Species: Pachycondyla harpax

Their queen died a few months ago and they have since kept 5-6 eggs laid by a worker. There are 20 workers, down from 23 since the queen died. The workers don't allow the eggs to become larvae and sometimes they'll eat them and just lay more, but they never have more than 6 eggs at a time. I'm not sure why they do this. The workers seem to fight one another every now and then as well, but they don't kill each other. The fights mostly consist of them aggressively latching onto anotgrt worker and dragging it somewhere and tossing it. Then they go back to normal like nothing happened.

Video recorded on Samsung Galaxy s25 Ultra

Hi everyone, today I tried making my first ant nest out of dental plaster. I used a Ferrero Rocher box as the mold. If I plan to place the nest directly into the arena, can I use the top part of the Ferrero Rocher box as a cover?

Worker, found in Poland near Wroclaw.

Thought of Formica cinerea because the worker had slightly greenish shade (mostly abdomen).
Size: 3-4 mm
Noticed vertical abdomen vibration
They were quite confident and brave

This time noticed them accidentally, next time when I visited here I’ll take better photos with macro camera

edit: were found in a ground nest (15cm above ground level) under sunlight (mixture of dirt and clay)

Hi all,

I am going to start ant keeping, but would love to start with a species that wont end up having a huge colony. i am in melbourne, Australia. we have some cool species here. but with all the research, i still cant find a species that doesnt exceed more then a 1000 ants. is there a species you would reccomend? cheers

Checked on them to feed them today and they had this yellow ball that wasnt there yesterday when I fed them. Should i remove it? Acromyrmex versicolor.

I found my Lasius Niger queen dead, but with two unexpected guests. Anyone got got an idea of what these fellas are?

Got some tetramoriums from stateside and recently the reservoir began flooding. Thought it might have been my fault and I might as well have incited it, as I did move the test tube a bit too much the first time it leaked and the second time I had the heat too high in the room, but I found out recently that air bubbles in the reservoir can cause leaks and there's been a large bubble in there since I recieved them. Fault aside, I made a new test tube, watched a video on how to prep it and carefully put filled and plugged it, put some food and sugar water in, and connected it with some aquarium hose. Got a cover and a light source as well. Wanna make sure I'm doing everything right to entice her to move in quickly, so just wanted to check with y'all and have some people to brag to if I did indeed do this correctly as a first timer.

First of all, he is out and wandering around, I can't vouch for whether he'll be OK or even find his way back to the nest (I tried my best to help), so he came out of the ordeal intact for the moment.

That said, how, what, how?!? Is this something that happens? Presumably he got sucked in?

I was worried they weren't using it; at least that's not the case anyway!

Seriously though, is this just something that can happen or am I doing something wrong?

Ant Laboratory is now on Android as paid early access through Google Play. It's the same game as on iPhone and iPad: a living ant colony in a glass ant farm that grows out across a whole island of its own.

What you get

The full game, version 2.0 "The Naturalist":
seven real ant species;
a glass ant farm you can zoom into ant by ant;
an island with rival colonies, weather and seasons;
the Lab, which charts everything.

Every update as it comes, starting with 2.0.1 "Hunters & Gatherers":
live crickets the ants hunt and drag home;
fruit flies they catch;
strawberries and blueberries;
leaves that leafcutters cut up;
plenty of fixes.

Your colonies carry over when the game leaves early access.

One price, $4.99. No ads, no accounts, no tracking: it works entirely offline.

How to join
Join the tester group, signed in with the Google account you use on your phone: https://groups.google.com/g/ant-laboratory-testers
On your phone, open https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.antlaboratory.app and tap Become a tester.
Install it from the Play Store. Your purchase stays yours when the full release comes.
Early access means you're helping shape it. If something looks wrong or you have ideas, post here or email [support@antlaboratory.com](mailto:support@antlaboratory.com). I read everything.
More at antlaboratory.com, and on Instagram (@antlaboratorysim) and TikTok (@antlaboratory). A Steam page is coming soon.

Can anyone ID this ant species?

they dont seem to be so intrested in sugar water or food anymore,

and could i use my garage as their hibernation room??

Video recorded on Samsung Galaxy s25 Ultra

Species is probably messor structor group.

Starting to learn it... tell me what you think... ignore some of the sudden frame changes between clips, im aware of that. Intend to eventually make a proper clip

At 31 workers, this is our very first Major. Question, does the major grow any bigger than this?

It has been 15 weeks and 1 day since finding Queen Solaris of the Sunfall Legion. I have finally moved them to an actual nest perhaps a little too soon.

The white stuff is elmers glue to hold the glass down and prevent escapes. Iam still gonna keep an eye on it. I choose elmers because its non toxic and I think it will be easier to remove then other glues for when they move out.

Also at the top that is not a crack in the glass. I think its dog hair or a string of something.

The video showcases an exciting new feature coming in an upcoming free update to Ant Laboratory! You’ll soon be able to feed live insects to your colonies, allowing you to observe their natural hunting and foraging behaviors. You’ll also be able to provide fresh leaves to your herbivorous colonies, adding another layer of realism to the simulation.
All updates to Ant Laboratory will always be free. My goal is to continue expanding the game with new species, behaviors, and scientifically inspired features that bring the fascinating world of ants to life.

I want to sincerely thank everyone who has purchased and supported the game so far. It’s been a lifelong dream of mine to embark on a project like this, and seeing others enjoy something I’ve poured so much passion into has been incredibly rewarding.

If you’d like to experience the game for yourself, just send me a PM and I’ll gladly share a free promo code!
🐜 Android launches November 3rd, with a Steam release planned shortly afterward!
Thank you all for your time, encouragement, and support. I’m a solo developer with big ambitions for this little ant simulator, and there’s so much more to come!

I just got an atta colony shipped via next day mail from someone on the other side of my state and the fungus looks a bit dull? This is my first time keeps Atta and I wanted an opinion on the overall look of the fungus. The queen had about 30 workers. I donated some of the fungus from this colony to my other queen who is in the founding stage and has brood but no fungus. She seems to have accepted it. I got this colony in the mail 2 days ago so whats in the pics doesn't reflect much growth.

1. Dorymyrmex flavopectus
   
2. Dorymyrmex elegans
   
3. Monomorium viridum
   
4. Pheidole littoralis

First time ant keeper here. I bought a red harvester ant queen and three maidens to assist her. So far she has laid many eggs but they keep disappearing. Unless shes hiding them I can not find them anymore. I saw one that looked like it was a little bigger but it isnt inside anymore. On Tuesday I did change their desk top formicaria for a really small one with 2 test tubes and smaller outworld. I looked a lot easier to feed them by going into the outworld to the tube instead if just stressing them out by removing the tube from their past 4 tube formicaria. I know I should have just left them in one test tube but as I said, I felt like I was stressing them when I had to feed them. I recently got a heating cable and have it at the entrance of the tube and not near their water. I feed them seeds and will sometimes boil a small piece of chicken for the queen. I get a lot of mixed messages when I Google about leaving protein for the queen and red drink or nectar. Anything you can educate me on will be extremely helpful.