When She Arrives

Your romanei ships as a starter colony: a mated queen with 5 to 10 workers and brood. The founding stage, where most honeypot queens are lost, is already done. Give the colony a dark, quiet, warm place and leave it undisturbed for the first few days while it settles. Offer a small drop of sugar water and a single feeder insect, then let the workers find it on their own.

Feeding

Honeypots run on sugar. Keep nectar or sugar water available at all times. The repletes, the living storage workers this genus is famous for, depend on a steady carbohydrate supply, and a well-fed colony is what builds them. Add insect protein (fruit flies, small crickets, pieces of mealworm) regularly to fuel the brood and the queen's laying. Pull uneaten protein within a day so nothing molds.

Heat & Humidity

Keep part of the nest warm at 24 to 30°C with a cooler zone around 18 to 22°C so the colony can move between them and regulate itself. Like all our desert species, honeypots want a humid nest at 80%+ and a dry outworld: moisture where the brood lives, a clean dry floor where they forage. A vertical nest surface gives the repletes a ceiling to hang from as the colony grows.

Watching the Repletes Form

The first repletes are the moment every honeypot keeper waits for. As the worker count climbs and nectar keeps coming, certain workers begin taking on more and more of the colony's stores until their abdomens swell into round, glowing beads hanging from the ceiling. Starting with a working colony means you get there much sooner than you would from a single founding queen. Patience and a steady sugar supply do the rest.

What You'll Receive

A starter colony: one mated queen with 5 to 10 workers and brood, shipped with our Live Arrival Guarantee. Warmth, a humid nest, constant nectar, and regular protein are all she asks.

Ready to start a colony?

We ship Myrmecocystus romanei with our Live Arrival Guarantee.

Questions before you commit? Reach out. We're keepers too, and happy to talk honeypots.