Crematogaster scutellaris is a fast growing,aggressive and fun to keep species commonly found around the Mediterranean living in trees. They are a very fast growing species,they have notoriously red heads and black bodies,they are very protective of their nests.Queens are 8-10mm long and workers are 3-5.5mm.Colonies reach 10-20 thousand workers once matured.

General:
They are escape masters so it’s best to have more than one escape prevention.

Food:
They will accept most foods eg. Crickets,mealworms,sugar water,honey etc.
If you feed insects from the wild freeze or boil these insects to sterilize them. Skipping this step can introduce mites to your colony

Humidity:
they don’t need a lot of water. Once the colony has more than 50 workers,you can over them in a nest with no hydration. Remember to leave a test tube in the outworld at all times.

Temperature:
they will thrive in warm temperatures,it’s best to keep them at 26-30c.

Hibernation:
They require a short diapause between early December and early February, a shorter one can be done for ones that come from Northern Africa and very Southern Europe.

Sting/bite:
they have a specialised stinger that sprays formic acid but it’s not harmful.When angered,workers will bite which can hurt.