Mediterranean carpenter ant
Camponotus barbaricus
Where it comes from
- Range
- The Iberian Peninsula and North Africa, in dry open country
- Size
- Workers 6–14 mm, queen 15–18 mm
- Queens
- One queen
Keeping them
- Diet
- Sugar water and insects
- Founding
- Fully claustral — the queen needs no food until her first workers
- Brood development
- Egg to worker in roughly 7–9 weeks at 26 °C
- Nest
- Warm and mostly dry, with one damp corner and a heated end
- Wintering
- About 15 °C — a mild Mediterranean winter, not a cold one
Big, black and covered in golden hairs that catch the light. It forages at dusk, so an evening check shows more than a daytime one.
Starting a colony
A founding queen goes into a test tube: water at the back behind a plug of cotton wool, the queen in the dry front half, and a loose plug at the opening. She is fully claustral and raises her first workers on her own reserves, so she needs no food until they arrive, only warmth, darkness and quiet. Warm one end of the tube rather than all of it, so she can move to the temperature she wants. At 26 °C, egg to worker takes roughly 7–9 weeks, and longer when it is cooler.
The first workers are small, nothing like the big-headed majors of a grown colony. Camponotus is a slow starter, and a first year that ends with a few dozen workers is a good one. The majors, up to 14 mm long, only appear once the colony is established, which usually takes more than one season.
Feeding
Sugar is the staple. Camponotus takes sugar water and diluted honey eagerly, carries it home in its crop and shares it with the nest. Protein is for the brood: a fruit fly, a cricket or a cut mealworm when there are larvae to feed. Give small portions and remove what is left after a day. This species forages at dusk, so the evening is when you will see food being found and carried in.
The nest and the heat
In the wild Camponotus barbaricus nests in the ground, under stones in dry, open, sunny country. Recreate that: a warm nest that is mostly dry, with one damp corner. Workers range from 6 to 14 mm and the queen reaches 18 mm, so the chambers need to be roomier than for a small species like Lasius.
Most homes are cooler than the 24–28 °C this species wants, so plan on a heat source. Put a heat mat or heat cable under one end of the nest, never under all of it. The workers move the brood to whichever spot suits it, and they can only do that if there is a gradient to choose from. A nest that is damp throughout is a bigger risk than one on the dry side, because it grows mould.
Hibernation
This is a Mediterranean ant, and its winter is mild: from late November to February at about 15 °C. A cool room or an unheated hallway is about right, and a fridge is far too cold. Don't skip the rest, though. Like most Camponotus, it is built around a yearly pause, and colonies kept warm all year tend to stall. Cut down on insects in autumn, lower the temperature over a couple of weeks, keep the water topped up through the winter and warm them up again gradually.
Common mistakes
- Wintering them like a northern species. A fridge or a cold cellar at 5 °C is too cold for an ant from southern Spain or Morocco.
- Heating the whole nest instead of one end.
- A nest that is damp all the way through.
- Expecting quick growth. Year one is slow for every Camponotus.
- Disturbing the founding queen to see whether there is brood yet.
Questions keepers ask
How long until the first workers? About 7–9 weeks at 26 °C, and longer at room temperature.
Does it need a heat mat? Usually, yes. Place it under one end only, so the colony has a warm side and a cool side.
When do the majors appear? Not in the first batch. A queen's first workers are always small. The big-headed majors come once the colony has grown and can afford them.
Is it a good first species? It is forgiving about food, but it needs steady warmth and a mild winter that is harder to arrange than a cold cellar. For a very first colony, Lasius niger is the easier start. Camponotus barbaricus makes a good second one.
Check it yourself
General guidance from the usual beginner references — treat it as a starting point, not as a rule your colony has agreed to.
Start a colony with this species
Similar species
-
Camponotus herculeanus
Hercules carpenter ant
Northern Europe, Asia and North America, in conifer forest
20–25 °C 50–70 %Intermediate -
Camponotus ligniperda
Brown-black carpenter ant
Central and northern Europe, in and under dead wood
22–26 °C 50–70 %Intermediate -
Aphaenogaster senilis
Iberian funnel ant
The Iberian Peninsula and North Africa
22–27 °C 40–60 %Intermediate -
Crematogaster scutellaris
Acrobat ant
The Mediterranean basin, in dead wood and cork bark
24–28 °C 50–70 %Intermediate