ANTSTORE World of Ants

[brightbluejacket]

Hi i'm thinking of getting a new colony in the new year but i am looking for one that will hunt live insects for food and has a fairly large colony any idea's?
Thanks

[tail__]

I have a lot of springtails living in my formicarium with Myrmica rubra and I love to watch ants trying to catch them. The springtails are very fast and it is really hard, but one time for a hundred the ant succeeds, and considering there is a few dozen ants hunting all day long and the springtails are very numerous, they are always able to kill a few every day.

My Lasius niger colony is large enough to kill a maggot, and it is a nice show to watch the hunters calling for reinforcements, as only a large pack of these little ants can defeat such a large beast. After a few minutes the arena is full of ants heading straight to the combat zone. At least sometimes they need to work hard for their food, so they are really workers, not just eaters.

Almost every typical ant species do some hunting, but be aware that ants hunt mostly insects smaller than them, and only when the colony grows quite a bit they can kill a larger prey collectively. I think the Formica species are the best hunters, as they use sights for tracking and are very fast and agressive. And they reproduce quickly, so you can have a few hundreds in a year. I Recommend Formica sanguinea, rufibarbis or cunicularia, but fusca and cinerea also aren't bad. Camponotus ligniperdus or herculeanus can also hunt insects larger than smaller ants, but it takes a long time to have a large colony of these species.

[brightbluejacket]

thanks for that i have a colony of Pheidole pallidula. it's young only about 15 workers but i'v been told they don't hunt even when they have soilders so i was a bit disapointed but there really active so it's not all bad. the colony is growing really fast amazed at them.
thanks for your advice i think im going to research them now to find out more thanks.

[gabranth]

my Pheidole pallidula hunt but mainly on flies and other small critters when there bigger they should be able to hunt bigger stuff

[brightbluejacket]

ok cool thanks. i'm looking forward to that. its only a small colony right now so i guess i can't expect alot for a few months. where did you get your springtails and how do u keep them alive. i'm going to have to do some research on them.

[JimmyVe]

Yes, almost every species hunt for food when the colony is big enough.

[tail__]

Springtails live everywhere in soil, whenever you put some soil or a bit of moss they probably will be there. They eat every organic stuff and they reproduce easily in formicarium. It's nice to have them because they eat every food remnants, so nothing remains for mold and bacteria, and are harmless for ants.

[brightbluejacket]

cool i'm going to have to go looking for them then. they sound really good. does every one keep them in there formicarium because they sound like there really useful for keeping mould and bacteria away while being eatable for ants. thanks for the help any other good idea's?

I think i might get Formica (Raptiformica) sanguinea or Formica (Serviformica) cinerea if i can get them. they don't have them at ant store at the moment.
Is there anything i should know about them i'm going to do my research on them but was just wonder about colony size? how long it takes for the colony to grow? food? any any other info that is important.
Thanks again

[gabranth]

ant store has fusca and there basically the same

[brightbluejacket]

ok i might wate till the new year befor i buy them is there anything important i should really know about them?

[brightbluejacket]

can you keep Formica queens together to create a super colony? if not can you do that with any ant species?

[gabranth]

looks at ant stores ant description for caste Monomorph = single queen polygyn = multi queens

[tail__]

Formica cinerea make polygynous colonies, but I think only closely related queens are allowed to join. Joining two random queens will probably result in fight. Formica fusca are less agressive, and also polygyn, so it is more probable. And of course most species of Formica rufa group are polygyn, but they are rather hard to keep.

[SteveUK28]

Hello BrightBlue and to the forum. I have pallidula myself.. and i have a few hundred workers and countless soldiers now.. yet they rarely hunt and prefer dead insects.. strange lol

However i have a myrimca rubra colony with at least 1000 workers and they are awesome hunters.. extremely aggressive and kill anything i put in the setup... They can easily take down 3 or 4 adult crickets. Also they get to a big size fairly quick.. especialy if you have multiple queens.. i have at least 6 in more.. and the size has trippled in the last year. If you was interested in rubra.. i even have a contact who can get you a colony with multiple queens fairly cheap... If your interested then please feel free to PM me.

[brightbluejacket]

yea i would really like a Myrmica* rubra colony how much would it cost for a colony with multiple queens? how long is it from egg to worker roughtly? thanks

how long do you hibernate them for? and do they have any special requirments?

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