4 replies to this topic

[OC-Joe]

Hey all, new member here. My son's and I have been reading and researching on formiculture. We haven't kept ants before and were hoping to get some advice on what species would be good for first timers to keep here in Orange County, CA? Are there some species locally that would be better suited to in indoor colony in an air conditioned house? We are hoping to find something to keep in a natural planted terrarium type of setup. Any pointers or advice?

 

Thanks!

Joe

 

[SoySauce]

Hey Joe, I'm far from an expert but I would suggest a mountain species of ant, like a Camponotus Modoc, Laevigatus, Vicinus, or Clarithorax for your the environment you described. They don't need or expect a lot of heat.

[SoySauce]

Another option too is to get a heating pad or cable. Then you can get pretty much any ant you want.

[dspdrew]

Yeah, a mountain species would be best if it's going to be kept at room temperature. Keeping them in a terrarium would be really cool, and I hope to design something like that one of these days, but you would have to find a way to keep the ants from digging in places where you don't want them digging. My plan is to house one of the only two large wood-nesting Camponotus species we have here that way, since they don't live in the ground.

[OC-Joe]

Thank for the recommendations! It sounds like a camponotus colony would be a good start. I can easily set up a heating pad or something like it to control temperature. I looked through the care guides but didn't see any of these. Is the one that would be more forgiving of mistakes from new ant keepers? I see several Camponotus starter colonies available on the Global Ant Nursery from someone in Santa Ana (dspdrew perhaps?).

 

Happy Fathers Day to all!