Tarantulas and ants....hurm...very strange

[whitehaze2008]

ok ok
so let me explain this very strange situation........

i caught an ant colony from outside. Its a strange NONE AGGRESIVE small tiny black ant.
There a small species of wood ant that burrows in wood or in easy soil.
There a scavenger ant, meaning they hunt by themselves and bring back tid bits of food by themselves rather than over powering and killing prey.
ANYWAY i had them in this very nice ant farm that i had bought from petsmart.
Well stupid me, i tried to leave a tiny tiny crack in the opening to let it air out for a min.....and forgot to close it back before i went back to bed.
I woke up and the ENTIRE colony had moved out.....and into my room.
I coudnt find them, but knew there in my room cause i can see the tiny single ant soldiers walking around and grabbing tid bits of whatever on my desk.
So i get a new T and put her in, and notice one of these tiny ants crawling over a piece of "trash" discarded by the T, a used up dead cricket.

I turn my tank around and the entire colony of ants is actually in the tank with my tarantula...several inches down into the substrate, i can see there eggs and the queen and all happily digging deeper and now i still have my ant farm....under glass haha.

The ants i believe are harmless......they from what i have observed have no stingers. These are NOT the terrible fire ants that most people in the south are familiar with.

My question is...has anyone else even thought of ants and Tarantula's co-habitating like this?
The ants have now lived with the grown T for over two months now....and they simply eat the scraps she has left.

Any thoughts of ideas?

 

[Zelli]

That's awesome! I've never heard of such a thing in captivity. Though it surely happens in the wild.
Right? hehe

 

[intriqet]

be very careful. i use to think ant in my t enclosure wasn't so bad since they took care of all the cleaning up. until of course it was time for my t to molt. i came back home to find only the exoskeleton of my tarantula. yeah just a heads up.

 

[whitehaze2008]

well

the entire colony ant included wouldnt even be able to cover two finger tips put together, there very small....and none aggresive.
The colong is not very large at all.:?

 

[P. Novak]

Those small "harmless" black ants killed 7 of my tarantulas a few months ago. I would remove them asap.

 

[Talkenlate04]

Those small "harmless" black ants killed 7 of my tarantulas a few months ago. I would remove them asap.

If it is the ants I am thinking of they were not the ones that killed your Ts Paul.

But ether way..... I would keep an eye out on the situation, maybe not removing them yet but I bet you will have to at some point.

 

[P. Novak]

If it is the ants I am thinking of they were not the ones that killed your Ts Paul.

But ether way..... I would keep an eye out on the situation, maybe not removing them yet but I bet you will have to at some point.

What species are his then? Are they common?

 

[Talkenlate04]

I think they are somewhat common..... but they have very small colonies. When I am at work tomorrow I'll have to look up some pictures to see what they could be.

I am pretty sure I know the little black ones that killed your Ts. And even though those things are very small and seemingly harmless they can kill with the best of them. I see them here all the time killing things like large larva by ganging up on it by the hundereds.
:8o Sigh.... your poor Ts. That had to be a horrible ending.

 

[P. Novak]

I think they are somewhat common..... but they have very small colonies. When I am at work tomorrow I'll have to look up some pictures to see what they could be.

I am pretty sure I know the little black ones that killed your Ts. And even though those things are very small and seemingly harmless they can kill with the best of them. I see them here all the time killing things like large larva by ganging up on it by the hundereds.
:8o Sigh.... your poor Ts. That had to be a horrible ending.

Awesome, I'll try to do some research as well. Whitehaze can you get some pics of your ants as well?

I can only imagine how long they were being eaten and attacked for. It couldn't have been longer then 2 days because I was only gone 2. It was a horrible site when I returned though, I hope I never have to experience that again. I'm glad that they didn't kill off all my Ts though. The weird thing is the Ts that were killed weren't in the same area, They were spread around my room. :?

Anyways, whitehaze, for the sake of your Ts, I'd say remove the ants as a precaution. You don't want to wake up and find it dead.

 

[PhormictopusMan]

Look up Argentine Ant and see if that is the culprit. They are pretty invasive, and very difficult to control due to their non territorial nature and multiple queens per colony. I've had to deal with them many times. I ultimately had to build a water moat around my tarantula enclosures so that they couldnt get to them.

--Chris

 

[whitehaze2008]

no guys

these ants are not the argentine ant

these ants dont even defend there colony when i caught them. They just run like hell.
There is a small ant that is wasp like, that is very aggressive and will easily overpower other creatures
we call them "sugar ant" and yes a large colony of them could easily kill your tarantula.
These ants have a big blunt fat abdomen, not wasp like - meaning they very well may not even have a stinger.
They normally nest in rotting wood and i think eat the termite trash and poop.

Im watching them, my GBB is about to cover the whole enclosure with webbing so they may end up leaving =(

there very cool just one queen ant, and she is very fat.

i will take some pictures when i get a chance atm i have a severe case of food poisoning from chedders right now

david

 

[ranchulas]

I had a problem with some small black ants a month ago...Don't know what kind but they never bothered my Ts they just seemed interested in the water source. They had a long trail leading from out of the T enclosure to the water bowl and back. I never saw one on my Ts and never really noticed them eating anything.

 

[syndicate]

get them away from your tarantula.they will eventually kill it.ants and tarantulas dont go good together!

 

[whitehaze2008]

ok

they have been there for like 2 months now...and no prob.
The colony is small and the ant is tiny.....
like i said the whole colony can fit on the underside of two fingers
They have actually been rather nice in keeping the trash off my desk and stuff.

 

[fartkowski]

wow 2 months
I would be worried more around molt time.
Got any pictures? I'd love to see them

 

[P. Novak]

they have been there for like 2 months now...and no prob.
The colony is small and the ant is tiny.....
like i said the whole colony can fit on the underside of two fingers
They have actually been rather nice in keeping the trash off my desk and stuff.

Why did you start the thread yesterday then?

 

[Stylopidae]

I also find it very strange that an entire ant colony moved it's queen to a different location that would be frequently disturbed by a larger animal.

 

[PhormictopusMan]

I also find it very strange that an entire ant colony moved it's queen to a different location that would be frequently disturbed by a larger animal.

Argentine ants will do this, but Whitehaze says these are not the same ants so not sure.

--Chris

 

[chandlermonster]

I too have lost a T to some small black ants. Last summer I came home one night to find a line of ants headed straight into one of my slings cages. Low and behold, the sling was gone. Broken down into tiny, easy to carry ant food. There are two other members who have had their T's eaten by black ants on this thread. You really might want to take our advice before it's too late. A GBB is way too precious of a prize to lose for the sake of a cohabitation experiment. Why not just move the T and let the ants stay in that tank by themselves?

 

[IownVertigo]

Hi everyone. I myself have been experiencing problems with ants colonizing my T tanks. They are tiny black buggers that seem to be attracted to the water reservoirs I use in my tanks. Now obviously, a small colony shouldn't pose much threat, but my fears are if they grow in numbers and decide that my T's aren't paying enough rent. What would be the best solution to get rid of them?