Polyrhachis cf. bicolor

Its been a long time since I last bought any ants.

I have been staying quite away from it to be honest, but continue to scroll through some listings just to see what is coming up. And I found this awesome little ant species, of one of my favorite genus, the Spiny Ants!

I think this ant species may not be Polyrhachis bicolor, but it surely must be in the same group. Because it has the same hair silvery looks, yellowish mandibles, and red hues on their gaster.

Polyrhachis cf. bicolor worker

So few days back, I received this colony inside a weaved leaf nest.

They are quite small and quite shy. Only when directly disturbing the entrance or trying to poke one of their workers will they react immediately. Otherwise, I can easily handle their leaf without much confrontation, much very unlike other weaver ants (Oecophylla sm.) or larger Polyrhachis species.

Current setup:

I added their nest to a money tree i had outside. And they seem to be loving it. They came immediately out and started exploring their surroundings.

I offered them honeywater and normal water in separate dishes. But interestingly enough, they didn’t take any of those with much excitement. Instead, they all came out and started licking the leaves.

I also provided them with one dead fly. To see how much they react to protein sources at this moment. Maybe it is still too early. Let’s see.

Polyrhachis cf bicolor worker

Quite relaxing to have another small tree with ants running around near my desk :D

Let’s see what the future brings us!

Always great to see ants grooming themselves! You know they got too much excitement…. antennae bashing everywhere!

This is it for this log post, thank you for coming by and reading! Hit me up on the top right corner - discord link to chat with me directly, if you have any questions!

Stay safe and cheers!