How to Care for Myrmecocystus kennedyi | The Citrus Honeypot Ant Guide
Photo: harrier, via iNaturalist, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Myrmecocystus kennedyi is a bright, sun-loving honeypot ant from the deserts and dry sagebrush country of the western USA. Its queen is a vivid orange, and some of its workers swell up with nectar until they look like tiny amber beads.
It is known as the citrus honeypot ant. This guide explains Myrmecocystus kennedyi care step by step, from a single queen to a busy colony with its own living larder.
Myrmecocystus kennedyi is a North American ant, and Best Ants UK does not sell it. It may be illegal or impossible to import into the UK, and we never encourage importing ants. This guide is for keepers where it is native, and for anyone curious about it.
We have kept ants since 1997, and the care rules here are the same ones we use for our own colonies every day.
👉 In a hurry? Download our free Myrmecocystus kennedyi care sheet (PDF), open the Myrmecocystus kennedyi care sheet page or explore all our free ant care sheets.
Myrmecocystus kennedyi at a Glance
Also known as: the citrus honeypot ant
Origin: the western USA and north-western Mexico, from Idaho and Oregon south to Baja California and Sonora
Sold by Best Ants UK: no, it is a North American species
Keeping level: Intermediate
Queen: about 11 to 13mm, bright orange with a dark gaster
Workers: about 4.5 to 8mm, orange-red head and thorax with a dark gaster; repletes swell much bigger
Colony: one queen, hundreds of workers in the first year and more than 1,000 later
Nest temperature: 26 to 30°C, with a cooler area
Nest humidity: 50 to 60%, on the dry side
Workers before moving into a nest: 10 minimum, 15 to 20 recommended
Winter: no hibernation needed; keep warm all year (an optional 2 to 3 month slowdown at room temperature is fine)
Escape risk: high, fast and active workers, so a PTFE barrier is a must
Meet the Citrus Honeypot Ant
In the wild, Myrmecocystus kennedyi lives from the sagebrush plains of southern Idaho and Oregon down through Nevada, Utah, California and Arizona into north-western Mexico. In the south it lives in hot creosote bush and cactus desert.
It nests in bare, open ground, away from plants and thick grass, and prefers loose, well-drained, gritty soil. A mature nest has a neat crater of dug-out grains around the entrance.
Unlike many honeypot ants, this one is a day ant. The workers forage in the heat of the middle of the day, when most other insects are hiding from the sun.
They collect sweet honeydew from aphids and mealybugs, sip nectar from flowers and plant stems, and scavenge dead insects. Now and then a group of workers will even tackle live prey together, such as a small spider.
Sweet liquid goes to the repletes, special workers that store it in their swollen gasters and hang from the chamber ceilings. When food runs short, they pass it back to their sisters drop by drop.
Each colony has one queen. After the mating flight, a young queen digs a small chamber and raises her first workers alone. With warmth and plenty of food, the colony can grow quickly.
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, with no food. A good supplier feeds the ants before dispatch. Use this time to set up and water the nest. 👉 Our step-by-step ant farm setup guide shows you exactly 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, and a big queen like this one can take a little longer.
Life in the Test Tube
Keep the colony in its test tube until it has at least 10 workers. 15 to 20 is even better. Moved earlier, the workers often abandon the queen in the bigger space, and the colony can fail. The same rule applies to a queen 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, keep it warm and disturb her as little as possible.
A founding queen likes it warm, at about 26 to 28°C. If your room is cool, warm the tube with a heating cable at the cotton stopper end only. Never lay a test tube on a heat mat.
With steady warmth, the brood takes roughly 7 to 9 weeks from egg to worker.
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 Myrmecocystus kennedyi
A young honeypot colony feels safest in a small nest it can fill. The home must be well made and escape-proof, because the workers are quick and curious.
Our top pick is the A7 Plus ant farm kit (you will find the link at the end of this guide). Its pre-installed digital meter shows nest temperature and humidity at a glance, which makes heating and watering far easier for a warmth-loving desert ant.
👉 As the colony grows past several hundred ants, the A6 ant farm kit with meter gives it more room, also with a built-in meter.
Place the ant farm in normal daylight, never direct sunlight: the sun can overheat a nest within minutes. Avoid windows, radiators and heaters, vibrating surfaces, speakers and TVs, and rooms with strong smells such as the kitchen.
Temperature and Heating
Citrus honeypot ants come from hot, sunny land, and warmth drives their growth. Keep the nest at 26 to 30°C, with a cooler area the ants can move to whenever they like. Full repletes can't move quickly, so the workers need room to carry them and the brood to a better spot.
Almost every UK home is cooler than that. 👉 The Advanced Heating System Small 4W holds a steady warm spot with its digital thermostat. Set it to 28°C.
The heat mat goes under one quarter of the nest only, on the side opposite the watering area. Never heat the whole nest: the unheated part is the cooler area the ants need.
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
This is a desert ant that does best in dry ground, so keep the nest on the dry side, at 50 to 60% humidity. 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. A heated nest dries out faster, so check the meter often and water when the nest humidity drops below 50%. Too much water is a bigger risk than too little.
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 Honeypot Ants
Sugars matter more for honeypot ants than for almost any other ant, because the colony stores them for hard times. 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. Offer it at every feed and never let them run short. Both are far better than sugar water or home-made mixes.
🥩 For the queen and brood, give 👉 Protein Jelly or 👉 Cricket Mash. These ants scavenge insects in the wild, so protein is just as important as sugar for a growing colony. 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.
Live food, such as small crickets, 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 only, and serve it in the outworld. As a rare treat, a rice-grain-sized piece of peeled grape or banana is fine too.
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 and off-licences, 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 before dispatch, check every colony twice a month, and check each colony again before it leaves us.
Live food always gets the scalding step above. 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
Citrus honeypot workers are fast, active and keen explorers, 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 small colony of up to about 100 ants, reapply it roughly every 4 weeks. For 300 to 500 ants or more, reapply it about every 2 weeks.
Never shake the bottle, because it foams. Roll it gently in your hands instead.
Winter Care
Myrmecocystus kennedyi needs no hibernation, and a cold rest is not recommended. Kept warm, the colony keeps growing right through the winter, so keep the heater on at 26 to 30°C and keep feeding.
Some colonies still slow down in winter, because their biological clock can't be tricked. If yours does, you can switch the heater off and let it rest at room temperature, around 20°C, for 2 to 3 months. Never do this in a queen's first year.
Never put ants in a fridge, shed or garage, and avoid any abrupt temperature change. After the rest, bring the nest back up to full warmth gradually, over a few days.
Keep honey or Ant Nectar available all through a rest, because the repletes store it for the colony. Give less protein, and never guess: at 17 to 22°C, about a third of the summer amount; at 22 to 26°C, about half.
Can I Release My Ants?
No. A colony raised indoors won't survive outside, and a North American honeypot ant doesn't belong in the wild here. If you ever 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 Myrmecocystus kennedyi good for beginners?
It is an intermediate species. The colony needs steady warmth, plenty of sugars, careful watering and a fresh PTFE barrier. For a very first colony, a beginner species such as Lasius niger or Messor barbarus is easier.
Can I buy Myrmecocystus kennedyi in the UK?
Best Ants UK does not sell Myrmecocystus kennedyi. It is a North American ant, and it may be illegal or impossible to import into the UK. We never encourage importing ants.
Why is it called the citrus honeypot ant?
Because of its colours. The queen is a bright orange, like the peel of a tangerine, and the workers have an orange-red head and thorax with a dark gaster.
What temperature do Myrmecocystus kennedyi need?
Keep the nest at 26 to 30°C, with a cooler area the ants can move to. In a UK home, an Advanced Heating System set to 28°C under one quarter of the nest gives them that warmth.
How many workers before moving Myrmecocystus kennedyi into a nest?
At least 10 workers, and 15 to 20 is even better. Moved too early, the workers often abandon the queen in the bigger space. The same rule applies to a queen on her own.
Do Myrmecocystus kennedyi hibernate?
No. This desert honeypot ant needs no hibernation, and a cold rest is not recommended. Keep it warm and fed all year. If a colony slows down in winter, you can let it rest at room temperature, around 20°C, for 2 to 3 months, then warm it back up gradually.
Do citrus honeypot ants sting?
No. They have no sting, but the workers are quick and can bite. As with every ant, never handle them.
Start Your Own Honeypot Ant Colony
Citrus honeypot ants are not sold by Best Ants UK. For UK keepers looking for a honeypot ant, 👉 explore our Myrmecocystus mexicanus colonies: a different species, golden-yellow and active at night, and far more sensitive to excess moisture and mould.
👉 Give them a warm, easy-to-check home with our A7 Plus ant farm kit, with its pre-installed digital meter and a Nest + Outworld option if you already have your ants. Print this guide and keep it next to your ant farm.
