The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

Hello everyone,

I'm very new to ant keeping and I was wondering what your opinions on keeping Myrmica rubra is. I don't plan on having this as my first but I would love to have one later on. So I have just a few questions
1. Are they excape artists?
2. Are they fast growing?
3. Is it best to have AC products when dealing with a stinging species?

If you have any other info that I would need Plz feel free to post it. Thank you for your time.

Not sure how fast they are growing but they can be polygynous and while they usually have around 1000 individuals they can reach colony sizes of over 20000.

It is best to wear gloves when working with a stinging species. I doubt the nest product does make a great difference.

Thanks for the info. 20000 that's alot of ants. I was more asking about the product because I have never made a formacareium (sorry about the spelling?) and I'm worried about them getting out. As it has been hard enough getting the wife to say yes to my pet choice.

I think they can only grow to that size if you add (a lot of) additional queens.
Solenopsis fugax for example can also grow to sizes of multiple hundred thousands but I doubt any captive colony ever reached that size without their keeper spamming them with queens every year.

I would say you can build a formicarium for them as long as you make sure to use a silicone to seal the sides and connection spots as well as use a nice barrier of alcohol and talcum powder around the top edge of your outworld.

My Rica rubra are hard to found but otherwise easy to keep. If you provide extra queens, their max size is actually 500,000

Thanks for all the info. So if I don't add more queens it will have a slower more manageable growth rate? And thanks for the silicone idea as I plan on making one for my first empire of carpenter ants.

Just want to throw it out there. These little beauties are actually not a fire ant species. Their common name is European Red Ants not fire ants