6 replies to this topic

[xTNxANTMANx]

Finally, I caught the last species I wanted for my collection, Formica subsericea. I am looking for some information on founding though. I have read they can be sorta hard to get started...how come? I am looking for any and all info anyone could give me to maximize my chances of success with this species. Thank you my friends....

[ultraex2]

As far as I know, they aren't hard to raise?  They are pretty standard ants and the queens are fully claustral.  I have a colony with a queen + 40 workers that I caught a couple months ago and they just had their first workers since capture eclose yesterday.

 

For foods they seem to really like fruit flies and crickets - they've kind of stopped eating mealworms though.

[FeedTheAnts]

They're pretty straightforward to keep. If you have a wild colony of these nearby then you can brood boost her. I did this to mine and she now has 12 workers and has laid her first clutch of eggs. They love grasshoppers and honey.  

[xTNxANTMANx]

I don't brood boost. I did once when I very first started ant keeping and it turned out okay but I wished I wouldn't have. I like to do everything natural from the start. Plus brood boosting can really stress out your queen. Also I don't capture wild colonies at all. The only way I would attempt to as if I know they had a chance of being harmed. You do more harm than good when capturing a wild colony for one and for two it takes away the experience of doing it from a nuptial flight. I appreciate the information but not really what I was looking for...

[xTNxANTMANx]

Also, both of mine laid eggs within the first 3 days after capture. Actually, one of them laid within 18 hrs of capture. In the AntsCanada e- book, it says this species is sometimes hard to start and I am wondering why. I have many other species that all of which are doing great. I'm not worried about these girls at all as I know I shouldn't have a problem raising them.

[ultraex2]

I would just ignore the Antscanada thing about them being hard to start.  Not sure why that's in there without asking him, as it's a fairly common species.

[FeedTheAnts]

I don't brood boost. I did once when I very first started ant keeping and it turned out okay but I wished I wouldn't have. I like to do everything natural from the start. Plus brood boosting can really stress out your queen. Also I don't capture wild colonies at all. The only way I would attempt to as if I know they had a chance of being harmed. You do more harm than good when capturing a wild colony for one and for two it takes away the experience of doing it from a nuptial flight. I appreciate the information but not really what I was looking for...

You make some good points, And yes, I too am worried about harming wild colonies in the process of capturing them and don't ever dig into a colony that appears have more than a hundred workers, with the exception of fire ants.  I really don't know why he would say they are hard to start, the opposite is true.