Attention: Only one colony or queen and only one species per order or ant farm are sent, so choose carefully which one you want. We don't charge for the ants; they are FREE. You only pay for shipping.
The ants are delivered in a test tube with enough food and water for two weeks. They were born there and are doing well.
Raising Difficulty: Easy
The colony consists of the queen and between 5 and 15 workers (her daughters).
Instructions for breeding Aphaenogaster gibbosa:
Colonies of this species are among the easiest to maintain thanks to their varied diet: they eat insects, some types of fleshy seeds, noodles, and sugary substances.
Once the ant colony arrives, the first thing to do is feed it (sugar water and sugar substitutes), if possible. If you notice there are too many ants, it's best to introduce them directly into the ant farm. To feed them inside the test tube, we'll use a syringe. Insert the needle through the cotton plug and add a tiny drop. The drop shouldn't be large, as the ants could drown. Once they've drunk, remove any excess using a cotton swab (be careful not to remove the plug, as they could escape).
We can keep the ants in the test tube used for transport as long as there's a water supply. If we leave them there, we must feed them at least twice a week. To introduce the ants to the nest, there are two methods: the manual method, by emptying the contents into the nest and gently knocking the ants out of the tube; or by placing the tube in the nest/foraging area and waiting for them to move in on their own. The latter requires a lot of patience and can take days or weeks.
General Details:
For their diet, a varied diet is best: extra-thin noodles, bread (which can rot), some freshly killed insects (flies, crickets, silverfish, mealworms, etc.) to provide them with plenty of protein; and some sugary food: protein syrup (anthouse.es), pasta, sugar, honey, etc., to provide carbohydrates. It is VERY IMPORTANT that there is always a SOURCE of water (especially in summer), either through waterers, gel water, or by drinking directly from the humidity system, the liquid food they consume, etc.
Sizes:
Queen: 10 mm
Workers: 0.5-10 mm
