6 replies to this topic

[Okiale]

How big is the average fire ant colony, such as a solenopsis invicta and how long does it take them to grow. Also, I live in NJ, what types of fire ants are near me, if any, and how bad g can they grow and how long does it take them to be this large? I was just wondering because some other people were talking about this and I couldn't find. Answers online.

[drtrmiller]

Only Solenopsis carolinensis and S. molesta are in NJ.  Neither bear any resemblance to the mound-building ants you're probably thinking of.

 

About the invasive fire ants: http://amzn.to/1XBWkzw

 

What ants are in your area: http://antmaps.org/

[NightsWebs]

Great info Miller!

[Myrmicinae]

Monogynous Solenopsis invicta colonies can exceed 200,000 workers, but colonies of the native Solenopsis spp. are usually much smaller.  As for your other question, I have heard of S. invicta colonies surpassing 10,000 only 6 months from founding by a single queen, but, again, most native species seem to grow more slowly.

Edited by Myrmicinae, November 30 2015 - 8:44 AM.

[Vendayn]

My S. invicta colony got to 100,000 ants in 6 months. But, I DID start with 100 workers and only one queen. I didn't have any extra brood with them though, except maybe tiny piles of eggs I couldn't see. In any case, it started as a tiny colony and grew to such a crazy size in such a short period of time.

 

I had a Solenopsis xyloni colony that got to around 10,000 ants in 6 months though from a single founding queen. Much easier to manage!

Edited by Vendayn, November 30 2015 - 10:01 PM.

[rbaezam]

Vendayn I'm really interested on what kind of nest did you use for such a big colony. I'm starting with a Solenopsis sp. myself and I'm wondering what options do I have for future grow.

Thanks.

[Vendayn]

For my Solenopsis invicta. It was a long time ago, and I used a cheap plastic 2.5 aquarium from a fish store. I ended up with three that got completely filled up with ants. It was my first actual ant species I ever had, not including Argentine ant colonies I had (since that was only ones I could find before the S.invicta). However, I didn't ever have success with ants before this colony, and I had no idea how to take care of 100,000 ants (plus I was still really young, was 12 or 13). I did stick bridges, and that worked till they piled brood on top of the sticks and fell off like rain. Then they quickly ran out of room, and did the death circle in the ant farm. I ended up putting them back where I got them, and they re-joined the colony that was still there. They ended up getting sprayed and then the rest got killed by Argentine ants. But yeah, don't do an ant farm like that.

 

Now, I mostly use storage containers from Bed Bath and Beyond. Very nice containers for a typical dirt setup, and they are polycarbonate I believe. Then connect them up with tubing. They cost like 20 dollars for a large container, and I take off the lid (which is really hard to do) and use olive oil or fluon as a barrier. Acrylic and cheap plastic doesn't work as good at keeping ants in. And I also prepare holes to expand and plug them with cotton, so I don't have to worry about drilling with ants in the container.

Edited by Vendayn, December 4 2015 - 7:36 PM.