South African Ant Queen(s) - Need help identifying
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South African Ant Queen(s) - Need help identifying
Hey all!
I found what i believe are either red ants or fire ants or RIFA (Red imported fire ants) or something different. I found these queens under a cement slab this month. There were multiple queens. They has tiny ants, then some mid sized ones with big jaws and then finally the queens which some had wings and some didnt. I have 10 queens in a test tube (big tube) and by the next day they already had tons of eggs, and i added a cricket leg inside the test tube and they eat the insides of it leaving the shell at the other side of the test tube.
I would like to know what type of ants these are, since i red that fire ants only have 1 queen. I decided to put my hand on the colony to see if they would bite which they did but was nothing painful or nearly as bad as i thought fire ants would be.
Here are some pics i hope they help, **i did remove the cricket after a day**. Didnt want it to mold.
I found what i believe are either red ants or fire ants or RIFA (Red imported fire ants) or something different. I found these queens under a cement slab this month. There were multiple queens. They has tiny ants, then some mid sized ones with big jaws and then finally the queens which some had wings and some didnt. I have 10 queens in a test tube (big tube) and by the next day they already had tons of eggs, and i added a cricket leg inside the test tube and they eat the insides of it leaving the shell at the other side of the test tube.
I would like to know what type of ants these are, since i red that fire ants only have 1 queen. I decided to put my hand on the colony to see if they would bite which they did but was nothing painful or nearly as bad as i thought fire ants would be.
Here are some pics i hope they help, **i did remove the cricket after a day**. Didnt want it to mold.
Re: South African Ant Queen(s) - Need help identifying
I believe the queens you have caught are Pheidole
Re: South African Ant Queen(s) - Need help identifying
YES thats what the workers look like! Thank you!!!!
Do you know if these ants are fun to keep?
Re: South African Ant Queen(s) - Need help identifying
Yup Pheidole queens
Great to see another south African antkeeper
Very fun I have 2colonies
Great to see another south African antkeeper
Very fun I have 2colonies
Keeping.
lepisiota capensis colony
Cardiocondyla sp.
Founding
Messor. Sp. X 4
Myrmicine Sp. X 2
atopomyrmex Sp. X 2
Ants SA
YouTube :
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC404jNiUH33dFnxqSZajoPg
lepisiota capensis colony
Cardiocondyla sp.
Founding
Messor. Sp. X 4
Myrmicine Sp. X 2
atopomyrmex Sp. X 2
Ants SA
YouTube :
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC404jNiUH33dFnxqSZajoPg
Re: South African Ant Queen(s) - Need help identifying
Sadly, i don't know much about these ants but I have heard that they are fun to keep. They're referred to as Big Headed Ants Just a quick bit of research of these guys and you should be good to go! Good luck with her!
Re: South African Ant Queen(s) - Need help identifying
Thats awesome! Thank you so much, i have legit been looking for around a month now trying to see what type of ant this is.AntOblivion wrote: ↑Sat Jun 10, 2017 8:52 amSadly, i don't know much about these ants but I have heard that they are fun to keep. They're referred to as Big Headed Ants Just a quick bit of research of these guys and you should be good to go! Good luck with her!
- Batspiderfish
- Posts: 3315
- Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2016 3:47 pm
- Location: Maine
Re: South African Ant Queen(s) - Need help identifying
If you catch queens from an established colony (which should be avoided), you need the workers too! Also, it's likely that a number of the queens you captured were un-mated and will only produce lazy males.
If you enjoy my expertise and identifications, please do not put wild populations at risk of disease by releasing pet colonies. We are responsible to give our pets the best care we can manage for the rest of their lives.
Re: South African Ant Queen(s) - Need help identifying
Definitely Pheidole. I recently caught a wild colony, but I caught around 11 queens (2 were injured, so 9 left) and that was just some of them. It was perfect because they were under a wooden slab so all I had to do was pick up the slab and then sweep them in. I did this once like 4 days ago, and a lot were injured so I decided to take the risk to get more ants and be more gentle with the brush. I introduced them today to the ones caught days ago and apparently they haven't changed scent yet so they just all went together. But batspiderfish is right, if you have no workers, you most likely will not be able to start a colony. I got quite a few of workers, like around 300. So if you can, try going back to where you got the queens and get some workers and brood if possible. Just make sure you do it fast before they decide to change their scent. Beautiful ants, hope you are successful!
Re: South African Ant Queen(s) - Need help identifying
Oh dam... Yeah the colony was under this slab and had many queens so i took 10, leaving the colony with plenty in-order for them to rebuild. I read online that if the queen ants look after their eggs it means they are fertile? So far they are looking after it and i have been feeding them cricket legs which they have been eating. Do you think they will really only produce lazy workers? So far the eggs they have been laying are small.Batspiderfish wrote: ↑Sat Jun 10, 2017 4:34 pmIf you catch queens from an established colony (which should be avoided), you need the workers too! Also, it's likely that a number of the queens you captured were un-mated and will only produce lazy males.
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