New Red Imported Fire Ant (RIFA) Colony

[justb06]

This colony is about a month and a half old an has about 20 workers. I have 8 queens and a pretty good size brood pile. They are currently in a bin filled with potting soil with a few rocks and succulents. The barrier is Coco Butter. I will post pictures later of the colony and their set up. Suggestions on food and what i should add to to the set up will be accepted.

[NoviceAntKeeper]

Feed them honey or crushed mealworms? Im also currently keeping a RIFA colony in its beginning stages, with one worker.

[justb06]

Well there is some interesting news my ant colony moved its location to the other side of the bin i was keeping them in. That was last week but now they seem to just be gone. I do not think they escaped because the barrier was still strong, but i have noticed some dead ants in the barrier so they have attempted to escape. Today i saw one queen and a worker but that was it. But good news is i captured a small colony today with three queens. They have eggs, larvae, pupae, and an eclosing worker and five mature workers. They are currently housed in a test tube set up. Interesting note when i captured this colony i noticed a small colony of black garden ants living under the same rock.

[justb06]

Here are some pictures of the captured colony.
In this picture you can see two of the workers and some eggs under them.

This is their test tube. I have a heating pad under this it seems to help them with energy because the room i keep them in is around 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

[justb06]

I have some good news and bad news. The colony in the out world is most likely dead. The good news is not all of them are dead i noticed a worker roaming around probably looking for food.

[justb06]

Yay a queen is till alive in the bin! the ants in the test tube are happy too. I will take a better pictures tomorrow.

[ArizonanAnts]

That is really cool. You will have to keep updating this. I would love to have RIFA ants someday.

-ArizonanAnts

[justb06]

I know this has only been a little but this is importatant. I FOUND THE MISSING ANTS!!! They were under a lid that I keep water in! They now have about thirty workers and tons of brood! When I post pictures i will show you where I found them.

[justb06]

Here are some pictures of them. This is where i kept them. PS: Fire ants love goldfish.
This was what I found under the lid.

After that they moved just below where the lid was but I was happy to see them and their brood.

These two pictures are two different piles of brood.

[ArizonanAnts]

Wow! I think the reason that they were under the dish was because it was more humid than the rest of the areas.