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Species that do best in natural setups

Started By AntsCali098 , May 21 2023 11:19 AM

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6 replies to this topic

#1 Offline AntsCali098 - Posted May 21 2023 - 11:19 AM

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I know that most ants will do fine in natural setups (because it's their natural habitat) but wondering what Californian species will do the best in them. I am starting a terrarium in hopefully a 40 gallon tank.

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#2 Offline ANTdrew - Posted May 21 2023 - 11:37 AM

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Basically every species does best in a natural setup.

Edited by ANTdrew, May 21 2023 - 11:37 AM.

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#3 Offline bmb1bee - Posted May 21 2023 - 11:44 AM

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I know that most ants will do fine in natural setups (because it's their natural habitat) but wondering what Californian species will do the best in them. I am starting a terrarium in hopefully a 40 gallon tank.

I think granivorous myrmecines like Pheidole and Pogonomyrmex would be a good choice. They’d look great if provided a drier setup where you could see them forage for seeds.

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#4 Offline AntaholicAnonymous - Posted May 22 2023 - 3:38 AM

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I exclusively do natural setups and they all do very well if you tailor the terrarium around their needs.

Either you have a type of environment in mind that you want your terrarium to be and look for a species that fits that or you get a species, look at their natural environment and lifestyle and build something for them.

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#5 Offline AntaholicAnonymous - Posted May 22 2023 - 3:47 AM

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I'm not from Cali but the only big thing I'd watch out for is to get a species that's active above ground.

If you put a small colony Camponotus in it you won't see them at all.
Preferably an established colony from any species that's known to be active above ground

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#6 Offline LowQualityAnts - Posted May 22 2023 - 6:07 AM

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LocationAtlanta, Georgia

I know that most ants will do fine in natural setups (because it's their natural habitat) but wondering what Californian species will do the best in them. I am starting a terrarium in hopefully a 40 gallon tank.

If the species needs to hibernate, hibernating them would be a big problem because plants don't exactly do well in a refrigerator. There is also space requirments and tunnel collapse from moving them.