12 replies to this topic

[antsriondel]

As a beginner I always heard that Lasius and Camponotus are perfect beginner species. I have kept both and found that Camponotus is really slow growing which was hard as a beginner, and Lasius are really hard to found (for me at least).

Please put any species you want on a scale of 1-10 one being very beginner friendly and ten being for only very experienced or skilled ant keepers.

[ANTdrew]

Here’s two perfect 1s:
Aphaenogaster treatae: Large, nice coloration, very neat, and exciting feeding responses.

Nylanderia vividula: Lovely bi-coloration, explosive growth, but they cap at a very manageable number, quick to get alates, easy to contain with fluon. Also micro-repletes.

Edited by ANTdrew, October 10 2023 - 2:17 AM.

[Voidley]

Here’s two perfect 10s:
Aphaenogaster treatae: Large, nice coloration, very neat, and exciting feeding responses.

Nylanderia vividula: Lovely bi-coloration, explosive growth, but they cap at a very manageable number, quick to get alates, easy to contain with fluon. Also micro-repletes.

And those are both 10/10s? What makes them so difficult?

That or did you might have just read the scale backwards

[Ernteameise]

Here in Germany, Lasius niger is labelled as THE beginner species.

My own experience this year with catching one queen and now I have a thriving colony, is seemingly proof.

They are easy to care for, easy to feed, have no special requirements and are forgiving to mistakes.

However, they are quite small.

For keeping, 10/10, but for me personally a bit less because they are so small.

 

Another beginner species and a personal favorite is Messor barbarus, a harvester ant from Southern Europe.

They have large majors, do not sting, are attractive because the majors have red heads and are easy to feed and care for since they mainly take seed with some protein several times a week.

There is always something going on and they are big enough so they are easy to watch.

They do however form large colonies after several years, and that may or may not be a negative.

Many people are happy with that since they can create a large network of tubes since this species creates a large networks of roads in nature and you can watch them doing their business over some distance.

10/10

Edited by Ernteameise, October 9 2023 - 10:11 PM.

[ANTdrew]

Here’s two perfect 10s:
Aphaenogaster treatae: Large, nice coloration, very neat, and exciting feeding responses.

Nylanderia vividula: Lovely bi-coloration, explosive growth, but they cap at a very manageable number, quick to get alates, easy to contain with fluon. Also micro-repletes.

And those are both 10/10s? What makes them so difficult?

That or did you might have just read the scale backwards

I read the scale backwards. Both would be 1s in that case.

[Leo]

Here's a couple of 1s from my area:

-Camponotus nicobarensis

-Meranoplus bicolor

-Pheidole (most species here are simple to found and grow quite fast)

-Crematogaster (Similar to Pheidole, though a little better at escaping)

 

On the other hand, here are some 10s:

-Leptogenys 

-Cerapachys sulcinodis

-Cataulacus (8-10)

-Polyrhachis fellowesi

[Virginian_ants]

Pheidole and Camponotus of any speices are some of the best in the world they cover the globe so almost anyone can keep them. Pheidole grow fast and have awesome majors. Camponotus grow slow but are very easy to admire their beauty and are very rewarding. Both also don't have any painful stings or bites.

[bmb1bee]

Camponotus species here are pretty easy to keep, since not all need hibernating. I’d probably put them at 1-3 depending on species, with 3 being the hibernating species and 1 being the basic non hibernation species like hyatti and clarithorax. Super easy to keep as beginners (I’m probably biased though lol).

THE number one beginner species here though, in terms of growth and hardiness, would indisputably be Tetramorium immigrans. Easy 0 on the scale.

Myrmecocystus and Acromyrmex aren’t actually that difficult, just that they have specific needs to care for. The former I’d put at a 5 (needs heat and substrate) and the latter at a 6 (needs leaves and constant humidity). Other desert species like Pogonomyrmex would rank from a 3-4 since they won’t do well without heat and seeds.

Proceratium are some of the rarest ants here, but spider eggs are surprisingly easy to find. A 6 on their care based on a couple journals I’ve seen here.

Stigmatomma and Neivamyrmex would be the most difficult to care for. A 7-8 for Stigs since they will mostly only eat geophilid centipedes and take an extremely long time to found. Easier than Neivamyrmez though. A 9+ for Neivas because they are nomadic and need tons of ant brood to eat. There’s no way to keep them unless you have a big formicarium and access to lots of Linepithema or Tetramorium colonies.

Edited by bmb1bee, October 10 2023 - 9:59 AM.

[Full_Frontal_Yeti]

I only have experience with one ant. However my prep research was to find the easy ants as my first ants. Also I am lazy.

 

For beginners, in North America, who might also be lazy, I’d recommend

 

Pogonomyrmex Occidentalis totally a 10 on the ease of care scale.

 

 

1: Harvesters. They don't need any fancy feeding anything. Seeds once a week or so, water, and a regular fruit slice will do
They are not hunters but scavenge dead bugs, which means you can always quickly boil any feeder insects to kill off mites or whatever.
lower effort feeding is a big + to me.

 

 

2: Diapause by choice related to their environmental conditions, rather than by internal schedule no matter what.
You can keep conditions always favorable, so they don't go on pause for several months each year.

lower effort care to not need to be able to move them between active and diapause conditions annually and year round ant action to observe.
They may choose to go on diapause during their lifetime with me now and then, but that's real different than knowing you got to have diapause conditions for them for 3-4 months annually.

 

3: hearty and light tolerant. They are fine for a fairly wide swing range of temperatures without triggering diapause(mid 60's - low90s and they just keep on keeping on). Making it easy to give them favorable conditions year round. And while they clearly prefer darker to lighter conditions for their nest space, they are not so light averse as some species. They can be kept in top down view nests and only seem to care about the light when it suddenly goes from dark to lit. But if their nest is left under light they just seem to go about normal business and most of them ignore it. As long as the light levels are brought from dark to lit, slowly, they don't seem to care about light too much.

 

 

4: they are THE mail order Ant in the USA. It's the one ant you can order from a reputable vendor, no matter where in the country you found them.
For a total noob this is a big deal, cause otherwise you got to go to local places like this, and hope to trust to random individuals. Which everyone here knows comes with some odds to lose your money to scams. I see everyone try to spot and warn others, but that's a good example of "timing is everything."
And being able to go to an established longer term reputation online vendor, can mean a whole world of difference in what a noob experiences as their introduction to any hobby.
If you got a local buddy to bring you in that's great, but otherwise noobs are well served by getting to choose a wide area known reputable vendor, as their initial entry to spending money on a hobby. And here in the USA this is Pogonomyrmex Occidentalis only. To the best of my knowledge, no other Ant is approved by the fed for mail order distribution across state lines.
So for total noobs, in the USA, Pogonomyrmex Occidentalis is the legal safe bet ant to get started with and know you're all above board, without needing to know a whole lot more to be sure of that.
Again, I'm lazy, I’d a had to do more research, and get more informed, in order to make a different choice of Ant, and that be an informed choice to make.

 

 

Pogonomyrmex Occidentalis, the easy legal ant, for the lazy American, like myself.

 

 

 

The two not perfect lazy ant keeper things about Pogonomyrmex Occidentalis.
They will grow to large numbers in the thousands to tens of thousands, be ready to have space or cull their numbers.
They will bite the crap out of you(and anything that gets near them) so be good about protective gear use.

Edited by Full_Frontal_Yeti, October 10 2023 - 9:56 AM.

[ANTdrew]

The scale seems backward. 10 should be the best.

[antsriondel]

The scale seems backward. 10 should be the best.

The scale is not based on the best or most rewarding species but the difficulty of which to keep each species. 

[PurdueEntomology]

Some are good at keeping ants no matter the "difficulty" and others just aren't despite the "ease"!!

[Full_Frontal_Yeti]

Some are good at keeping ants no matter the "difficulty" and others just aren't despite the "ease"!!

yes, just as with all things.

But for those who are noob, and do not yet now if they have a "green thumb" or not,  it is best to start out on whatever is considered the easy end of the spectrum to find out.

In my analogy, start with succulents not orchids, as it were.