The Valentines Ant - Intermediate (due to formic acid)
Crematogasters are just fantastic to keep, watch and enjoy. Auberti is no exception to the rule and their skill set makes them a very diverse and hardy species. Although most Crematogasters are Arboreal this species nests in grassland and pasture land. Their home is the lucious grasses across southern Spain through and northern Africa.
They are a species with many names, the first of course is the most obvious. "The Valentines Ant", a name awarded for their heart shaped gaster. But their skills go further than this. With a fantastic ability to move their gaster up and pointing forward it provides them their second name of "Acrobat Ants or Cocktail Ants" This allows them to use the most powerful weapon in their cache. Acid and Pheremones.
It is a highly concentrated pheromone with formic acid in liquid form which can both mark a target and raise the alarm to the colony. The alarm is raised with lightning speed and they will appear from everywhere in the blink of an eye. It does not matter if the prey is small or large! Auberti is taking it down.
Once the colony is rallied they use fantastic coordination to "spread eagle" their victim. Pulling it limb from limb as a team. The only mission is to use their dormant stinger where the drop of acid forms to touch the victim in weak spots and joints so the acid can get to work. This acid will quickly work at subduing the enemy.
With the Auberti in your collection you will be pleased with an active colony that wont growbe so large in physical size they give you a hard time. Its lucky really as several thousand of these would keep you on your toes if they were twice their size.
Good ventilation is needed for this colony!
Colony Size
Around 8,000 to 12,000 workers
Queen Age - Up to 20 years
Monogyne - One Queen per colony Fully Claustral - No food until first workers
Temperature & Humidity
Nest 22 to 28 degrees | Outworld 25 to 30 degrees
Nest 50%-60% | Outworld 30% to 50%
Hibernation
Yes - November to Feb at 15 degrees
Polymorphic (Different size casts)
No
Sting | Bite | Spray
Yes - Formic Acid
Diet
Insects, Sugars, Carbs
Nest Type
Sand, Earth, Ytong, Plaster
Size
Queen - 8mm-10mm
Worker - 2mm-4mm
Development
Egg to Adult Worker - 5 to 7 weeks
Crematogaster Auberti - The Valentines Ant
It is illegal to release this colony into the wild in the UK, if you can no longer care for your colony please contact us immediately.
we know sometimes you will need to change the test tube or get a closer look, so we provide you with these items to help you if you need them;
- 1 x Test Tube
- 1 x Organic Bamboo Cotton Wool Bud
- 1 x Organic Cotton Wool Ball
- 1 x Magnification Card (3x Magnification)
- 1 x Species info sheet (so you have it to keep if we ever remove the species from our site when out of stock)
