2 replies to this topic

[11.11.00]

Anybody got any experience keeping bradleyi or any north american manica in general? From my observations, they seem to require sandy substrate and high humidity. Will try to collect a colony of them next year. 

I think they need to hibernate, according to rubida caresheets its december to febrary so bradleyi should be similar?

Also, are they polygynous or mono? I know rubida can be poly as long as the queens are kept far apart but I'm not sure how the north american species compare. I've seen pretty large manica bradleyi colonies with multiple nests so it won't surprise me if bradleyi was similar.  The ants werent aggressive to each other but the nests were somewhat far apart. Invidia on the other hand always had tiny colonies in my experience of around 20-50 ants but I won't be surprised if invidia can have larger colonies. 

 

Oh and also diet: From my experience both bradleyi and invidia were reluctant to attack crickets, but they would take formica and even much larger camponotus with vigor.  Not sure if I would have to feed them ants or would regular bugs be fine. Rubida seem to be fine with regular insects so hopefully north american manica are similar. 

Edited by 11.11.00, August 30 2020 - 8:58 PM.

[NickAnter]

I see invidia and hunteri quite commonly in the sierras, and they seem to nest in areas very close to lake shores. I have only once seen an invidia nest over 200 feet from a lake. They have rather small nest entrances, and commonly nest nearby Pogonomyrmex and Formica. They do seem to like somewhat humid environments.

[11.11.00]

I see invidia and hunteri quite commonly in the sierras, and they seem to nest in areas very close to lake shores. I have only once seen an invidia nest over 200 feet from a lake. They have rather small nest entrances, and commonly nest nearby Pogonomyrmex and Formica. They do seem to like somewhat humid environments.

I never knew hunter was in California, on antmaps. their distribution is not very common. I've seen invidia and Bradleyi often and its almost always near a body of water although Bradleyi seem less finicky about that. I wonder how that will translate to captivity