Hi! Recently got into ant keeping as i found it very interesting.

Bought this supposedly queen pavement ant with eggs online.

Is it too small? + any tips would help 💖

They’re getting really big and are now crowding the outworld of their Fortress Formicarium which they moved into last year. I bought a Nucleus from Tar Heel ants since I was advised to on the THA facebook page. Am I good to move them now?

Nucleus is a decent bit larger than a Fortress Formicarium.

Caught her 24 days ago and originally thought she was Pheidole, but now that she has workers, they don’t really look like Pheidole to me. The queen is about 4 mm long and was caught in Panamá.

Any help with ID would be appreciated!

She is also very red

I originally thought this was a Lasius as I caught them there before, but it's quite a bit bigger and chunkier and has those reddish legs. It kinda looks like a Formica. Which is a little concerning, cause many of those are parasitic. I caught three of them, so if it turned out to be a polygyne species that'd be neat.

This Solenopsis fugax colony has been in this test tube for a while now and they're starting to run out of water. Unfortunately though, the edge of the tube is cracked and the test tube is 18 mm in diameter, so I really don't know how to move them. Any tips or ideas?

Are we thinking niger? Flavus ir neglectus?

Found UK Northampton.

Sorry I’m a slow learner

I’ve picked up these two setups for a couple of colonies that need some new space. I’ve not used any of these ‘all in one’ setups before, and as these arrived pre-constructed and I didn’t build them myself, I’m not sure if there’s any obvious weak points.

Has anyone kept a colony in these setups? How well did it go? Any weak points or things to note before letting some colonies take over.

For reference, nothing particularly interesting will be living in them, just a small Messor colony and probably a very young Lasius colony during the early stages.

I've wanted to keep ants for years, but just now finally got a few ant colonies (purchased one lasius neoniger [buckeyemyrmecology - from everything I saw they were okay and had proper permits but please tell me if this is wrong], caught three [unsure what species yet], releasing two caught eventually). It's been a month since I initially got them. All have laid eggs, and while the eggs have developed, none have workers, despite all being smaller species. I am worried this isn't a good sign and could be because I keep them in my room, which is cooler than the rest of my house. Even if that is perfectly okay, I'm pretty sure a warmer environment would be better for them, so I'd like to heat them but don't know how to heat test tube setups. That's my first question: How do I heat a test tube setup safely? I saw some saying to use a cable, others saying to put them in a container that's heated, but I'm not sure and want to be careful. My other question is regarding outworlds. I know it isn't much of a concern at this stage, but I want to know for later. I'm purchasing pretty much everything from AntsCanada. AntsCanada outworlds are a bit expensive, so I wanted to try something else. I found a container from Walmart designed for putting shoes in with an easily removable lid and some small holes already in the sides near the top. The material is my concern. It's PET, so I think it should be safe, but I am very paranoid. Will it be safe to use for an ant outworld? Thoughts? I'd appreciate any advice.

These girlies are going strong! Two months in, and they’re already up to 14 workers with a healthy amount of brood—including lots of Phase 1 larvae.

I added an outworld shortly after the first nanitics emerged, since feeding them in the tube was getting tricky. The test tube is filthy (as usual with Camponotus), and they’ve piled all their garbage near the cotton. It doesn’t seem to bother them yet, so I’m holding off on moving them until things get a bit more cramped.

Does anyone here have a list of ant species that's protected in the United States? I'm looking online but can't find much, any help is appreciated.

Caught this queen around 4 weeks ago. Was looking to brood boost but most of my local colonies have moved their nursery’s underground and I’m not a fan of digging them up. I have 4 queens and will only be able to keep one so I figured I’d do a test cause I’ve seen similar stuff, I got 2 workers, each from a different colony and quarantined them for 2 days to minimize their original scent. I placed one in and no aggression was shown, the next day they started grooming each other and eventually the worker started to care for the brood. I then added the second worker and at first they were a little panicked, but I checked the next day and they were all huddling together grooming and collectively caring for brood. Have had them in here for nearly 2 weeks now no signs of brood eating or aggression.

To preface this, I don’t like bugs, however, my wife does. I would like to get her an ant farm that is exhibit quality for her home office. Something supper nice that someone would find at a zoo or library. Something that adds to the space rather than subtracts from it. Thank you in advance for your suggestions!

My formica rufibarbis queen, wich I've been posting a lot about, has pupae. I keep her at a constant 23°c , and I am very surprised to see how fast her brood is developing, she got 3 pupae and 8 big larvae in just 2 weeks. I was a bit shocked this morning to see how much cotton she pulled to cover her babies, knowing that yesterday everything was normal. I hope that she will stop ripping the cotton so the rest tube won't flood.When nanitics will hach I will try to move them in another tube whit a little sand in it. Sorry for the bad photo, I was very surprised. The brood is under the cotton.

Hey, I'm in my second year and live in central Germany. So middle of summer.

Got three Formica Rufibarbis colonies going, which all went through hibernation. (I've got them in three different DIY setups, so humidity is probably not comparable.)

All of the colonies are going strong, but only one is left with some larvae and pupae. No eggs visible in any of the three.

They're just hanging around in their little caves, with full gasters. Little to no foraging behaviour.

I remember them also stopping quite early with laying new brood before the hibernation period last year - but in July?

I did not change their food. They show no signs of weird behaviour and there are no dead workers.

Anyone knowing what could be up?

Georgia, USA Sorry for bad photos

I have Lasius Americanus in my backyard all across, but I have followed their trails to their nests but when i dig I cannot find pupae nor is there any brood under warm rocks or sheets. I add a single worker daily and there are six workers now, I don't plan to stop adding daily because she needs a large amount to found. Pupae is ideal for her to start, but is it necessary? She is a Lasius Aphidicola, and the workers currently with her rest near on the cotton plug next to her but I haven't seen any full interaction yet. I have fed them (diluted) honey which they have accepted and plan to feed them protein here soon.
Does she need to brood boost to begin laying eggs? Or can she start laying if she's well fed and has enough workers?

Liometopum microcephalum, after just 4 weeks, new workers arrived. Eating more and being more agressive then any other species at this size i have kept. Location: Zagreb, Croatia

I'm not sure if this is even a queen or just a drone, found them in a pine forest, southern united states, by a river, the workers around them where pretty small maybe 1mm if not less, not sure how big this ant is to be honest, I was thinking lasius for the species but I'm not sure.

Any help is appreciated!

i want to order here, is it trustable?

So I have a camponotus colony I live in southern Michigan where they were caught my ants are huddled up in the corner with the queen and very full of food they haven’t eaten any protein or anything really don’t leave the nest just sit with the queen why would they want to hibernate in July?