11 replies to this topic

[AntsAreGood]

Hello i want to become a ant keeper but i don't know what ant species or genus to go for, so i decided to ask here by the way i live in europe specifically in romania

[Manitobant]

Since you are in europe, you have a lot of options, as importing exotic ants is completely legal. That said, I would start with something native to your area, such as camponotus, lasius, formica, Tetramorium or messor.

[antsriondel]

I would suggest lasius niger and messor barbarus 

Edited by antsriondel, November 30 2021 - 11:43 AM.

[AntsAreGood]

i don't think messor barbarus is a native species to romania but i think messor structor is

Edited by AntsAreGood, November 30 2021 - 11:48 AM.

[antsriondel]

then I would choose witch ever one you want more

[antsriondel]

may I suggest lasius niger

[Manitobant]

i don't think messor barbarus is a native species to romania but i think messor structor is

it doesn’t matter if its native or not, as you can legally get exotic ants in your country, unlike antkeepers in north america.

[antsriondel]

I agree with Manitobant

[AntsAreGood]

thanks for the advice

[AntaholicAnonymous]

I'm in Austria and it's almost impossible not to catch a lasius Niger queen when they fly so I'd pick them if i were you. They are the easiest to keep for beginners.

As the others mentioned you'll have the option of ordering all kinds of species online in the future if you want to. I'd start with lasius tho. That's what I did too.

As a 2nd species if you're comfortable with lasius I'd pick manica rubida or messor barbarus. They are a lot more impressive and still easy to care for if you have a little bit experience.
Whatever you do get fluon to keep your ants from breaking out. One bottle will last for ever and will save you a lot of headache.
Lasius are good at escaping once they reach high numbers.

[antsriondel]

no. manica rubida is a very hard ant species to keep and they are very sensitive to moisture. from what I've learned messor is a much easier ant to keep

 

 

I might be wrong though???

Edited by antsriondel, December 6 2021 - 5:02 PM.

[AntaholicAnonymous]

no. manica rubida is a very hard ant species to keep and they are very sensitive to moisture. from what I've learned messor is a much easier ant to keep


I might be wrong though???

That's what Google says yea.
I have manica for around 3 years and they are very easy if you know what type of setup they like.

Now I have them in a massive "natural" tank that meets all their needs perfectly but I kept them in a salad bowl filled with a soil/sand mix for their first 6 months and that dried out constantly and they were still thriving.

In general if you use substrate that's deep enough to stay moist for long enough you solved all their "special needs" so that's a very easy fix. I have plants in the tank so the problem solves itself by just watering the plants.

I would never keep them without substrate because what they love the most is nest construction and that's what makes them so fun to have. They are super active and the most fun to watch out of all species I had.

I assume most failed keeping attempts failed with the choice of setup everything beyond that is very straight forward.