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Aphids

Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2022 9:12 am
by KingAnt
Hello,

I have a Formica Bradleyi queen with about 30ish workers and something I want to do is build an outworld for them that has a living plant inside of it that will be used as an Aphid farm. They are desert-ish ants so I will have to trial and error a few plants that aphids will thrive on. I plan to have the dirt for the plant sectioned off so the ants can't dig there. My issue is where can I get aphids from? I've never raised them and I don't have a garden outside to collect them from. Is there a website that sells them or does anyone have experience starting an aphid farm?

I tried searching forums for anything similar to my request, but I didn't find anything with enough information for me to go off of.

Thanks in advance.

Re: Aphids

Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2022 9:15 am
by SolenopsisKeeper
KingAnt wrote:
Tue Jul 26, 2022 9:12 am
Hello,

I have a Formica Bradleyi queen with about 30ish workers and something I want to do is build an outworld for them that has a living plant inside of it that will be used as an Aphid farm. They are desert-ish ants so I will have to trial and error a few plants that aphids will thrive on. I plan to have the dirt for the plant sectioned off so the ants can't dig there. My issue is where can I get aphids from? I've never raised them and I don't have a garden outside to collect them from. Is there a website that sells them or does anyone have experience starting an aphid farm?

I tried searching forums for anything similar to my request, but I didn't find anything with enough information for me to go off of.

Thanks in advance.
If you grow milkweeds they come in mass amounts. If their is a nursery nearby, sometimes you can find scale bugs on their plants.

Re: Aphids

Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2022 9:16 am
by KingAnt
Thank you for the quick response. I will do this, great idea!