Camponotus barbaricus is a southern Europe/North African ant species. A very Adventurous species for an aspiring ant keeper or an experienced keeper! You will be amazed by their sheer size workers can be up to 18mm in length. They are mainly distributed in central Europe, but their range goes farther south up to North Africa.
They show activity both during the day and night which makes observations of this species more interesting.
They are a fairly large European species and they have good colour variation and polymorphism (size variation) amongst its workers. Although they do not have a true soldier castes different sized worker will have different roles, more polymorphism develops as the colony gets bigger.
In the wild their nests are often found in rural areas around stones or decaying wood on the ground as well as being found in mountainous regions. Their nickname carpenter ant is derived from their ability to carve out nests from wood with their mandibles which they can easily transport due to the fact ants can lift around 10 times their body weight.
They are a fast-moving species and can be quite aggressive if disturbed. Initially they are a slow growing species due to them being big ants and will reach exponential growth after the first 20 workers.
Keeping difficulty: Easy (beginner friendly)
Colony form: Monogyne (Polymorph workers) Queen size: 16-18mm/ Black
Workers size: 8-18mm black; red shine, extremely polymorph (Minor, Media and Major workers)
Food: honey water and insects
Temp: 18-28°C
Humidity: 50-60%
Founding: claustral without feeding
Colony size: 1-10,000 workers
Hibernation: yes, from end of October until end of February at 15°C (has an endogenic Biorhythm)
You will receive:
1x queen eggs,brood or workers depending on your selection
1x protein shake
1x pipette
1x care sheet download from our care sheet page on site
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 days 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.
Be aware of sellers only using the Live arrival guarantee and not the 14-day additional warranty on European ant species it might be slightly cheaper but could end up paying more in the long run, also all our products are sold as starter kits including food and a pipette.
We do require photographic evidence of the queen in the original test tube for validating the guarantee once outside the test tube and in a nest the environment is outside of our control.
It is illegal to release non-native species of ants into the wild and could damage the local ecosystem so bare this in mind we have a duty to our environment.
Live arrival guarantee we ensure the live arrival of the queen only upon delivery contact us within 24-48 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.
