Oecophylla smaragdina

Smaragdina builds its nests in the air, linking workers into living chains to pull leaves together, then passing larvae back and forth and squeezing them to release silk that seams the leaves shut, cooperative behaviour you can watch unfold daily. It lives in the canopy, runs under a single queen and grows into an enormous colony with a serious appetite. The arboreal setup, the climbing ability and the sheer scale are what make it a Crazy-difficulty species, ruled out as a starter ant. For a keeper ready to commit the space and attention, it is one of the most rewarding ants you can house.

A tree-living omnivore that hunts live prey across the foliage and milks honeydew from sap-feeding insects it guards. Keep sugar on offer at all times for the vast workforce, and feed protein two to three times a week to fuel the brood.

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

This arboreal weaver builds leaf nests bound with larval silk and ignores soil, so give it vertical space, not a chamber nest. Found a young colony in a small arena with a test tube or a compact ANTonTOP starter kit, then upgrade to a tall, planted arena or vertical formicarium with branches and foliage, real or artificial, for anchoring nests. Hold height, warmth and humidity as numbers grow. They climb and escape readily, so seal the enclosure and keep a solid barrier: fluon (PTFE) on smooth surfaces, or oil where PTFE will not adhere. ANTonTOP provides the vertical setup ready built.

An arboreal tropical ant that needs constant warmth and humidity. Hold the nest at 25-28 °C and the arena at 25-30 °C, with nest humidity 65-80% and arena humidity 55-70%. Provide a warm-to-cool gradient with a heat source on one side so the colony can move to its preferred zone. It is tropical with no hibernation: keep it warm, humid and fed year-round.

Development is brisk in warmth, with brood completing in roughly 39 days at 25 °C, larvae running about 10-11 days and pupae about 23 days from clutches of around 5-6 eggs, and a mature colony of about 8 years can build toward 500,000 workers. Set up vertical space early. You receive a queen with workers and brood to start the first leaf nest.

• Weaver workers bind leaves by gently squeezing their own larvae to release silk, using the grubs as living shuttles since adults cannot spin.
• They assemble living bridges and pulling-chains out of their own linked bodies to draw distant leaf edges together.
• A single colony can occupy dozens of leaf nests spread through several trees, all governed by one queen.
• The ants are harvested and eaten in parts of Asia and used to protect mango and citrus orchards, an ancient pest-control practice.

Is Oecophylla smaragdina good for beginners?

No, it is a Crazy-difficulty arboreal species with a big appetite and strong climbing skills, suited to experienced keepers.

Does the Asian weaver ant need a winter rest?

No. It is tropical and active all year; keep feeding and keep the temperature up.

Does the weaver ant sting or bite?

No sting, but it bites painfully and uses formic acid in defence.

How big does a weaver colony get?

Up to 500,000 workers in a mature colony.

How big is the queen?

The queen is 16-22 mm; workers are 4-11 mm and majors reach 8-10 mm.

How fast does it grow?

Quick in warmth, brood completes in about 39 days at 25 °C, so numbers build steadily once established.

What do weaver ants feed on?

Sugar water or nectar/jelly plus live insects like crickets and flies; both are readily taken.

How is it shipped and will it arrive alive?

You get a queen with workers and brood plus a heat or cool pack, dispatched within 24 h with tracking for a fast, safe transit.

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.