ANTSTORE World of Ants

[port513]

Hi!

I'm pretty new to keeping exotic ants, have only kept native species.

What about the species listed here?

Acromyrmex octospinosus
Atta cephalotes (I know it's a diffucult species)
Diacamma rugosum
Harpegnathos venator
Leptogenus diminuta
Manica rubida
Odontoponera transversa
Oecophylla smaragdina
Polyrhachis wolfi


Any good info about keeping them, any interesting experience etc?


/Henke

[akell]

I keep Odontoponera transversa, Manica rubida, and Harpegnathos venator. The easiest to care for is the H. venator. They seem fine with changing humidity. They need a lot of space, and will only eat live food. They do not have a real queen as the more social ants do. They have a gamergate, which will be the alpha female. They fight among themselves, most often to the death, to become the alpThey are not as aggressive as Manica rubida or Odontoponera trans. Odontoponera trans. need the most attention, and I find them to be the most interesting so far. The M. rubida are great also. They need a high humidity as do Odontoponera transversa, so you have to watch out for mold. I can keep both the Odonto and the venator in an open basin (with high walls!!!) as they don't or won't climb glass. I don't think that they can, actually...
The M. rubida hibernate, which I don't care for as I worry and have to make sure that they are alive every other day. I'm sure they enjoy though...
The venator hunts alone, does just about everything alone actually. There is no real cooperation that I can see, just tolerance. The Odontoponera trans. actively cooperate in just about everything and are very industrious creatures. They also need lots of space.
Venator are easy as far as really exotics go, and very, very cool ants, but are quite expensive, more so as they need a big basin. I can easily watch Odontoponera for a couple of hours, they are always doing something interesting.

Post a message when you get your ants!
A.

[port513]

Right now it's to cold to ship almost any live animals but in a few months it will be possible again.

Live food is not a problem, I keep tarantulas so I nearly always have fresh food ready.

About O. transversa and H. venator do you have some pictures of your setup? Just to give me some ideas.
Some day I hope I can keep Atta ssp but I'm told that this is a pretty hard ant to keep.
Which one of O. transversa and H. venator do you recommend if you think about storage, easy too keep and the interest value?


/Henke

[akell]

Hi Henke,
Here are some not very good photos. I don't have a macro setting on the camera, (spent the camera money on the ants!).
Seeing as you have experience with live food, do you have any tips to make the food safe as far as mites and other parasites go?
Thanks a lot!
A.

[akell]

H. venator formacarium

Had to crop half the photo

[akell]

Here is a very cropped photo of the Odontop.trans. set up.

[akell]

Here is an Odontoponera

[akell]

And a couple of venators...

[port513]

Hi Henke,
Here are some not very good photos. I don't have a macro setting on the camera, (spent the camera money on the ants!).
Seeing as you have experience with live food, do you have any tips to make the food safe as far as mites and other parasites go?
Thanks a lot!
A.

My cricket breeding container is sometimes full of food mites that is harmless and they are bred in captivity for ages so parasites is not a problem.
When I feed my Heloderma h. exasperatum I give him/her frozen thawed mice to avoid parasites.
My rattlesnakes only ate live food so I tried to get mice that where bred in lab etc to avoid parasites but you never now with live mice.

Thanks for the pictures BTW.

What species do you think is most interesting of the two H. venator or O. transversa?


/Henrik

[JimmyVe]

I think all species are interesting. It is up to you to choice which ones you like the most.
Good luck with picking out.

@akell: you can put up to 8 pictures in one messages.

[port513]

I think all species are interesting. It is up to you to choice which ones you like the most.
Good luck with picking out.

@akell: you can put up to 8 pictures in one messages.

The one I'm most interested in seems impossible to keep Atta cephalotes is my favourite but everyone tells me this is impossible to keep.

Isn't there a way to controll the size of the nest?


/Henke

[JimmyVe]

They are not impossible to keep, just really hard.
I don't think you can control the size of the colony. And as you know Atta colonies grow out very huge so you need a lot of space to keep them.

[Phasmid]

I know you can control the size of an Acromyrmex colony by restricting the space the fungus has and I would have thought this is possible for atta too.

[port513]

I got an answer to this, if you restrict the food they will not outgrow your containers.


/Henke

[JimmyVe]

I hope it works. Good luck.