Formica Subsericea Queen Ant, Live
Species: Formica Subsericea aka Common Crazy Ants, Black Field Ants
Easiness: Easy
This is a Live Queen to start a brand-new colony with.
General: Formica subsericea is an easy-to-keep species. The queen and workers are both black with a silver shine, and colonies can live very long!
Diet: This species enjoys sugars to a degree, but also loves protein, especially fruit flies. They will take honeywater, sugarwater, fruit flies, crickets, mealworms, dubia roaches, etc.
The queen won't lay eggs if she isn't fed protein and kept relatively warm. Larval stage is very fast for this species, so feed them as much protein as you can when they have larvae!
Temperature: Formica subsericea loves to heat their brood. A good temperature for them would be around 82 degrees Fahrenheit. Sometimes the workers don't like to be heated, so provide a heating gradient in the nest. Always make sure the nest has moisture.
Diapause: This species requires a diapause period. This period should last 3-4 months ideally. During this time, the ants need to be cooled down to a low temperature. Around 40 degrees fahrenheit is best. You can achieve diapause by placing the ants in a controlled cooling unit, such as a wine cooler, mini fridge, or regular fridge if temperatures are safe. If you cannot use any of these, a non-heated room which stays above freezing could work.
Growth: Brood development takes between 4-7 weeks, usually around 6 weeks. Colonies grow slow for the first year, but can get into the dozens by the second year and hundreds or thousands after that. The larval stage is rather quick, so when you see larvae in your colony, it's a good idea to pack a lot of protein in. They'll pupate before you know it!
Queen size: 9-13mm
Worker size: 5-9mm
Ant Keeping
- Always keep the nest hydrated when starting a colony.
- Never place your ant farm in/under/near any direct light.
- Item may contain glass, acrylic, ceramic or other fragile material. Please remember to be careful when opening & unwrapping your package.
- Item may have sharp and/ or pointy edges and be fragile, please be careful when handling it.
- Not for children to play with or use without adult supervision.Live Insect Shipping
We ship all live insects using USPS Priority Mail. We only ship on Mondays and Tuesdays, if there is a holiday on those days then we wait till the next week.
You are responsible for watching tracking and making sure the ants do not sit in extreme temperatures. We guarantee live arrival unless you leave the ant in your hot mailbox for hours.
If you have a problem with the ants, please reach out to us within 2 hours of delivery for live guaranteed refund. For other questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.