Camponotus pseudoirritans

This carpenter ant is easy to watch by day. It is a busy diurnal forager, so the arena stays lively through the hours you are most likely to be around, and a mature colony scales up into the thousands for a properly populated nest. Coming from Guangxi, it needs no winter rest, which keeps care consistent across the year, and its single-queen setup is simple to manage. The warmth it wants and its slow early growth keep it at intermediate. A good choice for an active, warm-climate colony.

A warm-climate carpenter ant with a typical omnivore diet: sugars and honeydew keep the workers going while insect prey drives brood growth. Keep a sugar source out at all times and offer insects a few times a week; seeds are ignored.

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

Begin the queen in a test tube and move her into a nest once founding workers cover the floor. A warm, humid wood-nester, it does well in a moisture-holding nest such as Ytong or acrylic with a damp chamber and a roomy arena. Upgrade when about two-thirds of the chambers are occupied. Keep the arena sealed with a fluon band or talc and water around the rim. An ANTonTOP formicarium or starter kit covers founding right through to a mature colony, supplying the nest, arena and barrier together.

Hibernation is not required: this tropical species stays active year-round, so keep feeding through the colder months without dropping the temperature. Keep both the nest and the arena at 24-28 °C, with nest humidity 50-70% and the arena at 40-60%. Heat one end to provide a gradient the colony can use to position its brood.

Growth is slow at founding, then steady as the first workers mature, building toward up to 5,000 workers, with eggs taking about 7-9 weeks to reach the first workers. You receive a queen with workers and brood to carry the colony forward.

• Camponotus pseudoirritans is an East Asian carpenter ant, with Guangxi in southern China within its range.
• The pseudo- in its name flags it as a look-alike of a similar species, a common pattern in this huge and closely studied genus.
• Carpenter ants carve nest galleries in wood but feed on honeydew and insects rather than the wood itself.
• Workers host the endosymbiont Blochmannia, which supplies missing nutrients and helps the colony thrive on a carbohydrate-rich diet.

Is Camponotus pseudoirritans good for beginners?

It is intermediate, mostly due to its warmth needs and slow founding phase.

Does the Guangxi carpenter ant need a winter rest?

No, hibernation is not required; it stays active all year, so keep feeding.

Does Camponotus pseudoirritans sting or bite?

No, no sting, only a mild bite.

How big does the colony get?

Up to 5,000 workers in a mature colony.

How large is the queen?

The queen measures 14-17 mm, with soldiers 7-12 mm and workers 5-8 mm.

How quickly does the colony build up?

Slow at first, then steady once the first workers appear.

What does it eat?

Sugar water or jelly plus insects like crickets and flies.

Will it arrive alive?

Yes, it ships with a 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.