ANTSTORE World of Ants

[shadow5235]

what i would like from my ants
hybernation; dont mind
i would like them to be aggressive, large and be able to hunt live insects, when the coloney is larger. needs to be kept at quite high temperatures . and would like to keep them in ytong, and i would like them to be fairly fast growing. and active

i know you ment to start of with lasius niger. and although i have never kept ants at home i have looked after and maintained a coloney of atta ants at paridise park wildlife centre.

any information whould be greatfully exepted

[mzfckr]

i would reccomend camponotos ligniperda(big, strong ants) or messor barbarus(big worker caste).

[Spore]

Maby a Polyrhachis species.

[ratgreen]

nah Polyrhachis usually need quite a bit of attention to moisture and temperature but messors are really easy in my experience and i have heard ligniperda are good i almost got them.

[shadow5235]

thanks i am going to do some research on these different ants

[miszt]

Shadow, I hate to dampen your spirit, but spending some time with an Atta colony is not the same as owning an keeping one yourself, Polyrhachis are in no way suitable for a beginner, Messor pherhaps, but to be honest your lack of patience, (the fact you know where you should start, but dont want to) indicates to me that any species other than easy european ones is a very bad idea, you MUST have patience to keep ants, if you dont you will waste your time and money

[Ehx-ray]

Formica (sanguinea, cinerea, rufibarbis, etc.) ants are very active, aggressive, quite big (up to 1cm), nice looking and what's the best, very "smart".

[mzfckr]

some polyrhachis species can live in room temparature and humidity.

[miszt]

Yes I would recomend Formica infact, they have the qualities you are looking for

mzfckr Polyrhachis colonies grow very large very quickly, this is why they are not suitable for people with no experience

[shadow5235]

all the ants you have recommended sdound great
but i have to say the 2 that caught my eye are Camponotus ligniperda because of the size and strength and Messor barbarus they sound rteally interesting ssed storage and chewing communities.
thanks again and any info tips or advise is happly taken

[ashhad1]

Why not go for an easy european myrmica ant like rubra etc.
They are agressive, like to hunt down live food (they sting there prey) and grow quickly in number except there not exactly big. In my opinion myrmica are decent enough in size but dont go for camponotus ligniperda as these take forever to become a big colony. Messor babarus is also ok as long as you get atleast a worker with ur queeen.

But as miszt said u need patients in any ant species, but formica would be a good choice except for all the formic acid they like to spray around it frigin stinks sometimes...

[mzfckr]

if i were you, i would go for messor ~30 worker colony.

[Spore]

Camponotus Lig star slow in my experiance. But if anyone has had more experiance than me (probaly EVERYONE) then maby they could help out more.

[SteveUK28]

i would also say myrmica rubra, they really are lovely ants, not to small not to big. Easy to keep in a ytong and they grow fairly quick.. and they are very aggressive. Just fed mine some live crickets, and i swear that they get better at killin each time i feed them. Prob 100 ants ripping each cricket apart and takin it bit by bit back into the ytong

[ashhad1]

Aw man thats sounds awesome!
I really want those ants, but antstore only sells them with 10 or more workers and i want just a queen first or so =D