10 replies to this topic

[Andrewslatter]

Hello fellow ant 🐜 lovers just would like to know what species and age of your oldest ant colony that you’ve kept. I have a tetramorium colony that is going on 7yrs. old, it has been an awesome adventure with my colony from springtime egg explosion to adding additional chambers for their ever expanding family. I have also added a outworld where they can forage. Everyday I’m always watching them with amazement.

[rptraut]

Hello Andrewslatter;

I have two Tetramorium colonies that are in their fourth season. They’re the most active colonies that I keep. I have one Camponotus colony that I found in a firewood log. I estimated it was at least three years old at that time and I’ve had them for four years. So, seven years old, estimated.
RPT

[cooIboyJ]

My oldest colony is my Brachymyrmex patagonicus colony which just got nanitics (see my journal in the link in my signature).

[ANTdrew]

My oldest colony currently is my Pheidole bicarinata; I collected the queen in June 2020. My Aphaenogaster treatae queen was collected in July 2021.

[IdioticMouse26]

My oldest colony was a tetramorium, about a year old. Sadly, they died out for some reason when I moved them to a formicarium. I think they didn't have proper hydration.

[Artisan_Ants]

My C. chromaiodes colony is currently my oldest. Almost 1 year old...

[T.C.]

I had several colonies go on for many years. The oldest I had was a colony of Lasius neoniger that I had for 7 years in a dirt setup that sat above my aquariums. She was one of my first queens really, and because of that the colony was quite special to me. It never really exceeded more than a couple hundred workers but it was cool regardless. I caught the queen in 2015 I believe and she made it until the end of 2022. I accidentally knocked there setup in my aquarium and majority of the colony along with the queen was sucked into the filters. Truly unfortunate. I really wanted to see how Long they would last. I feel like almost all queens don't make it as nearly as long as they could for most people due to poor setups, inproper care or neglect. I know of a guy in the UK that has a 10+ year old Messer barbarus colony.

[dspdrew]

My M. mexicanus colony is 9 years old and still going strong.

[Serafine]

Camponotus barbaricus at 8 years and Lasius niger at 2 years.

Plus a Myrmica colony that lived for around 5 years.

[cooIboyJ]

All of these colonies seem so old compared to mine which only has nanitics.

[OhNoNotAgain]

I restarted antkeeping in 2019, and still have a couple colonies founded that year (Veromessor pergandei, Camponotus fragilis), a few colonies from 2020, and I think some from every year since. As I don't remember most of them (memory getting pretty hazy over here...) I've started sticking on post-its with species and year of founding.

(I say restarted because I tried keeping ants as a kid before the internet existed, and while I could start colonies, I couldn't keep them alive.)

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, August 16 2024 - 10:37 PM.