Myrmecocystus melliger – Tricoloured Honeypot Ant
A truly spectacular species for the experienced ant keeper, Myrmecocystus melliger is a distinctive North American honeypot ant renowned for its striking three-tone appearance and fascinating social behaviour.
Workers typically display a reddish to ferruginous head and thorax contrasting with a dark brown to blackish gaster, giving this species its characteristic tricoloured appearance. They are also covered in fine, prominent hairs, adding to their unique appearance.
The real attraction, however, is the colony's repletes. Specialised workers become living food stores, their abdomens expanding dramatically as they are fed sugary liquids by their nestmates. These remarkable "honeypot" ants then act as living reservoirs, allowing the colony to draw upon its stored food when required.
Keeping difficulty: Advanced (Recommended for experienced ant keepers)
Colony form: Monogyne (single queen)
Queen size: Approx. 10–12 mm
Worker size: Approx. 3–10 mm
Food: Honey water, sugar solution and insects. A varied diet of carbohydrates and protein is recommended. This species is an active predator and also takes nectar/honeydew in the wild.
Temperature: 20–28°C
Humidity: 60–80% relative humidity, with good ventilation and a drier area within the nest preferred.
Founding: Claustral – the queen can establish the colony without feeding during founding.
Colony size: Up to approximately 4,000 workers in captivity, potentially larger in mature colonies.
Hibernation: 6–8 week diapause during November–December.
Gradually reduce temperatures before diapause and return the colony to normal temperatures gradually afterwards.
Activity: Primarily diurnal and highly active. Workers are predatory and will readily hunt small insects.
Special features: Myrmecocystus melliger is a remarkable honeypot ant known for its specialised replete workers, which store liquid food within their enlarged gasters. The species has a distinctive reddish/ferruginous head and thorax contrasting with a darker gaster.
You will receive:
1x queen mated queen with eggs/brood or workers depending on your selection
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.
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 WARRANTY. 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.
