Camponotus cruentatus Care Guide: The Blood-Red Carpenter Ant
Camponotus cruentatus is a large carpenter ant from south-western Europe, easy to recognise by the blood-red colour on its gaster and waist. The colony has small minor workers and big, heavy majors with large heads and a powerful bite. This is a heat-loving species: give it warmth and plenty of protein and it rewards you with fast growth. Easy to keep and very rewarding to watch, also for beginners.
At a glance
Origin: south-western Europe, mainly Spain, Portugal and southern France
Difficulty: beginner
Colony structure: one queen per colony
Workers: strongly polymorphic, from small minors to big majors
Growth: fast, with warmth and plenty of protein
Colony size: large
Temperature: warm, heating strongly recommended
Humidity: dry, with one slightly damp spot
Winter rest: required, but short
Watch out for: the bite of the majors
Appearance and size
The name says it all: cruentatus is Latin for bloodstained. The workers are mostly black, with blood-red on the waist and the front part of the gaster, and often reddish legs. The colony is strongly polymorphic. Minor workers are slender with long legs, while majors are heavy, with a broad black head and strong jaws. Because the queen is so large, roughly 14 to 16 mm, the majors get big too. Workers range from roughly 8 to 15 mm, so this is one of the bigger ants you can keep in Europe. Curious which European ant has the very biggest queen? Read our Camponotus ligniperda care guide.
Where do they live?
Camponotus cruentatus lives in south-western Europe, mainly in Spain, Portugal and southern France, and is also found in North Africa. It likes warm, dry and sunny places, where it nests in the soil under stones. In the wild it helps plants spread: in a study in southern Spain, it carried away most of the seeds of the stinking hellebore, a plant whose seeds have a small fatty treat attached for ants. It also tends the caterpillars of the long-tailed blue butterfly.
Founding a colony
Colonies have one queen. After the nuptial flight the queen starts her colony alone and does not need food until the first workers arrive. Leave her undisturbed in her closed test tube in a warm, dark and quiet place. Our test tube guide shows how to set one up.
Growth: warmth and protein
Warmth and protein are the two keys to a fast-growing colony. This species loves heat and needs a lot of protein to raise its brood. With enough of both, the colony grows fast and can become large over the years. Kept cool or underfed, growth slows down a lot. How fast it goes still differs per colony, so we do not give timelines. Watching the first majors appear is one of the highlights of keeping this species.
Temperature and heating
Keep them warm. Room temperature alone gives slow growth, so heating is strongly recommended. Heat one side of the setup, for example with a Heat Mat with Temperature Controller, and always leave a cooler area so the colony can choose. The setting on the heat mat is not the temperature inside the nest, so watch where the ants put their brood.
Winter rest
A winter rest is required, but it does not need to be long. A shorter cool period than for central European species is enough. Stop heating, feed less and always provide water. Afterwards, with warmth, they start up again quickly.
Humidity and water
They prefer a dry nest. Keep one part of the nest slightly damp and the rest dry, and always provide a water source such as a test tube. Condensation, water drops or mould mean it is too wet.
Feeding
Protein: plenty of insects such as crickets, mealworms or cockroaches. This is what drives their growth. Freeze wild-caught insects first.
Sugar: sugar water or honey water as their energy source.
Portions: feed protein often, and remove leftovers before they mould.
Water: always provide clean water, for example from a test tube.
Read more about feeding in What do ants eat?.
Housing
Founding queen: leave her undisturbed in her closed test tube until the first workers have arrived.
Young colony: keep them in the test tube with a small outworld, such as the All-In-One Test Tube Outworld Small or the Mini Outworld V2, until the colony has about 20 workers or more.
Larger colony: then move them to a dry nest. This is an easy species that does well in almost any nest: a Ytong nest works nicely, and so does a Medium Mesh Nest and later a Large Mesh Nest.
Strong jaws: the big majors have strong jaws. Keep that in mind when choosing a nest for a big colony.
Behaviour and biting
Camponotus cruentatus does not sting, but the majors can really bite hard, hard enough to hurt. Be careful when you work on the setup, use tweezers and do not handle the ants. Like other carpenter ants they can also spray formic acid when they feel threatened. Keep the setup in a calm place and do not disturb them more than needed.
Is Camponotus cruentatus right for you?
If you want a big, colourful European carpenter ant that grows fast, Camponotus cruentatus is a great choice. It is easy to keep, as long as you give it warmth, plenty of protein, a dry nest and a short winter rest. Have a look at our Camponotus cruentatus colonies, or read our personal guide to the subgenera of Camponotus.
Sources
AntWiki. Camponotus cruentatus.
Boulay, R., Coll-Toledano, J., Manzaneda, A. J. and Cerdá, X., 2007. Geographic variations in seed dispersal by ants: are plant and seed traits decisive? Naturwissenschaften.
Comments