Unusual Species to Keep

[TheFlynn01]

Out of curiosity, do you all know of anyone, or seen anyone keep Paraponera clavata I know that might be a strange question to ask, but the idea of how someone would keep a colony so large and... potentially painful, seems very interesting haha!

[Batspiderfish]

Exotic =/= unusual.

I believe that even though the species is large and pack a painful sting, the colonies themselves don't grow out of control as with some ants.

[TheFlynn01]

Haha fair enough, it would be interesting to see... but as a new ant keeper, anything different than pavement ants seem very unusual or exotic to keep. After doing research with the help of the antweb, I have found that I could actually raise (if I can catch a queen) Myrmecocystus mexicanus!! which is just so cool! Would that count as unusual? Haha

[Batspiderfish]

The apparent lack of diversity will fade as you learn to differentiate ants and explore different habitats. There are ants in your area which nobody has successfully reared before -- those should be much more interesting than somebody else's local ants.

[TheFlynn01]

Fair enough, I am looking forward to the experience. There is just something so fascinating about ants. I cant wait till I can start to notice all the differences between ants. What would you say is the most unusual species you have managed to keep?

[Batspiderfish]

Fair enough, I am looking forward to the experience. There is just something so fascinating about ants. I cant wait till I can start to notice all the differences between ants. What would you say is the most unusual species you have managed to keep?

I really liked the Formica aserva (2:53) and Lasius umbratus (6:18) colonies that I raised. One of my Formica aserva queens was almost entirely black, which nobody had seen until then. I don't have them anymore, sadly, although I am trying to start up a bunch of new social parasite colonies.