Linepithema humile also known as the famous Argentine ants are a highly successful and invasive species of ants originally from south America hence their nickname Argentine ants.
This species has now become established more globally due to human activity. They have been known to form super colonies due to the close genetic ties between queens in parts which the colonies have effectively established themselves.
One colony is estimated to be on trillion workers stretching from San Diego to beyond San Francisco, not all colonies form super colonies in non-native spaces so this leads to pitched battles involving thousands of ants between super colonies/colonies which can last weeks and only be halted with rainfall.
Argentine ants in the wild do not make their nests very deep and tend to move their nests regularly and even use abandoned nest of other ant species.
These species are a great species to keep due to their growth rate and aggressive characters and good recruitment when trying to source pray.
This species is not difficult to keep per say but good escape prevention is needed.
Note this species is rarely ever sold due to difficulty to source it.
Keeping difficulty: Advanced (kept at least 1 or more exotics species, good escape prevention needed)
Colonyform: Poloygyne
Queen size: 5-6 mm Colour: dark brown
Worker’s size: 2 - 3mm Colour: dark brown
Food: honey water and insects and seeds
Temp: 18-26°C
Humidity: 50-70%
Founding: clasutral without feeding
Colonysize: 1-100,000 workers
Live arrival guarantee:
We guarantee the live arrival of your Queen they come well packed in our jiffy bags which have two-sided padding as well as an additional layer of bubble wrap around our test tubes. We are the only company in the United Kingdom to offer our live arrival guarantee of your queen as well as an additional 14-day guarantee if the colony if kept in the original test tube for all our European species. Why do we do this? We are confident with our colony’s health and our packaging process as well as our care guides, we also believe in our customers and making sure they have a good ant keeping experience.
Live arrival guarantee we ensure the live arrival of the queen only upon delivery contact us within 24 hours of receiving the Queen dead on arrival with a picture of the dead queen and the original workers. DO NOT TRANSFER THE DEAD QUEEN OR WORKERS TO A NEST AS THIS VOIDS YOUR WARRNTY. For our additional 14-day guarantee for European species the Queen and workers must be kept in the original test tube sealed with the cotton and care sheet instructions followed if you want to keep this additional guarantee do not transfer to a nest or your warranty is VOIDED (we recommend you keep the 14-day warranty).
We have no control over the environment outside the test tube and have no influence in the conditions the responsibility once placed outside the test tube within the 14-day period the responsibility is with the buyer. 9 times out of 10 colonies die in the nest due to lack of water access, food, temperature, oxygen, or stress due to vibrations or exposure to excess light. If your colony does fail inside a nest contact us, we can advise what went wrong but it is up to you to buy another ant colony, you will succeed but sometimes it does not work the first time. Research is key to success with ant keeping and follow our guides.
