Camponotus piceus

This is the compact, low-footprint end of carpenter-ant keeping. It stays small enough to house easily and never overwhelms a setup, so it is ideal if space or appetite for scale is limited. Being a temperate, Mediterranean ant, it is active and foraging through the day, which makes it pleasant to watch, but it does need a proper winter rest every year, and that seasonal requirement is the one thing that lifts it above beginner level. Get the hibernation routine down and the rest of its care is refreshingly straightforward.

A compact European carpenter ant with an omnivore diet: workers take sugars and honeydew for energy and small insects to feed the brood. Keep a sugar source available and offer insect prey a few times a week; it does not eat seeds.

★★★ readily · ★★ moderately · ★ occasionally · ✗ not eaten

Begin this tiny carpenter ant in a test tube and leave it until the first workers cover the floor. A small, temperate, moderately dry wood-nester, it suits a compact Ytong or acrylic nest with one lightly damp chamber and a modest arena, so the colony is never lost in empty space. As it stays in the hundreds you will rarely size up. Ring the rim with a fluon band, oil, or talc and water. An ANTonTOP formicarium or starter kit covers founding through colony life with the nest, arena and barrier together.

As a temperate species, it needs a winter rest at 5-10 °C for 4 months every year: this cool diapause is essential, not optional, so wind down feeding and overwinter it cold and dark. Hold the nest at 20-24 °C and the arena at 20-28 °C, with nest humidity 40-60% and the arena at 30-50%. Heat one side only to give a gradient the ants can choose from.

Growth is gradual, as with most carpenter ants, and the colony settles at several hundred workers rather than thousands, with eggs taking about 5-7 weeks to reach the first workers. You receive a queen with workers and brood ready to continue in your nest.

• Camponotus piceus is one of the smaller European carpenter ants, dark and glossy, and was long placed in the subgenus Myrmentoma.
• Unlike the wood-boring habit many associate with the genus, it often nests in the ground, under stones and in dry, sunny banks.
• Its name comes from the Latin piceus, meaning pitch-black, after the workers’ colour.
• Like all Camponotus it carries the gut symbiont Blochmannia, which supplies amino acids and helps the colony do well on a sugar-rich diet.

Is Camponotus piceus good for beginners?

It is intermediate, mostly because the mandatory 4-month winter rest needs planning.

Does this European carpenter ant need a winter rest?

Yes, a winter rest at 5-10 °C for 4 months is mandatory every year.

Does Camponotus piceus sting or bite?

No, only a mild bite, no sting.

How large does the colony get?

Several hundred workers at maturity.

How large is the queen?

The queen is 9-11 mm, with soldiers 6-8 mm and workers 3-4 mm.

How fast does it grow?

Gradual growth, settling in the hundreds rather than thousands.

What does it eat?

Sugar water or jelly plus insects such as crickets and flies.

Will it arrive alive?

Yes, shipped with queen, workers and brood and a heat or cool pack, within 24 h with tracking.

Escape prevention. Coat the inner rim of every open arena with fluon (PTFE), or use talc-and-water or an oil barrier as a backup, and keep a tight, fine-mesh lid on top. Check the barrier regularly, since dust, condensation and feeding debris break a fluon line over time. Keep tubing connectors tight and seal any gaps in the nest.

Keeping reminders. Always offer fresh water and never let the nest dry out completely. Give carbohydrates continuously and protein a few times a week, and remove uneaten insect prey within 24 hours before it moulds. Keep the formicarium out of direct sunlight and away from constant vibration, which stresses a young colony. A water-filled test tube plugged with cotton makes an ideal spare incubator whenever you need one.

Before you buy – do not rehouse too early. Have a test-tube setup or a small formicarium with an outworld and a working barrier ready before your colony arrives. A founding colony grows slowly at first, which is normal. Moving a small colony into a large nest too soon invites mould, mites and stress, and the workers die off one by one. Keep the colony in its open test tube on the arena, plug the nest entrance with cotton, and open up the next chambers only once the colony fills roughly 10-15% of the space.

What we ship. Every colony ships with a live-arrival guarantee, backed by our 24h unboxing-video guarantee: if the queen does not arrive alive, we reship free. Parcels travel with DHL, InPost (PL) or EMS, with a heat or cold pack to suit the season, packed discreetly and securely. We ship across the EU and worldwide, with free shipping over the Europe threshold.