10 replies to this topic

[ChromiumIO]

So I've been getting back into ant keeping and I found that I can get my hands on the genus brachymyrmex relatively easily, what do you guys have to say on the genus?

[ZTYguy]

Small, easy, not too fast growth. They are extremely beginner friendly except I find them to be not that exciting. They can’t really “hunt”, they seem to be more of scavengers.

[ChromiumIO]

Small, easy, not too fast growth. They are extremely beginner friendly except I find them to be not that exciting. They can’t really “hunt”, they seem to be more of scavengers.

Thanks for your input, do you know what kind of temperature or humidity they prefer?

[ZTYguy]

Small, easy, not too fast growth. They are extremely beginner friendly except I find them to be not that exciting. They can’t really “hunt”, they seem to be more of scavengers.

Thanks for your input, do you know what kind of temperature or humidity they prefer?

From my experience they do well at room temp or near a heat cable.

[ChromiumIO]

 

 

Small, easy, not too fast growth. They are extremely beginner friendly except I find them to be not that exciting. They can’t really “hunt”, they seem to be more of scavengers.

Thanks for your input, do you know what kind of temperature or humidity they prefer?

From my experience they do well at room temp or near a heat cable.

 

Thanks so much for your help =  )

I haven't been able to find very much info on that.

[antperson24]

So I've been getting back into ant keeping and I found that I can get my hands on the genus brachymyrmex relatively easily, what do you guys have to say on the genus?

Like ZTYguy said they grow slowly and aren't very exiting. But one thing I find very fun to watch them do is eat hard-boiled egg. They break off little tiny pieces of it, and then carry it back to the nest. But over all, I think they are a pretty fun species to keep! Also I should add they don't require much care. 

Edited by antperson24, October 11 2022 - 7:41 AM.

[EthanNgo678]

 Personally, I haven’t had much success with this genus. Every queen I’ve kept has died on me. However, for the time I did have them I noticed they were great eaters, fast/active, although relatively boring. In my opinion, against other species of ants, and just like others have said, they weren’t very exciting.

Edited by EthanNgo678, October 11 2022 - 7:39 AM.

[bmb1bee]

They're pretty cute ants, I like their not-too-fast growth and tiny workers. I currently have a ~20 worker colony with one queen, which I got a little while back in summer. The workers in my colony like to fill up on honey and start to look like mini-sized Prenolepis repletes afterward. I feed mine fruit flies, which they let dry then stick onto the cotton to soften them up to break into tiny pieces.

 

I've only had Brachymyrmex patagonicus though, and haven't kept any other species of Brachy.

Edited by bmb1bee, October 11 2022 - 7:43 AM.

[antperson24]

They're pretty cute ants, I like their not-too-fast growth and tiny workers. I currently have a ~20 worker colony with one queen, which I got a little while back in summer. The workers in my colony like to fill up on honey and start to look like mini-sized Prenolepis repletes afterward. I feed mine fruit flies, which they let dry then stick onto the cotton to soften them up to break into tiny pieces.

Cool, I have a colony of Brachymyrmex the exact same size as yours!

[LowQualityAnts]

I'm hoping to catch some brachymyrmex depilis queens next year. I have many colonies of them in my yard. Their workers are cool because workers can have different size and coloration. I'm pretty sure they are also polygynous.

[rptraut]

This is the second season that I have had a Brachymyrmex depilis colony that I collected from my garden.  I really wasn't sure that I had the queen, so this spring I added a queen to the setup.  I don't know if she joined the existing workers, but I did see nanitic sized workers foraging late this summer as well as the existing larger workers.  I also bought two queens that I put into natural setups like I have described in the Formicarium section.   They are made of sphagnum moss with a wet side and a dry side.  I let the ants decide where the moisture is right for them.  I kept them on wet cardboard in a lidded/ventilated plastic container on top of grow lights where they were warm but not hot.  I checked their hydration every couple of days as they dry out quickly when heated.  They are supposed to like high humidity, so the wet cardboard provides that while I can keep a wet and dry side of their formicarium and the whole thing doesn't dry out so fast.

 

I can't see the queens, so I had to watch for activity on the surface which happened late this summer.  I know there are ants there because I can see their holes and they take food and sugar water, but to date I have never actually seen an ant.  If I hadn't had the first colony to watch this summer, I think I would have lost hope for my two queens long before.  I think that by the time I get them out of the box, they've already headed for cover. 

 

The first colony is a different story.  Even though these are the smallest ants I have, I love watching them the most.  I use a 3.5X magnifying glass and watch them when they are the most active on the surface at feeding time.  I marvel at their miniaturization.   But this does cause a problem with visibility as three or four of them can hide inside a fly or earwig while they clean it out.  

 

Mine like to eat cooked chicken liver, raw pork, and dark chicken meat as well as fruit flies, flies, and earwigs.  I have written about this colony in other areas of this forum.