I had to wait 7 years...but, I'm finally setting-up a tank for Velvet Ants!

Well, to make a very long story short - I used to keep large collections of live inverts, ~ 20 yrs ago. Then I stopped. And, stuck to deadstock only.
My DW then got used to the idea; that I wasn't going to keep live Inverts anymore...

...For the past ~7 yrs or so, I've been wanting to keep a tank of "Velvet Ants" ...With the DW, "prohibiting" me from doing it... *sigh* She happened to see an e-mail (from this moron I used to buy Leps from), that said "...did you know that they have been reported to kill livestock?" (Oooo I was mad!)

So, every year, for the past 7+ Yrs, I check the Dealer's Stock's... I watch the varieties of species come...and go.

But, this year (for my B-day) The DW decided she's going to give in, and let me set-up a tank of them.
So, I'm really looking forward to getting a nice assortment of them. And, it just so happened, that Peter, at Bugs In Cyberspace just got a TON of them in stock! Yay!
Order has been placed! I went with 10 for now...
I figure some of those large, black & red ones, maybe a Thistle Down, Fuzzy Orange, etc. A small piece of cactus wood, and some Jellies completed the order.
I also ordered a really cool 3 gal custom acrylic tank (off e-bay) and it's already here. Just waiting for various other stuff to arrive (sand, Cacti, etc.) Will def. post pics soon! Right now, I've only taken pics of the empty tank.

Cool, good luck with that. I've never kept those, just never been interested enough. I see them every year here in Texas. I saw one 4 days ago when I was collecting some seeds on the side of the road from a plant I've wanted for a couple years now, they keep mowing them down. I was stung by one at camp when I was a little kid, one of those big red ones. We were hiking and I touched it's back. I thought it would never be able to get me if I touched it's back but it did. MAN that hurt but I didn't tell anybody, I just kept walking like nothing happened haha. Are they hard to keep alive?

Very easy to keep alive. I have kept them alive for over a year and a half. I just give them brown sugar dissolved in water.

What is a DW?

I think it stands for "downer wife". hehehahaha

MrCrackerpants said:

What is a DW?

Click to expand...

Dyspeptic Wombat. Same thing.

Thanks. No, they are super-easy to keep: They just drink nectar / nectar substitutes - Like sugar water, honey+water, and beetle jellies.

---------- Post added 08-23-2014 at 11:28 AM ----------

Galapoheros said:

I think it stands for "downer wife". hehehahaha

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Close enough! lol!

Hey there welcome back!

I got a pretty one and it's quite hardy, just provide a couple inches of substrate to burrow and provide some honey now and then. Super cute.

https://vimeo.com/104359754

They are pretty.. and have a pretty wide variation between different species of them I don't think I could keep them though as my husband and brother in law are both allergic to wasps and bees.

The large red and black ones are Dasymutilla occidentalis, careful! They have the most painful sting of all velvet ants!

Velvet ants are pretty neat little pets, I have two that I've had for about a month, both males though. They aren't cool in the same way that tarantulas are, since they don't hunt live prey, but they're entertaining in their own right.

For some reason the two I still have fight a lot. Here's a video of it that I caught:

[video=youtube;_r6XxKUsSbE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r6XxKUsSbE[/video]

That is really kool. I feel bad for the other guy...He got paralyzed Did he recover?
Fascinating. I presume you caught them locally? Man, I wish I could get a few males, just for grins.
But, I love Wasps soo much - That I wouldn't enjoy seeing them get hurt (even if it's each other doing it).
I just love hunting wasps (and mining bees, etc., etc., etc.)

Polistes said:

Velvet ants are pretty neat little pets, I have two that I've had for about a month, both males though. They aren't cool in the same way that tarantulas are, since they don't hunt live prey, but they're entertaining in their own right.

For some reason the two I still have fight a lot. Here's a video of it that I caught:

[video=youtube;_r6XxKUsSbE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r6XxKUsSbE[/video]

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He was perfectly fine, I was worried for a second since he stayed stone still on his back for like 5 minutes, but I poked him and he ran off like nothing happened.

If you want a tip to find the males, just look around any flower that attracts wasps, you'll find one if you're lucky.

I wish I had kept the last one I found. I didn't know they were so easy to care for.

Since in nature they are a solitary wasp, how well do multiples tolerate each other in one enclosure?

Formerphobe said:

Since in nature they are a solitary wasp, how well do multiples tolerate each other in one enclosure?

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I have kept them in large groups and not had any problems.