ANTSTORE World of Ants

[CapitalO]

Solenopsis invicta, the ant everyone loves to hate...

I'm in the process of setting up a formicarium for these ants and I'm curious to see if anyone has done this before. Any information from people who have kept these ants before would be very welcome!

Its hard to find specific information concering the ants moisture requirements and prefered building materials; the sources Ive found are a bit too vague and somewhat disagree with eachother.

And yes, I'm aware of the dangers involved .

[mpir]

@ant dude

... yes you are young and you still have much to learn... Nevertheless, I'm sure you've heard of fire ants before.

@CapitalO

This ant is not common in Europe - I hope - so I doubt that anybody around here has experience with this specie. If you really want to keep them at home and make them feel good then obsereve and study in what kind of habitats do they live in nature and try to copy that in your formicarium.

good luck

[ant dude]

oh sorry i forgot the technical name 4 them for a second or 2, now i seem well-dum! the only thing i know bout this species is what all the dangers it cause's to wildlife and other human inhabertents,sorry again

r u sure u really want to keep these species? well i advise that u dont (friendly advice) . why not keep some other ants that r in your area, im sure they r much safer/better/more intresting to keep(maybe?) i just hope there is for u

[CapitalO]

ant dude - I appreciate your concern , unfortunatly it's quite difficult to find other ant spp. in my area. The S. invicta are virtually ubiquitous and are likely responsible for the lack of other ant spp.. I'm hoping to find a Florida harvester ant queen in the summer; that would be my top pick of native ant species.

mpir - I think I have a reasonable understanding of their prefered habit from observation, as you said. I know there are a few other yanks that use these forums, so I was hoping I could find someone who has kept S. invicta and could help clarify the ideal conditions for captivity.

Also, I'm going to take several measures to keep the colony contained. Fortunatly, they are very bad at climbing smooth surfaces compared to many other ant species, which will be really helpful in containing them. But, just in case of an escape, I'm going to be keeping this colony outside in a screened in porch when they start to develop into a larger colony.

[darradar]

sounds good, you really seem to already posses a little of whats needed for them, regarding the colonies future growth and housing them securley

[CapitalO]

Thanks darradar. My biggest concern is being able to accommodate a mature colony; Ive read that a single queen can lay up to 1,500 eggs a day and colonies can be as large as 240,000 workers. Obviously I'm not going to be able to manage anything that size.

Is there any way to limit the growth of a colony without sacrificing the colonies health? Possibly by limiting the size of the nesting area?

[sithmaster676]

limiting the size of the nesting area i don't think would make much difference i have heard of cases where a lasius niger colony got to large for a fish tank moved out of this guys shed and into his garden
and i don't really know any way of preventing extra large colonies
Sithmaster676

[miszt]

you can limit the protien intake of the colony, but fire ants have exponential growth, and I very much doubt this will have any real impact on the colony without killing it

theyr colonys do grow very very large, very very quickly

[darradar]

blimey, i must say CapitalO, your a very brave man indeed to take this species on, i am quite sure i wouldnt have the courage to even try......
"good luck man"

[uta]

I have absolutely no sympathy for anyone, which will keep these (pest)ants.

[JimmyVe]

Well, if we would try to keep them in Europe that would be no good, they don't live here in nature, but in the USA they do, so the danger of them escaping and taking over other ants species is not so big there as here, if you understand what i'm saying.

But i can not help you with any advice for keeping them, no experience with this species.

[CapitalO]

I should make the point that I'm not considering keeping these ants because I like the danger factor or think its 'cool' to keep such an aggressive species.

Also, for the same reasons that make this species so successful, I think their super high productivity would make them very entertaining and interesting.

I will probably end up destroying the colony or a portion of it to control the population. The last thing I want is a colony with tens of thousands of individuals. For what it's worth, their growth is not exponential, it's logarithmic (no pretension intended)

Hopefully I can find a P. badius or Camponotus sp. queen, as I would prefer to keep one of these species.

Thanks for the feedback everybody

[tail__]

You can always return the colony to nature if it becomes too big for you, and catch a new queen next year. There is no real danger in keeping S. invicta, at least unless you are alergic. Otherwise a few escaped ants in bed can be just unpleasant surprise.
And remember Camponotus colonies can be also quite big, usually not more than 5000, but 5000 large ants need more place than 50000 small ones. However, their colonies develop slowly. Think about it like about a puppy - not how cute it is now, but what the beast it will become few years later. The difference is you CAN leave ant colony somewhere in forest, or give it to someone else, and this won't harm them.

[Gordon C. Snelling]

Returning the colony to nature is a very bad idea. If you find you can no longer keep them just kill them off.

[JimmyVe]

Hi is wright you know. Here in Belgium we (ant keepers i know and I) have a rule not to leave captured ants back in nature unless you captured them near your home, within 10km from your home. If you release captured ants back in nature you could harm the ecosystem also if the ants are native in you country.
But i rather give them to someone else than to kill them.