ANTSTORE World of Ants

[bigbibble]

I was going to put a poll on this but i would rather get advice. I am either going to get Messor barbarus or Camponotus ligniperda. I would be keeping them in a ytong. The room i am keeping them in is usually 26 degrees, they will also have a large foriging area of 40x30x20. I want ants that will make a huge colony with loads of ants. What is the maximun size a Camponotus ligniperda and messor barbarus colony can get to? Also is there any way that they could share the same foridging area? Oh yea the night time temperature hits as low as 22 degrees if that counts for anything. Thanks for all the advice guys.

[KiamCameron]

Just so you know messor barbarus can chew through ytong and probably ligniperda will grow faster i think and no you cannot have them sharing the same foraging area they will kill each other and will raid each others colony till one is dead... maximum size is like 6000 or so in the wild(i think)

[Phasmid]

Messor barbarus will be best if you want lots of ants as the colony can grow very quickly where as Camponotus ligniperda is a very slow growing ant and won't get as big as Messor barbarus. I don't know about Campos but I think Messor barbarus can chew though ytong once the colony gets quite big. They are both very teretorial so they can't share a foraging area.

[SteveUK28]

I agree with both Kiam and Phasmid, Messor can chew through ytong.. so thats not a good option. As for sizes that really dont matter tbh unless your truly thinking long term. I would have to go with Messor if it was me as they are more aggressive id say and a better looking ant. But then Messor has more castes each is a very nice ant.. and i have both lol

[bigbibble]

i thought messor barbarus were surpossed to be kept in ytongs. What do you keep yours in? Also does any one have some more infomation on Camponotus ligniperda. Finnaly i would have to order them as queens by themselves how do you keep a queen by herself?

[KiamCameron]

If its a queen i'd go with ligniperda as messor barbarus queen alone is quite difficult and if you get queen just check on them once every week then you should have workers in no time..

I keep my ligniperda in test tube at the moment.

Ligniperda love honey

[ratgreen]

Should i get some ligniperda then i really want some more ants and ligniperda are big aren't they so they sound good. How long from egg till worker? (i already have messor b.)

[bigbibble]

i think i will get messor, because there colonys grow bigger and they have more castes.