Fraggles Carpenter Ant (Camponotus fragilis)

General: Camponotus fragilis is a medium-sized, beautifully colored ant from the southwestern US. These ants grow well with lots of sugars and medium-high heat. Major workers present.

Diet: Camponotus fragilis enjoys an omnivore diet, needing liquid sugars such as sugarwater or honeywater to fuel its adults, and insect protein such as fruit flies, crickets, mealworms, or roaches to feed its young. Make sure they are fed multiple times a week and increase feeding as the number of brood and workers increases.

Temperature: These ants require heating to grow. It is recommended to have sections of the nest at 82-87, but they don’t always prefer to be in the hottest of temperatures (especially with eggs), so provide an area that is much cooler in the 70s as well.

Diapause: Camponotus fragilis usually doesn’t need diapause. However, if they do slow down in the winter, just lower their temperature to around 60 degrees and feed sugars regularly. After maybe 5-8 weeks of this, they should be ready to begin growing again.

Growth: Brood development takes about 7-9 weeks from egg to worker. Major workers will take longer than this to develop. Ensure that your colony is heated and fed properly, and they could reach dozens or hundreds of workers within the first year.

Queen size: 12-14mm

Worker size: 5-8mm

Major size: 7-11mm

If ants arrive in bad condition, contact us for help. Live arrival is guaranteed.