European thief ant
Solenopsis fugax
Temperature
22–26 °C
Humidity
50–70 %
Hibernation
November – February
Where it comes from
- Range
- Europe, North Africa and the Middle East
- Size
- Workers 1.5–3 mm, queen 6–7 mm
- Queens
- Often several queens
Keeping them
- Diet
- Insects, seeds and sugar water
- Founding
- Fully claustral — the queen needs no food until her first workers
- Brood development
- Egg to worker in roughly 4–6 weeks at 25 °C
- Nest
- Fine galleries, damp nest, dry outworld — and no standing water to drown in
- Wintering
- 10–15 °C
At 1.5 mm the workers walk out of almost any setup, so an escape barrier is not optional. Despite the genus, this is a native European ant and not one of the fire ants on the EU list.
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.