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Atlas / Library / Formicidae / Giant forest ant
AdvancedNocturnal · sleeping now
Formicidae

Giant forest ant

Dinomyrmex gigasมดยักษ์ (generic 'giant ant')Camponotus gigas

Part of this is not on the page we cite. We opened it on 10 Aug 2026 and some of the degrees above are not stated there. The values above may still be right, but we cannot show you where they came from, and nobody here has checked them against a second source. Anything about a sick animal goes to a qualified exotic vet, not to a page. thewildmartin.com

Photograph: Philipp Hoenle · CC0

Photographed by an observer on iNaturalist and published under a Creative Commons licence; the photographer and the licence are named under the image. It is not an animal of ours, and no animal was handled by us to produce it.

14:00
Day

Drag the sun. Giant forest ant is nocturnal, so what it is doing changes with the light.

Arboreal · warm · humidFrom the sheet: 26–30°C, humidity 60–80%

The way of life is written in this sheet, word for word. The climate words summarise the two figures above them, they do not add to them.

National law is not global, and we hold no national wildlife law for any country, Thailand included. Check your own authority before buying or selling.

Check your setup against this sheet I keep one 123 plants usable with this species
Back to the globe My keep

https://keepr.pet/husbandry/en/dinomyrmex-gigas

‹ All husbandry guides
Temperature26–30 °C
Humidity60–80 %

The numbers

Temperature

152025303540 °C
26–30°Ambient

One ambient band, 26–30°C. This sheet states no warm side, no cool side and no night figure, so none are shown. Same scale on every sheet here, so two species compare by eye.

The sheet states26-30C

Humidity

60–80%Target RH

The sheet states60-80%

Enclosure
Founding test tube; mature needs large multi-chamber nest + big outworld

Identity

Adult size

1.75 m2 cm
1520100400 cm
2 cmNose to tail, adult

The size the sheet states for a grown animal.

Why

Two drawings, because they answer two questions. The silhouette is at true scale against a 1.75 m person: it says how big this animal actually is, which no number does for someone who has never seen one. The bar under it is logarithmic and shared by every sheet here, so a 2 cm isopod and a 4 m python both stay readable on the same axis and two species can be compared at a glance.

Order / Family
Hymenoptera
Origin
IUCN / CITES
Not evaluated; CITES not yet in our data
Difficulty
Advanced
Commonality
Rare 'holy-grail' species; seldom in trade
Adult size
Worker ~20mm, soldier ~28mm; queen ~50mm (one of the largest ants)
Lifespan
Queen long-lived (10+ yrs est.); colony perennial, polydomous
Growth rate
Slow
Activity & niche
Arboreal/ground, strongly nocturnal; honeydew farmer
Temperament
Docile but defensive; slow-moving
Venom / defense
Large bite + formic acid; no sting; bite can pinch skin

Enclosure and conditions

Temperature
26-30C
Humidity
60-80%
Min. enclosure
Founding test tube; mature needs large multi-chamber nest + big outworld
Substrate
Soil/clay nest or large ytong; humid outworld
Hides / decor / water
High humidity, deep hides; water tower

What your climate adds

This sheet states a range to hold. Your local climate decides how much work holding it is. Pick the nearest city: nothing is sent anywhere, the choice stays in this browser.

Diet

Feeding rhythm

Food stays available

The sheet states food is always present rather than given on a cycle, so there is no interval to draw.

The sheet statesSugar/honeydew (90% of diet) + occasional insect protein · Sugar always; protein 1-2x/week

Staple food
Sugar/honeydew (90% of diet) + occasional insect protein
Feeding frequency
Sugar always; protein 1-2x/week

Behaviour and handling

HandlingNot handled
CommunalSingle colony (multi-nest); do not mix
Defense / stress signsSlow retreat, gaster-tuck, mandible display

Reproduction

Reproduction
Fully-claustral founding after nuptial flight; colonies grow slowly to ~7,000 across several nests

Common health problems

Common health issues
SignsFounding failure, dehydration, slow recovery from stress
Red flags / quarantine
SignsWild-caught; hard to establish; confirm true mated queen

Good to know

  • Among the largest ants on Earth; foragers patrol set trails at night

What it needs

A thermometerbecause temp — 26-30C
A hygrometerbecause humidity — 60-80%
Not stated: The size of the enclosurethis sheet describes the enclosure without a figure: « Founding test tube; mature needs large multi-chamber nest + big outworld »

Every line above is deduced from a value this sheet states, and names which one. Nothing here is a general recommendation. What the sheet does not state is listed too, rather than left out: a kit that looks complete is worse than one that names its gap.

Sources

antwiki.orgthewildmartin.com

Others in this group

Asian weaver ant (green tree ant)Oecophylla smaragdinaNicobar carpenter antCamponotus nicobarensisAsian spiny/golden weaver antPolyrhachis divesAsian marauder/power antCarebara diversaAsian jumping antHarpegnathos venatorBlack garden antLasius nigerMediterranean harvester antMessor barbarusFellah carpenter antCamponotus fellah

What this sheet states

100%
TemperatureHumidityEnclosure sizeActivityOriginDietSourcesUVB

Every field this product runs on is stated here. That is not a claim that the values are right: it says what the sheet states, not whether it is true. Whether a human has read it is the badge at the top of this page.

UVB is measured but does not count: it is absent from 421 of 678 sheets, and on most of them that is not a gap, since a nocturnal snake's sheet has no reason to state a UV index. Counting it would call the library incomplete without cause.