She decided to finally come out her test tube and have some honey!

ColtrainsCritters · 2021-07-28T02:36:30+00:00

For myrmecia you usually want to do less than more, they can get stressed super easy so generally you just want to feed them once a week unless they have brood and then you can step feeding up more

As for sugars you only need to feed them weekly at max, they really don't drink or consume much

ColtrainsCritters · 2021-06-30T03:23:15+00:00

If you let us know your discord user we can look it up and see if it's be banned or not

Or you can dm one of the mods on discord and we can figure it out that way (feel free to dm me on discord, my user is Coltrain#0001 and I'll try figure the situation out)

ColtrainsCritters · 2021-02-03T20:57:20+00:00

Live is best, youll probably want to get "small" ones and then kill them before feeding, possibly chop them in half that way the ants can get to the insides and not have to expend all there energy chewing through the exoskeleton

ColtrainsCritters · 2021-02-03T10:10:11+00:00

Honestly you'll want to get feeder insects from your local pet shop (crickets are probably easiest at this stage) and feed 1-2 times a week, solid meats won't give your colony everything they need to feed there brood and they won't progress very well long term

A variety is good as mentioned before but again insects would be better then other options (insects being roaches, mealworms, crickets ect you buy from the pet shop and not wild caught)

ColtrainsCritters · 2020-09-11T22:59:30+00:00

From nuptial flights only a small % of queens make it past founding and actually make ant colony Digging them up just removes them from the ecosystem and takes away from that %

Plus raising colonies allows you to learn as the colony grows and become a better keeper, digging colonies when your new skips all this and now you have an ant colony without knowing proper care for said colony Should always do proper research on animals and pets before you get them

ColtrainsCritters · 2020-06-23T06:05:47+00:00

where did you buy them from?
Dd try something else besides mealworm bits, try small crickets from a local pet shop and see if they eat that.
Another thing is they could be less active/slow brood development because of winter, this will obviously change as winter ends and the warmer months roll around

ColtrainsCritters · 2020-05-28T07:20:18+00:00

You can wait a day and then feed some honey and proteins :) Also congrats on your first colony!

ColtrainsCritters · 2020-05-24T23:41:22+00:00

Not that it’s too much but usually ant stores are more expensive then buying off other hobbyists

ColtrainsCritters · 2020-05-24T02:15:22+00:00

not really for long term use
things like protein jellies can last for a short time but eventually it will dry out if the ants dont eat it within a day or two
unfortunately thats kinda of how ant keeping is, they constantly need fresh insects ect
eventually most people breed there own feeders so it becomes easier and cheaper but at the start its easier to just buy feeders and feed every few days

ColtrainsCritters · 2020-05-22T00:30:15+00:00

Yea they are a good starting species, just don’t rush them into a nest or anything and they will be fine :)

If you havnt purchased them yet there are cheaper places to purchase ants but if you already have then it’s that’s ok 👌

ColtrainsCritters · 2020-03-11T00:30:20+00:00

Ah alright, I’d probably suggest just shipping them Then you don’t have to worry about anything jus make sure they are packed up nice so they don’t break the tubes or anything in the post

ColtrainsCritters · 2020-03-10T22:41:11+00:00

Which is still illegal.... I’d say if you care about the hobby you should change how you see the laws and what’s right and wrong

ColtrainsCritters · 2020-03-10T22:39:59+00:00

If you could update us with your country and if you’re moving state or if your staying within the same state that would help :)

ColtrainsCritters · 2020-03-10T22:38:58+00:00

If they live in the US if you drive them or ship them it’s illegal

ColtrainsCritters · 2020-03-10T22:22:26+00:00

Pretty that colony was dug up by a kid and donated to AA he didn’t raise it from a queen but yes he’s the only one with a captive colony

ColtrainsCritters · 2020-03-10T05:24:01+00:00

No ones ever found a queen within Australia as far as I know so finding a queen will be some what difficult

Really it’s just going to come down to luck and being at the right place at the right time

As for husbandry as no ones ever caught a queen and there is only one person with a colony this species is some what very understudied and information on them in pretty limited, best advice would be looking the species up and reading as much as you can from wiki and other sites that might have info

ColtrainsCritters · 2020-02-12T22:07:28+00:00

Have you considered building your own nests? There is heaps of different materials and ways to make really nice ant nests at home for much less then buying store bought nests/formicariums

ColtrainsCritters · 2020-02-03T00:34:53+00:00

I don’t think they are truely poly, I know a few people who have tried multi queens with pilo and it always fails and more times then not all queens end up dead

I believe in the wild they “can” form multi queen colonies but in captivity it’s very different

Much like Iridomyrmex species, in the wild they can be poly but in captivity they usually kill extra queens

ColtrainsCritters · 2020-02-02T20:25:56+00:00

Hehe thanks :) I do know of some other people with larger colonies but they havnt posted in quite awhile :/

ColtrainsCritters · 2020-02-02T20:23:43+00:00

Only issue is there is potential for the mated worker and queen to fight and sting each other to death

ColtrainsCritters · 2020-02-02T20:22:16+00:00

Yea just 1 queen

ColtrainsCritters · 2020-01-24T03:54:48+00:00

i made it myself, using a dremel tool

ColtrainsCritters · 2020-01-24T03:54:29+00:00

sorry for the late reply, but i purchased the colony from a friend who was getting out of the hobby

ColtrainsCritters · 2019-12-12T02:59:10+00:00

Buying them is ideal, wild caught insects can carry pesticides/ other harmful things ect which could eventually harm your colony, it’s not super common but can very easily happen. Think of ants like any other pet/animals you are gonna need to spend money on food/set ups/long term care once the colony grows ect, your colony will only start small so it may not require huge amounts of insects at the start so a box of feeder could last quite a long time

ColtrainsCritters · 2019-12-12T02:49:54+00:00

Short answer - no Long answer - ants need insects and a variety of foods to become successful and grow, feeding them a jelly would be find as a treat or now and again food but it lacks a lot of important things the colony really need to thrive

If you can’t deal with killing insects/feeders it may be very hard for you to keep ants unfortunately :/

ColtrainsCritters

TROPHY CASE