For us, this question is already the norm and we certainly know a clear and fairly short answer. Now we will write everything for you, and after reading this article, you will have enough information to start your first colony.
Let's start!
First, ants are very independent individuals that only need a few minutes of your time a day, or even once every few days!
Secondly. The minimum you need to have is the ants to look after and the right house (formarium) in which they will live. These are two things that are enough to become a myrmikeeper.
Let's start with choosing a colony. If you are not experienced in keeping other insects or animals, and you want to try with the simplest kind. Then we would definitely recommend starting with the simplest type of ants - the favorite of all beginners, the Messor reaper.
Honestly, it can be any subspecies of this species, as the main difference between them is color, place of origin and size. Some subspecies would like slightly different living conditions (slightly warmer temperatures), but usually these are more expensive species. Insects are best fed from a pet store or private breeders, and if you catch a worm at home, freeze it to kill all possible bacteria as the colony can become infected and then kill the entire colony. Food may be served every few days. And generally pour out a little more grain and watch for a few months to have enough stock.
We personally offer a choice of Messor barbarus, Messor structor, Messor capitatus, Messor hebraues or Messor wasmanni.
General breeding conditions: Humidity: enough to be in the formicaria with regular moistening. Room temperature, in summer even up to 30, in winter it is advisable not to drop below 21-22, because from 20 and below the ants become less active, and at 15 they can go into diapause. This species does not require wintering, that is, if it is warm enough in winter, they will still be active all year round.
Ants eat mainly grain (any grain, millet, wheat, poppy, etc.), insects, preferably squashed or dead.
There is no definite answer whether it is worth giving them syrups or similar carbohydrates, but personally we stick to the fact that it is not worth it.
Ants are indifferent to the light, you can choose not to buy additional light, you can also choose not to cover the formicarium, because ants will get used to the light, and after opening the curtains, they can become stressed. Heating is also not required, but if you suddenly want to heat them up, then the heating part should only be placed under the arena (or a little under the socket). In addition, ants do not like loud sounds and vibrations. If you can, try not to stress them too much.
If you feel more confident and ready to spend a little more time on the ants and feed more often every 2-5 days, you can try Camponotus. Most often they are quite large, they also have beautiful soldiers with a big head. Their diets include insects, syrups, and fruits and vegetables. They are wintering and non-wintering, but we offer only without wintering: Camponotus nicobarensis / turkestanus / fedtchenkoi / parius / irritans / pseudoirritans / festinus / maculatus / fellah and others.
And most often they live in drier formicaria, but the rest of the content data is identical.
We come to the Formicarium