Southwestern Thief Ant (Solenopsis krockowi)

General: Solenopsis krockowi is a desert Thief Ant. Thief Ants steal brood and food from colonies of larger ants in the wild to make a living, taking advantage of their tiny size. This species is rather fun in captivity because they grow quickly, don’t need to diapause, and have great coloration. As colonies grow larger, they essentially become a bright orange swarm of tiny ants!

Diet: These ants have a standard diet, needing protein and liquid sugars to grow and maintain themselves. Make sure that when feeding liquid sugar, you don’t drown the ants, as they are very tiny. It may be best to feed them their liquid sugars by saturating a piece of cotton or other material and allowing them to drink from there. Protein can be just about any bug, or even table scrap. Crickets, mealworms, fruit flies, and roaches all work for this species. It is recommended that they are fed at least twice a week with both sugars and protein. As the colony grows larger, feed them more frequently.

Temperature: This species is from the deserts of the southwest – they need heat! However, they also need a gradient. Offer them a part of the nest that is 85-87 degrees, but also a part that is much cooler. If you have them in a test tube, heat the front just beneath the entrance and allow the ants to choose where the best temperature for them is.

Diapause: Though these ants can probably diapause if necessary, they can easily skip it! If you wish to diapause them, cool them down to about room temperature and feed them slightly less.

Growth: These ants take roughly 4-6 weeks to complete the egg-worker cycle. Colonies can reach the hundreds or thousands within the first year with ample feeding and heating.

Queen size: 5mm

Worker size: 2-2.5mm

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