velvet ant care

[Widowman10]

did the research and this is what i think is good to keep velvet ants: on a dry substrate (sand) with a little hide, and a dish with something to drink/eat (i have 6 parts water to 1 part honey). is this good?

 

[beetleman]

sounds good to me i used to have them and that's how i kept them,i kept mine seperate of each other too. you could also try apple/strawberry other fruit nectors etc. they are really cool wasps.

 

[Stylopidae]

Has anyone ever figured out how to breed them?

Last I heard, someone was trying to use zophobas pupae.

 

[cacoseraph]

i had a big black and red girl from California

i just fed it honey drops on one side and misted the other. it would drink from both sides, iirc.

i think she lived like 3-5 months. can't quite recall.

 

[myrmecophile]

They are generally considered to be parasites on ground nesting Hymenoptera. The odds of getting them accept a host other than Hymenoptera is about zero

 

[Stylopidae]

They are generally considered to be parasites on ground nesting Hymenoptera. The odds of getting them accept a host other than Hymenoptera is about zero

Now that there's some wasp keepers here, do you think it would be possible to use paper wasp pupae?

 

[myrmecophile]

Not too likely, all our species in the States are ground dwellers and apparently utilize ground nesting species as hosts.

 

[Stylopidae]

Not too likely, all our species in the States are ground dwellers and apparently utilize ground nesting species as hosts.

How specific are they?

 

[myrmecophile]

Alas that is not all that well known.

 

[Tleilaxu]

I have read some reports that one species of velvet ant will target bumblebee nests, I do not know what type of Vant this is though, most velvet ant host items remain unknown.

 

[ta2edpop]

I thought that there host(s) kinda varied by area. I have caught and kepy several around my house. Just enjoy watching them.