How to Care for Crematogaster scutellaris | The Mediterranean Acrobat Ant Guide
Updated: 3 days ago
With a bright red head, a shiny black body and a heart-shaped back end it can flip over its head, Crematogaster scutellaris is one of the most eye-catching ants you can keep. It is called the acrobat ant, and it lives up to the name.
The workers are quick, bold and always on the move, and a healthy colony grows fast. This guide explains Crematogaster scutellaris care step by step, from the day your parcel arrives to a busy colony of thousands.
We have kept ants since 1997, and everything here comes from our own colonies and the care rules we use every day.
👉 In a hurry? Download our free Crematogaster scutellaris care sheet (PDF) or open the Crematogaster scutellaris care sheet page for the key facts at a glance.
Crematogaster scutellaris at a Glance
Also known as: the Mediterranean acrobat ant
Origin: southern Europe and North Africa
Keeping level: Intermediate
Queen: 7 to 9mm, black with a red head
Workers: 3 to 4mm, black with a red head, all one size
Colony: one queen, a few thousand workers, fast growth
Nest temperature: 21 to 24°C
Nest humidity: 50 to 60%
Workers before moving into a nest: 50+
Winter: a winter rest from mid-October to the end of March
Escape risk: small, fast climbers, so a PTFE barrier is a must
Meet the Acrobat Ant
In the wild, acrobat ants live in open pine woods and other warm, dry woodland around the Mediterranean. They nest in trees, stumps and dead wood, and chew wood fibres into paper-like nest walls, a little like wasps do.
When an acrobat ant feels threatened, it lifts its heart-shaped gaster (back end) up over its head and releases a tiny defensive drop. Nestmates rush in to help. It is harmless to people, but great fun to watch.
They are not only found in southern Europe. We have found Crematogaster scutellaris in the UK ourselves, and one of our customers found it in Devon.
New queens and males fly out on their mating flights on warm evenings from August to October. A mated queen then seals herself in a small chamber and raises her first workers alone.
In southern Europe they are an important hunter of the fig wasp, the tiny insect that pollinates figs.
When Your Ants Arrive
The most important step: leave the parcel completely unopened, exactly as it arrived, at room temperature for 5 hours. The ants must adjust to your home's temperature slowly, because abrupt temperature changes make ants seriously unwell.
After the 5 hours, check the queen is safe and sound. Then leave the colony in its original packaging, with the test tube still in its tin foil and wrapping, somewhere quiet and still, away from daily household activity. Daylight is fine, never direct sunlight.
Give the colony 4 to 5 days of complete rest. The ants were fed before dispatch, so they need nothing from you. Use this time to set up and water the nest. 👉 Our step-by-step ant farm setup guide shows you how.
Still workers or a motionless queen after delivery are almost always delivery stress. Look at the queen's antennae: moving antennae mean she is fine. Almost all recover within 4 to 5 days.
Life in the Test Tube
Acrobat ant workers are tiny, so the colony must grow big in its test tube first. Keep it there until it has at least 50 workers. Moved earlier, the workers abandon the queen in the bigger space, and the colony can fail. The same rule applies to a queen bought on her own.
A queen on her own still needs a little food. Once a week, give her a tiny drop of protein jelly, about half a grain of rice, on a small flat piece of tin foil inside the tube, next to the dry cotton stopper.
In our experience a fed queen raises her first workers faster, and the queen and colony do far better afterwards. Keep her tube wrapped in its foil and disturb her as little as possible.
Moving Into the Ant Farm
When the colony is ready, connect the test tube to the nest with the delivery tin foil still on. Leave it like that for 14 days.
Then slide the foil back about 1mm every day until the tube is fully exposed to daylight. If the ants haven't moved 2 days later, wrap the foil back on, wait another fortnight and repeat. Moving in can take from a couple of days to 6 months.
Once the colony has moved, leave the old test tube connected for at least another 14 days, as ants sometimes leave brood behind.
The red filter and black cover stay on the nest all the time. You can lift the black cover once a day for 2 to 3 minutes, ideally at night, and take the red filter off once a week for 2 to 3 minutes. Take colony photos once a month at most.
The Best Ant Farm for Acrobat Ants
Here is the honest part. Acrobat ants are wood and paper nesters, and they grow fast. Two things follow: they need a well-sealed, escape-proof home, and a growing colony will need more space within a year or two.
Their strong jaws can chew soft materials, so check the seals and connections of your setup regularly. In our experience they settle happily in a good ready-made nest. You don't need to give them wood, and DIY wood, cork or plaster nests are never a good idea.
👉 Start with the A7 Plus ant farm kit. Its pre-installed digital meter shows nest temperature and humidity at a glance. If you already have your ants, choose its Nest + Outworld option.
👉 When the colony runs into the thousands, move up to a bigger home such as the A6 ant farm kit with meter, which also has a digital meter, and connect it the same gentle way.
Place the ant farm in normal daylight, never direct sunlight. Avoid windows, radiators and heaters, vibrating surfaces, speakers and TVs, and rooms with strong smells such as the kitchen.
Temperature and Heating
Keep the nest at 21 to 24°C. In a warm home, that needs little or no heating.
In a cool home, though, where the room stays around 20°C or below, the brood takes far longer to develop. 👉 There, an Advanced Heating System Small 4W set to 24°C makes a big difference.
The heat mat goes under one quarter of the nest only, on the side opposite the watering area, so the ants can choose their spot. Never heat the whole nest.
In the outworld, aim for about 18°C overnight up to 28°C by day. By day it should ideally match the nest or be a degree or two cooler. If the nest is heated, warm the outworld too, because a big gap confuses the ants.
Water and Humidity
Keep the nest humidity at 50 to 60%. Use distilled or purified water only. Never use tap water, rainwater or bottled mineral water, even boiled: they cause mould and fungus, which is deadly for ants.
Water the nest with the pipette provided. Pour slowly, a few drops at a time, through the watering hole. Stop as soon as 1 or 2 drops appear inside the nest. That is how you know it is done correctly.
Water about once a week, a little more in summer and a little less in winter. With a meter, simply water when the nest humidity drops below 50%.
Never water the outworld. Keep it dry, at about 50% humidity, like an average UK home. A watering test tube in the outworld gives the workers a safe drink.
Feeding Your Acrobat Ants
A fast-growing colony has a big appetite. Feed twice a week, in small amounts, in the outworld only. Remove leftovers after 2 days to stop mould.
🍯 For energy, give our 👉 organic ant honey or 👉 Ant Nectar, which has even more carbohydrates than honey. Both are far better than sugar water or home-made mixes.
🥩 For the queen and brood, give 👉 Protein Jelly or 👉 Cricket Mash. Keep protein jelly in the fridge at all times.
Serve food on a small piece of tin foil or in a 👉 small feeding dish, so leftovers are easy to lift out.
In the wild they hunt small insects such as flies. Live food, such as crickets or locusts, is only for big, established colonies, never small ones.
Always scald it first: wearing gloves, hold it with tweezers in just-boiled water (above 90°C, no longer bubbling) for 10 to 15 seconds, then cut it in half and serve it in the outworld.
Keep Mites Out of Your Colony
Blood-sucking mites are one of the biggest dangers for any ant colony, and they are not rare. They often arrive with bird seed from local shops, dried mealworms (useless as ant food), and live food from pet shops or online, where about half carries mites.
Buy ant food only from established, reputable ant-keeping suppliers. At Best Ants UK we clean our foods in several ways before dispatch, check every colony twice a month, and check each colony again before it leaves us.
A home freezer won't kill all the mites in seeds, so never rely on it. We freeze our seeds below -60°C in a special freezer before they reach you.
Now and then, look at your queen with a magnifying glass. Tiny white or reddish specks on her joints and legs, together with ants dying fast, are a warning sign of blood-sucking mites.
Stopping Escapes
Acrobat ants are small, quick climbers, so escape prevention is a must. Paint a band of 👉 PTFE Fluon escape barrier around the top inner edge of the outworld lid. The ants slip off it and can't climb out.
PTFE wears off as the ants keep testing the same spots. For a colony of up to about 100 ants, reapply it roughly every 4 weeks. Once the colony reaches 300 to 500 ants or more, which happens quickly with this species, reapply it about every 2 weeks.
Never shake the bottle, because it foams. Roll it gently in your hands instead.
Winter Care
Acrobat ants from the Mediterranean have a natural winter rest from mid-October to the end of March. Their development slows down in that time whatever you do, because their biological clock can't be tricked.
A cool rest at a steady 12 to 15°C suits them, but only in a specialised hibernation unit with precise temperature control. Without one, simply keep them at room temperature. We never hibernate queens in their first year.
Never use a fridge, shed or garage, and never move the colony from a warm room straight into the cold. Abrupt temperature changes are dangerous for every ant.
Feed less in winter, but never guess. At 17 to 22°C, give about a third of the summer amount. At 22 to 26°C, give about half. In a cool hibernation rest, give fresh water only and no food.
Can I Release My Acrobat Ants?
We never advise releasing a colony raised indoors, as it is unlikely to survive outside. If you can't keep your colony any more, 👉 visit our ant adoption page and let us know. We'll see whether we can take it in.
Frequently Asked Questions | FAQ
Is Crematogaster scutellaris good for beginners?
It is an intermediate species. The ants are fast, bold and great fun, but the colony grows quickly, needs more space as it does, and must have a fresh PTFE barrier. A beginner who reads this guide carefully can do well with it.
Why is it called the acrobat ant?
When an acrobat ant feels threatened, it flips its heart-shaped back end (the gaster) up over its head and releases a tiny defensive drop. It looks like a little acrobat doing a handstand.
How many workers before moving acrobat ants into a nest?
At least 50 workers. The workers are only 3 to 4mm long, so a smaller colony is lost in an ant farm and can die. The same rule applies to a queen bought on her own.
What temperature do Crematogaster scutellaris need?
Keep the nest at 21 to 24°C. In a cool home where the room stays around 20°C or below, an Advanced Heating System set to 24°C under one quarter of the nest keeps the brood growing.
Do Crematogaster scutellaris hibernate?
Yes, they have a winter rest from mid-October to the end of March. A cool rest is only safe in a specialised hibernation unit with precise control. Otherwise, keep them at room temperature. We don't hibernate queens in their first year.
Do acrobat ants need a wooden nest?
No. In the wild they chew wood into paper-like nests, but in our experience they settle well in a good ready-made nest. Plan for a bigger nest as the colony grows, and never use DIY wood or cork nests.
What do Crematogaster scutellaris eat?
Organic honey or Ant Nectar for energy, and Protein Jelly or Cricket Mash for the queen and brood. Feed twice a week, in the outworld only, and remove leftovers after 2 days.
Start Your Own Acrobat Ant Colony
👉 Find Crematogaster scutellaris queens and colonies in our shop, and enjoy one of the most colourful and lively ants you can keep.
Print this guide and keep it next to your ant farm. 👉 Keep the essentials close and explore all our free ant care sheets.
