Missouri Acrobat Ant (Crematogaster missouriensis)

General: Crematogaster missouriensis is a rare, small, orangish-yellow species of Acrobat ant mainly from the Southern United States! This species is extremely fun to watch and has exciting responses to food. Their colors and patterning make them quite the beautiful ant!

Diet: This species loves to fill up on sugars, and sugars should be provided regularly (Sunburst, sugarwater, honeywater). However, protein should also be provided at least every 2-3 days! Proteins they’d enjoy are crickets, roaches, mealworms, and fruit flies. It’s best to alternate and make sure they’re getting multiple sources of protein! These queens lay pretty large eggs relative to their body, so their egg-laying is very correlated with how often they can get proteins. Make sure when feeding sugars, you don’t put drops large enough to drown the workers.

Temperature: Colonies will not grow without some sort of heat, but should also have a cooler side of their nest that’s roughly room temperature (72-75ish). On the warmer side of the nest, it should be in the 80s (83-84). Ensure there’s always a source of humidity to keep the ants from drying out!

Diapause: This species probably won’t need a mandatory diapause. However, if they do, simply cool them down to around 50ish and feed them sugars only for a month or two. After that, bring them back up to regular temperature and growth should resume.

Growth: This ant doesn’t grow incredibly quick, but with heat and frequent feeding, it can see pretty quick growth! Colonies seem to cap at a few thousand workers.

Queen size: 4.5-6mm

Worker size: 2.5-3.5mm

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