ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Creature]

Hello everyone,

as some of you know , i am looking for a new species for my basin.
My colony of Pheidologeton recently died and thats the reason why i am searching for
information about Harpegnathos venator. I am considering them as a new species for
my basin.

The main question for me is , HOW BIG CAN THE COLONY GROW?

Because i am looking for a species that grows bigger then just a few hundred ants so i can
enlarge my setup and attach new stuff day by day

[N&&N]

Am I wrong? I thought there colonies are not getting bigger than 200 ants. I haven`t found something on the Internet, but I think I have seen it on TV.

[Creature]

Hmm thats sad. Seems to be that i will stay with Pheidologeton.

But i still hope other people will post their comments here ! ^^

[baumarkthammer]

Harpegnathos venator colonies grow about 300 workers, when the colony is about 200 or even earlier they start raising queens and males.
The queen doesn´t die as fast as everybody says and as it is said in antstore, they can live about 5 years, than a gamergate CAN take over her role.
Harpegnathos venator mostly hunt for spiders in nature and you should feed them with spiders they can eat them best.
The colony could even grow a little bigger than 300 workers but not very much.
In nature the nests are very easy made, one big chamber about 30cm or deeper in ground. The exit is over and over covered with leaves and flowers, as i tested it i can tell you that Harpegnathos saltator like yellow and red the most but always combined with green leaves. I think that decoration is used to better find the nest when they carry prey around.
They can see very well and like a quite dark basin, but not completley dark since they don´t hunt when it is dark at all!
The nest has to be completley dark but they don´t minde if you look inside after a time they are confident with you and don´t even change their behaviour when you look inside.
Larvae develop to pupae very fast but it needs long time from pupae to imago.
If you have any questions left tell me!

[abz-uk-ants]

S0 the gamergate mates in the nest???

[baumarkthammer]

Don´t know. Could imagine that they do. Harpegnathos don´t seem to have problems with mating inter colony.
But I´m not completley sure if they do. I mean why not, when they mate with a male of the same colony the genes of the workers are same because they take the chromosoms of the male and the worker which will both be from the queen what means that nothing would change so...

[171725888]

Hi~Please excuse my poor English..
Harpegnathos venator colonies can only getting bigger no more than 100 ants in general..but here's one thing important..Some Harpegnathos venator colonies have more than one queen,so it can grow about a few hundred ants easily..

[baumarkthammer]

Hi~Please excuse my poor English..
Harpegnathos venator colonies can only getting bigger no more than 100 ants in general..but here's one thing important..Some Harpegnathos venator colonies have more than one queen,so it can grow about a few hundred ants easily..

Thats not right, I have seen colonies with one queen much bigger than 100 workers with only one queen. Only one queen in the colony lays eggs because they have a very strict rang of domination. A queen wouldn´t tolerate a second egg laying queen, sometimes two queens live in one colony thats right, sometimes even more but only one lays eggs. Harpegnathos can lay eggs very fast, there is no problem for them growing to 300 workers in about two or three years, when they got enough food, very simular to most Odontomachus species.
My Harpegnathos colony has 40 workers and is only one year old, the queens can get more than 5 years old, or at least the oldest queen i saw and heard of was 5 years old and taken out of nature, so she might be even older.
For everybody who never saw Harpegnathos brood, here is a picture of my colony, so you can imagine what i´m talking about.



On that picture you can see the eggs of my colony of Harpegnathos saltator one month ago, since then the queen layed that much eggs again and all eggs became larvae.
To the end of the year i aim to have 100 workers.

[abz-uk-ants]

My harpegnathos are not coming they have been in the post for 3 weeks, its ok thought I have been payed back

[171725888]

Hi~Please excuse my poor English..
Harpegnathos venator colonies can only getting bigger no more than 100 ants in general..but here's one thing important..Some Harpegnathos venator colonies have more than one queen,so it can grow about a few hundred ants easily..

Thats not right, I have seen colonies with one queen much bigger than 100 workers with only one queen. Only one queen in the colony lays eggs because they have a very strict rang of domination. A queen wouldn´t tolerate a second egg laying queen, sometimes two queens live in one colony thats right, sometimes even more but only one lays eggs. Harpegnathos can lay eggs very fast, there is no problem for them growing to 300 workers in about two or three years, when they got enough food, very simular to most Odontomachus species.
My Harpegnathos colony has 40 workers and is only one year old, the queens can get more than 5 years old, or at least the oldest queen i saw and heard of was 5 years old and taken out of nature, so she might be even older.
For everybody who never saw Harpegnathos brood, here is a picture of my colony, so you can imagine what i´m talking about.



On that picture you can see the eggs of my colony of Harpegnathos saltator one month ago, since then the queen layed that much eggs again and all eggs became larvae.
To the end of the year i aim to have 100 workers.

Yes.U'r right.Thank u for correcting that.I'm not very sure about whether Ponerinae colonies can have two egg laying queens..but once i've seen two Pheidole nodus queens are lying eggs at the same time..but someone also told me that although they both can lay eggs.but the real queen will eat the other queen's egg..Maybe u can tell me is there any possible for a colony has two egg lying queens..and i want to know how do you control the mite infections..Thank you!!

[tomorrownight]

they are just the most amazing ants arent they? i love them!
i had a colony myself but they gradually died off one by one. i thought maybe it was because the queen had died in transport but i had a long conversation with another guy who had them and the same thing happened. Has anyone had any experience of venator (not saltor) who have survived in Europe for more than a month or two? if so, whats the secret?