Formica lenmani

Formica lemani is a common species found throughout Northern Europe. They are completely black. The queens are 8-11mm and workers vary a lot in size,from 4-9mm.They are polygionous , colonies in nature usually reach a few thousand workers.

General
They are very easy to care for and will grow well if not disturbed often.

Food
They will accept most foods as they have a varied diet,eg. Fruit
flies,mealworms,crickets,dubia/turkestan roaches,honey,maple syrup,jelly,sugar water and more.

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
Formica lemani needs a high humid nest. If you hydrate the nest regularly (once or twice a week) you should have no problem in keeping the humidity right for these ants. Always make sure the ants
have an external watersource in the test tube when in a nest. 

Temperature
Formica lemani does not need to be heated. Keeping them at room temperature is more then fine. Heating these ants will speed up the brood progress but is not needed. 

Hibernation
This species hibernates from Late October to early March at 4-8c. This species needs a cold
hibernation so ensure brood production. You will need a fridge to hibernate this species.

Sting/bite
Bigger workers can bite, causing some pain.They also spray formic acid .

They will accept any setup that has high humidity,for example acrylic/3D nests or a terrarium.You will need to make several ventilation holes as their formic acid can kill them if there isn’t ventilation.