10 replies to this topic

[Hightlyze]

Dankdoritos145 from Reddit brought be here. For selonopsis geminata. I also would like to know how long the queen has to stay in the test tube.

[TennesseeAnts]

Solenopsis grow extremely quickly. One queen could get over 10,000 workers in 6 months. I would NOT recommend them to beginners. They also are a destructive speices, so they can escape from a lot of nests. As for a safe nest, I would go for any of THA's type 3 nests, or one of Drew's dirt shacks.

Edit: Also, where do you have Solenopsis geminata?

Edited by Ant_Dude2908, March 12 2019 - 6:39 AM.

[FeedTheAnts]

I wouldn't put fire ants in a typical ant farm(Uncle Milton's), they would escape and quickly run out of room. If you don't want to use a professional formicarium then I would recommend a natural nest. Something like a ten gallon tank or larger with dirt on the bottom would be your safest option if you don't want your ants to escape. 

[Xanuri]

I have a S. xyloni colony in a #4 Small Dirt Box currently. I have 1 queen and about 25-30 workers, what I can tell you is that I rarely see them, unless I feed. even the 4mm is not small enough to keep them from blotting out the light. Right now in my opinion if you want to OBSERVE them, then us a AC Hybrid 2.0 nest or the Omni Nest. They are however pricy!

 

I also agree with the previous posts, if you have never kept Solenopsis, and you don't have much Ant keeping experience, to stay away from them until you do. You really don't want them escaping into your home, and trust me they can move an entire colony in a matter of hours, additionally they are very aggressive.

 

I am working on making a custom formicarium for them, as it is pretty boring keeping them in a dirt box and literally only see 1 or 2 workers a day looking for water or food, but I can guarantee you down below in the dirt they are hatching workers like mad and the queen is non-stop laying eggs! and by the end of summer this small dirtbox will not be big enough for them.

[Rstheant]

I find that a ‘tubs and tubes’ setup works well for these species. I have a colony of 1000 and I’ve still been using this method. It is simple, cheap, and effective. Only downside is that they sometimes chew through the cotton, and drown. Other than that, visibility is excellent, and cleaning is easy.

[Hightlyze]

In the Philippines, how do I get a safe ant queen? Or where could I possibly find an ant queen safer than that?

Edited by Hightlyze, March 12 2019 - 8:31 PM.

[Hightlyze]

Solenopsis grow extremely quickly. One queen could get over 10,000 workers in 6 months. I would NOT recommend them to beginners. They also are a destructive speices, so they can escape from a lot of nests. As for a safe nest, I would go for any of THA's type 3 nests, or one of Drew's dirt shacks.

Edit: Also, where do you have Solenopsis geminata?

Its inside a testtube. I also found it on the couch

[FeedTheAnts]

In the Philippines, how do I get a safe ant queen? Or where could I possibly find an ant queen safer than that?

Nuptial flights are starting to kick up, you could find some Camponotus(Carpenter Ant) queens the same way you found your Fire ant queen. Just keep looking and you'll eventually happen to find some. 

Edited by TennesseeAnts, March 13 2019 - 5:33 AM.

[Manitobant]

Hey! DankDoritos145 here! If you really want to keep these fire ants you could just freeze them when they get too big. That’s what a lot of antkeepers do when their solenopsis colonies explode in growth. As for a nest, I would maybe go for an antscanada setup as hardy species like fire ants can do well in them. If you want a colony, I would maybe check out https://petantsmanila.comwhich is a formicarium and ant selling store in the Philippines.

Edited by Manitobant, March 13 2019 - 6:02 AM.

[Hightlyze]

Hey! DankDoritos145 here! If you really want to keep these fire ants you could just freeze them when they get too big. That’s what a lot of antkeepers do when their solenopsis colonies explode in growth. As for a nest, I would maybe go for an antscanada setup as hardy species like fire ants can do well in them. If you want a colony, I would maybe check out https://petantsmanila.comwhich is a formicarium and ant selling store in the Philippines.

Unfortunately the fire ant queen died

[Manitobant]

Hey! DankDoritos145 here! If you really want to keep these fire ants you could just freeze them when they get too big. That’s what a lot of antkeepers do when their solenopsis colonies explode in growth. As for a nest, I would maybe go for an antscanada setup as hardy species like fire ants can do well in them. If you want a colony, I would maybe check out https://petantsmanila.comwhich is a formicarium and ant selling store in the Philippines.

Unfortunately the fire ant queen died

sorry to hear that. You were doing everything correctly so it isn’t in any way your fault. Your first losses can hurt pretty badly but I can assure you that you will find MANY more queens this season. While just walking down the road you can sometimes bump into queens running along the sidewalk. The philippines has MANY interesting ant species to look out for such as carebara diversa, an aggressive species with huge size differences in the workers, oecophylla smaragdina, a species that weaves leaves together to build nests and much more! Trust me, your antkeeping expierence is only just beginning.