Black Carpenter Ants

[lunarae]

Anyone who keeps ant colonies out there, has anyone tried to keep black carpenter ants? Just curious to the possibilities of this, I found a queen, I have a fear of ants and I'm considering trying to break that. I find them absolutely fascinating creatures just creeped out by them. I know that they make their nests in old rotting wood and such. But was curious if its possible or not. Any info would be cool.

 

[lunarae]

or suggestions on a good ant farm to purchase would be useful as well.

 

[Eclipse]

tarheelants.com has high quality ant terrariums.

 

[Jacob Ma]

Black carpenter ants are a bit more difficult to culture, unlike most other species of ant. I have never deliberately cared for any kind of ant, but what I do know is they are attracted to very sugary foods so some drops of sugar water or melons should be ample. They do like slightly warmer temperatures but like nice ventilation, which is why they are common household pests of American homes.

You can try some kind of symbiosis experiment with the ants and aphids, though you will also need to supply them with some sort of aphid-attracting plant. The aphids produce a sweet, sugary liquid as excrement, which the ants eat and provide protection for the aphids similar to a farmer with milking cows.

 

[MWAInverts]

Carpenter ants don't necessarily need wood as a place to start a colony (since they only nest and not eat it), any simple test tube setup will suffice. I've also had luck using cork slabs as well.

 

[lunarae]

Yeah I caught two queens total and have them in a test tube set up. water in the bottom blocked by cotton, then I have cotton at the other end, the test tubes I have actually have twist lids (Got them from michaels) I drilled holes into the end of the lid for air flow and kept the cotton there to ensure that any young ants couldn't get out through the holes but the lid adds an added level of security. Did I mention I have a fear of ants and I'm trying to over come that with this? lol. But yeah. I have two queens. First one already shed it's wings when I found it. Second had JUST shed its wings in the pot I have my mango tree sapling XD. I know shedding of the wings isn't a sure indication that they are fertile but I'm hopeful. One seems a little larger then the other. I keep them in the cupboard where I have my dubia roaches with a heat pad so its relatively warmer in there for them. not enough to cook them by any means but the ambient temp is a little warmer then the rest of the house.

From what I've read its basically leave them be, they will live off of the stores the queen has for the first generation until she produces the generation that scavenges and searches for food right? To which that's when I will have to upgrade them to an actual set up, but that'll be months down the line Yes? I'm considering making my own 'ant farm' set up using acrylic and making it thin then putting a slat of wood in there so I can actually watch them create a home, but I haven't decided if I wanna deal with all that trouble or not.

 

[MWAInverts]

Awesome!

What I usually do is just keep adding tubes as the nest gets bigger, keep things simple because it's less of a headache plus less stress on the animals due to moves etc.

Depending on the species, queens can be claustral or semi-claustral where she will exit her best to search for food. Sometimes I like to sneak sweet protein rich jellies into the tubes for the queens to feed on even if she is fully claustral. Sometimes Frozen fruitflies are taken as well. Anything I can do to "cheat" for them haha.

I love ants! Used to keep a bunch of different local species. I really want to go collecting some local harvesters this year I think you'll really enjoy these guys and overcome the fear!