. They will always go for them first over all other foods (the other foods are also really important, though), but pistachios are where it's at.

 

I had no idea tetras liked pastachios. I'll have to try this with my Pheidole.

 

My Pheidole like pistachios as well, but not nearly as much as Tetras. The Pheidole consider them equal or slightly less palatable than crickets.

[Zhuge]

Wow i will def try pistachios