Anyone here into antkeeping? What ants do you have?

Anyone here into antkeeping? What ants do you have? Here is what I think is a big headed ant queen (the big one) and a camponotus queen. Found them both in Bahia region in Brasil, around May.

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  1. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    How hard is it to keep ants anyway? It's one of those things I've wanted to try since I was like 6 but, unlike with aquariums, it's a bit more of a niche hobby.

    How do you stop them from getting everywhere? Do the colonies maintain themselves in size or do they need periodic culling? It'd be neat to have something like pic related leading into a little sealed bog garden terrarium with a bunch of carnivorous plants.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      For that I would suggest my "teacher", the Ants Australia channel in youtube (now renamed to Jordan Dean or something but if you search Ants Australia its the first result). Turns out its pretty easy. There is also the Ants Canada channel but although educational, its more of a cringe click-baiting type of channel. Shouldn't cost you anything either, maybe like 5 dollars to start, 150 dollars if you want to get super fancy with the humidity regulators and the whatnots. Try it anon. You have to learn how to catch your first Queen tho, its much more rewarding this way, rather than buying one online.

  2. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    it’s such a funny little hobby like people who collect stamps or coins
    i don’t get it, but it’s ok

  3. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >Anyone here into antkeeping
    Kinda. I have a colony of tiny black ants from outside that crawl all over and eat the nectar on my windowsill pitcher plant, and my pitcher plant in turn eats them 🙂

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Thats gonna be one huge ass pitcher plant damn

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        Alright, no big headed ant then. Damn now I am extra sad I couldn't keep her. Although, making a terrarium for leafcutter ants would be very difficult for me.
        [...]
        Thats a lot of dead ants lol why do they keep going for it hahaha

        It's doing really well, maybe too well. It oozes a ton of nectar, so much that it drips down. The ants aren't complete drones, they go for the drippings first and have recently learned to swarm the old dried up pitchers that still have some nectar on them. I'll probably trim them off soon so I hope they enjoy it while they can.
        Overall its a neat dynamic that is fun to watch. I really don't mind the ants indoors because they just stay in their corner on the windowsill. The minute they overstep and try to farm some mealybugs or aphids on my plant though? Bye bye ants.

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          Really cool!!

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          does putting your own poopies in there help it grow?

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            I mean, technically it probably would. It's just looking for supplemental nitrogen and minerals.
            I'm going to stick to letting it catch it's own ants though, way less gross and way more entertaining.

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          The ants are smart enough to learn the plant eats organic matter and might throw away their carcasses there too.
          I've never kept ants before, how much do you need to get started?

  4. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >moron anon introduces foreign species to further destroy our ecosystem

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      I didn't introduce anything, their are sealed safely. Plus camponotus ants are in no shape to compete with Argentinian ants and pharao ants to destroy the balance. They simply dont have the numbers. What is more, females will not procreate with males of the same nest. That means that a single nest can never create more nests. Maybe the moron here is you?

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        >cope cope cope, cope
        Don't bring insects where they don't belong

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          What the fk do you mean cope moron? Is it really that hard to understand what I wrote? Ants don't multiply like that you ignorant idiot

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            Nature finds a way

            • 2 years ago
              Anonymous

              Its the third time I will say it, queens DO NOT reproduce with males from the same nest. A single colony dies out with the queen, end of story, no exceptions, no arguing. Is that too hard to understand?

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      >moron anon doesn’t realise that’s what we’ve been doing with fish, birds, reptiles and mammals for a century

  5. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Big headed ants are tiny, this one is huge man

  6. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    I was keeping carpenter ants in my walls but I haven't seen them in a month, they might have succumbed to the ant bait I left out, and barrier spray.

  7. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    No, swarm species disgust me
    but I honestly wouldn't mind being an apiarist.

  8. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    I’ve got one Myrmecia colony and two Camponotus queens, but I’m probably gonna sell the latter

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Cool. Care to share some photos?

      No, swarm species disgust me
      but I honestly wouldn't mind being an apiarist.

      Pity man, it has it's joys

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        >it has it's joys
        like?

  9. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    This chunky one didn't make it past 2 days in the tube. I believe she died of stress. Found her upside down with legs crossed like a spider. She was constantly running looking for an exit, while my other queen quickly settled down and started laying eggs 4-5 days after her capture

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      The right one looks huge, sure this isn't a leafcutter queen?
      I am from Germany and I keep a Lasius Black person colony, a Formica cinerea and I try to start a myrmica rubra colony. Pic rel is my lasius, this colony is 1.5 years old and I think it's now around 100-200 workers but this pic is a little older.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        Here is my Formica cinerea queen when I caught her. She is slightly larger than the lasius, and way more agressive. Probably my favourite type of ant here in my Country. I love active and agressive ant and besides that they have very good eyesight for ants. She now has workers but I haven't taken any pictures of them since and I can't since I'm not at home

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          I catched 6 Myrmica rubra queens and I tried to start a colony with all 6 of them, as they are polygyneous. They haven't laid any eggs but I feed them regularly and they seem to be friends. No pics yet tho

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            Here's the Camponotus of my girlfriend

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            They propably feel stressed I would guess. Pity. Are they in shade? Maybe check temperature/humidity?

            Here's the Camponotus of my girlfriend

            Nice! Going good!

            Big headed ants are tiny, this one is huge man

            It was creepy how big it was lol. Almost doesn't look like an ant. But yeah I wouldn't swear its a big headed ant, I just assumed it by comparing photos and looking up if they exist in that region. Its not leafcutter ant either, that is green/golden colour.

            >it has it's joys
            like?

            Well I would say watching them fight other insects to kill them,.feeding each other mouth to mouth and grooming the queen, watching their body language interacting with one another... Its not like the usual "eat/sleep/poop" kind of animal. They have a really complex society.

            • 2 years ago
              Anonymous

              Big headed ants are one of the smallest ants and their queens are very small. This one is huge, I'm 95% sure it's some kind of leafcutter (atta) species. Those queens are huge, even compared to Camponotus and their colonies can have over 1 mil workers from one queen!

              • 2 years ago
                Anonymous

                Alright, no big headed ant then. Damn now I am extra sad I couldn't keep her. Although, making a terrarium for leafcutter ants would be very difficult for me.

                https://i.imgur.com/UBh8cXM.jpg

                >Anyone here into antkeeping
                Kinda. I have a colony of tiny black ants from outside that crawl all over and eat the nectar on my windowsill pitcher plant, and my pitcher plant in turn eats them 🙂

                Thats a lot of dead ants lol why do they keep going for it hahaha

  10. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    I then started losing some due to some short of white lice that attached to the ants but I picked them up one by one and carefully brushed them to take the lice away. Sadly, some ant workers died before I could figure out what's wrong. Now they are ok in their new temporary home.

  11. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Some pharaoh ants (these tiny ones that have a blonde colour) invaded their nest but luckily my wife found out just as it was happening and evacuated them, all safe.

  12. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Here is the camponotus queen today. We had our ups and downs, she had to travel by airplane in my bag but luckily she survived and produced some beautiful daughters

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      How did they allow you to go in the airplane with ants?

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        I looked up laws about it but there is nothing specific on the internet. Only about some insects on some USA states. So I decided to err on caution and just hid the tube carefully in my clothes and put it in the bag that you check in, not the one you take to your seat. If I broke any laws, I dont know.

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          >If I broke any laws, I dont know.
          you did you have to declare all plants (edible and non) and all animals (living or dead) this is doubly true now since all the "pandemics". I'd expect a knock on your door in a few days.

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            Do people with head lice or crabs have to declare those animals?

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            Well its all behind us now.

            I was keeping carpenter ants in my walls but I haven't seen them in a month, they might have succumbed to the ant bait I left out, and barrier spray.

            I am not so autistic as to be sad about this.

            https://i.imgur.com/jiv0VAQ.jpg

            The right one looks huge, sure this isn't a leafcutter queen?
            I am from Germany and I keep a Lasius Black person colony, a Formica cinerea and I try to start a myrmica rubra colony. Pic rel is my lasius, this colony is 1.5 years old and I think it's now around 100-200 workers but this pic is a little older.

            Obligatory kek at "lasius Black person". Now that its out of the way, I like your horizontal setup. I hope that sand is sturdy! They look very similar to mine.

            https://i.imgur.com/JI1DobU.jpg

            Here is my Formica cinerea queen when I caught her. She is slightly larger than the lasius, and way more agressive. Probably my favourite type of ant here in my Country. I love active and agressive ant and besides that they have very good eyesight for ants. She now has workers but I haven't taken any pictures of them since and I can't since I'm not at home

            Moneyshot ! What a beautiful ant!

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