Dorymyrmex bicolor also known as the bi-coloured Pyramid ant. They are often found in the Southwest of the United States and Mexico.
Dorymyrmex bicolor like its name suggests has beautiful bi colourations. Its Head and thorax of both queens and workers is red and their gaster is of dark brown colorations.
This species is a desert dwelling species.
Dorymyrmex bicolor like many of its genus are nicknamed cone or Pyramid ants due to their shape of their nest mounds. In the unforgiving desert Dorymyrmex bicolor will be in direct competition with other species such as myrmecocystus also known as honey pot ants for food and resources. Myrmecocystus normally place a poison from their gland onto food they find to repel other ants, in return Dorymyrmex bicolor approach the nests of honey pot ants and drop stones and pebbles into their nest entrance to block them from foraging. Ants never stop amazing us in ways they creatively compete with one another!
This species will move quiet rapidly with crazy movements due to being adapted to the desert climate which tends to be very harsh and fast movements allow them to cover much ground as quickly as possible.
This species is interesting to observe in captivity as well as admiring the beautiful bi- colourations simultaneously.
In terms of care will be like most exotic ant species and will need extra heat source and will need honey water and insects as they do need good amounts of carbohydrates via sugar foods and insects for brood growth and development.
Keeping difficulty: Medium (kept at least 1 or 2 exotic ant species)
Colony form: Polygyne and Monogyne
Queen size: 8-9mm red head and thorax with brown gaster
Worker’s size: 3-6mm red head and thorax with brown gaster
Food: honey water and insects
Temp: 24-28°C
Humidity: 50-70 percent
Founding: clasutral without feeding
Colony size: 1-10,000 workers
Hibernation: No (They would benefit from 6-week diapause from October to March)
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.
