Nicobar carpenter ant
Camponotus nicobarensis
Temperature
24–28 °C
Humidity
50–70 %
Hibernation
None needed
Where it comes from
- Range
- Southeast Asia
- Size
- Workers 5–10 mm, queen 12–14 mm
- Queens
- Often several queens, which colonies tolerate well
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 5–7 weeks at 26 °C
- Nest
- Warm nest with a damp end; heat one side and let them choose
- Wintering
- Optional cool rest around 15–20 °C if you want to slow them down
The tropical starter ant: fast, tolerant and awake all winter. A good choice if you would rather not watch a box in a cellar for five months.
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.