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Camponotus castaneus

Chestnut Carpenter Ant

Camponotus castaneus
Beginner level
🛒 Shop colonies and kits

Photo: Timothy Lindsey, via iNaturalist, licensed under CC BY 4.0.

🐜 At a glance

  • Origin: Eastern and central USA; woodland and deciduous forest, nests in soil and under stones

  • Nest temperature: 24–28°C; advanced Heating System Small at 24°C, under a quarter of the nest

  • Outworld temperature: 18°C night, up to 28°C day; by day like the nest or a degree or two cooler

  • Humidity: Nest 50–80%; outworld about 50%, never watered

  • Winter: 2–3 month rest at about 10°C; only in a hibernation unit with precise control; otherwise room temperature. Never in the first year

  • Move to a nest: 3+ workers; 5+ is better

  • Size: Queen 16–18 mm; workers 7–10 mm, majors up to 15 mm, orange-yellow

  • Colony: One queen; slow start, then several hundred workers

📖 About this species

A calm, glowing orange carpenter ant from the woodlands of the eastern United States. A North American ant, not sold by Best Ants UK and possibly illegal or impossible to import to the UK.

🍯 Feeding

  • Proteins: Cricket Mash (the more efficient protein for carpenter ants) or Protein Jelly (keep it in the fridge)

  • Carbohydrates: organic Ant Honey or Ant Nectar, far better than sugar water or home-made mixes

  • Twice a week, small amounts, outworld only, on tin foil or a feeding dish; leftovers out after 2 days. Founding queen: a tiny drop of protein jelly on tin foil once a week. Small colonies don't need live insects

  • Buy food only from established ant-keeping suppliers: bird seed, dried mealworms and pet-shop live food often carry blood-sucking mites

💧 Watering the nest

  • Distilled or purified water only, never tap, rain or mineral water, even boiled

  • Pipette a few drops at a time through the watering hole and stop when 1 or 2 drops appear inside; water when the meter drops below 50%

  • Never open water: a watering test tube in the outworld, never a water dispenser; never water the outworld

🏠 Setting up the ant farm

  • Carpenter Ant Farm Starter Kit (nest with humidity and temperature meter) or A7 Plus with its pre-installed digital meter

  • Daylight, never direct sunlight; away from windows, radiators, vibration, speakers and kitchens. Test tube warmth: a heating cable at the cotton stopper end only, never a heat mat

  • Escape risk: good climbers. PTFE Fluon band around the top inner edge of the outworld lid, reapplied about every 4 weeks (every 2 weeks for 300+ ants)

💡 Good to know

  • Most carpenter queens eat their eggs in transit: normal for Camponotus, she lays again within 2–3 months

  • On arrival: parcel unopened for 5 hours, then 4–5 days of complete rest in its packaging

  • No sting, but bigger workers can nip and spray formic acid. Never handle them, never a fridge, shed or garage

⭐ Golden rules | Never break these

  • 🚫 Never put ants in a fridge, shed or garage, and never expose them to abrupt temperature changes.

  • 🚫 Never use gel ant farms, Ytong or concrete nests, or DIY nests.

  • 🚫 Never use tap, rain or mineral water, even boiled.

  • 🚫 Never move a colony into a nest too early, and never tip or shake ants out of their tube.

  • 🚫 Never release ants into the wild. If you can no longer keep a colony, visit our ants adoption page and ask us whether we can adopt it.

🛒 Recommended for this species

📚 These care notes cover the essentials only. Please read the full ant farm setup guide and our Camponotus castaneus care guide from A to Z. Questions? Message us through our contact form and we will be happy to help. 💚

Written and reviewed by the Best Ants UK team, keeping ants since 1997.

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