Odontomachus brunneus Colony Population

[Vuldriel]

Hey guys,

I saw on one of AntsCanada's recent videos that he has a trap-jaw ant with a colony size of thousands of workers. I was under the impression that trap-jaw ants only have around 200 members and living in Florida I know that there is at least one native species (Odontomachus brunneus) here that I am trying to decide if I want to keep. My other consideration is Camponotus floridanus as I like the big ants.

So my question is what population should I expect from a colony of Odcontomachus brunneus versus Camponotus floridanus? At what rate should I expect these different species' colonies to grow?

Thanks,
Vuldriel

[Dghergejg456]

Trap jaw ants are very aggressive and take lots of patience, so I don’t recommend it for beginners.

However, Camponotus may work as they are relatively easy to keep and good for beginners, although some species may require specific needs.

Camponotus takes around 7-10 weeks to get workers (I’m not too sure I just remember from a video before)
Some trap jaws can take around 2 months

For a beginner, I would recommend Pheidole, known as bigheaded ants. They have very cool majors with big heads and grow pretty quickly. I a young colony of them and the workers are very active and eat well. However, my Pheidole are from Australia, so I don’t know what to expect. However, they are pretty small.

Maybe look at some American ant shops like stateside ants, they have a wide range of ants to sell.

[Vuldriel]

Trap jaw ants are very aggressive and take lots of patience, so I don’t recommend it for beginners.

However, Camponotus may work as they are relatively easy to keep and good for beginners, although some species may require specific needs.

Camponotus takes around 7-10 weeks to get workers (I’m not too sure I just remember from a video before)
Some trap jaws can take around 2 months

For a beginner, I would recommend Pheidole, known as bigheaded ants. They have very cool majors with big heads and grow pretty quickly. I a young colony of them and the workers are very active and eat well. However, my Pheidole are from Australia, so I don’t know what to expect. However, they are pretty small.

Maybe look at some American ant shops like stateside ants, they have a wide range of ants to sell.

Thanks for the response.

I am still wondering what population range I should expect from these different species. I went to stateside ants and for some reason Florida Carpenter ants aren't available to buy in Florida, just other states nearby??

Thanks,
Vuldriel

[Dghergejg456]

Camponotus floridanus: about 100’000
Trap jaw ants, 200, but may grow larger if kept properly( like antscanda’s one)

[Dghergejg456]

Maybe AntsCanada keeps a diffrent species, of trap jaws.
The Camponotus floridanus can have very large colonies.