ANTSTORE World of Ants

[phers]

Does anyone have any experiance with Polyrhachis dives (weaver ants)

cheers

Phers

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[JimmyVe]

I don't keep them. So i can not help you with it. I know they are a little bit difficult to keep.

[Skippy]

I had these specie for 2 weeks (you can look on photos in forum) ,it is very nice ant spec. .It is not hard to antfarmering ,I can tell ,it is like Formica - it eatting insects and honey water. Queen is polygyn ,so you can have 1+ queens. It is weaver ant (like Oecophylla) and it´s larvae made me "cocoon material" (I dont know how to name it) around the all inside of glass tube - better to look. I think ,it is good first exotic specie ,what is good for antkeepers with many experience of European ants.

Keep up the good work!

Skippy

[Necturus]

Sorry having to dampen the spirits a bit. Polyrachis dives is very likely to conduct incestous copulation. Besides the fact that they outgrow most fishtanks in a very short period, that will make them grow even faster AND they are more harmfull to the enviroment and your house in case they escape. Other Keepers had to kill the colony at the size of approximately 100,000(!!) which they reached in very short time, for the acid they produce was making the adjectant rooms very uncomfortable if not harmfull to be in.
Maybe theres a different species youre interested in, whitout as much of a backside?
Greetings,
Necturus

[Martin S.]

dear necturus,

we have 3 colonies of this species in our shop here in berlin.
the species was one year ago start with 100-200 pcs and now we have a size of max. 500-600 ants.

I think it is a little bit fantasy if a use say 100,000 pcs. in some months.
And I do also not think that the acid is so dangerous for the ant keeper.
We have here lot's of colonies in our stock and no problems.
You or other user can come to our shop and see and test it self.

greetings
Martin

[Necturus]

Hey,
i'm refering to a report of an experienced antkeeper. I'm willing to believe he got a bit enthusiastic with the numbers, but i recall him saying he had several dozen incestously mated, wingless queens in his colony, which obviously would contribute to an enormous growth. As for the acid: i'm not sure how many individuals you have in your store, but even if the colony was only as big as 10,000, it might still make a difference to what you are experiencing.
I hope you dont mind me beeing critical in my advise. I just think there are backsides to this species.
Greetings,
Necturus

[hypervelocity]

Hi all,

Martin is right. I visited ANTSTORE not so long ago and they have a colony of this ant species on display. All what Martin said is true, so this ant should be ok to keep.