Pacific Velvet Ant

Description

The Pacific Velvet Ant is Dasymutilla aureola. Coloration tends to be red and sometimes orange. They are a medium-sized species measuring a little under half an inch, on average.

See photos of this species on Bugguide.net

Please note that this wingless wasp has a very powerful sting! Not recommended for children as pets. Buyer Beware!

Limit 3 per person at this time due to low inventory. If you see fewer than that available and want four, shoot me an email. I relist them as they sell but sometimes I sleep or whatever. 😉

If you have an allergy to bee stings, you might want to think twice. The stings from these insects are significantly more painful than stings from honeybees, for example.

We make no allowance for lifespan on these adult, wild-collected insects. Please view the video below for a general tank set up reference. The species in the video do not match the species being sold through this listing.

Velvet ants are very active, interesting pet bugs and they are among the best of all pet bugs in terms of activity levels and entertainment in my opinion. They may live 0 to 2 years in captivity.

Room temperature is fine though a 60 watt bulb atop the metal, screened lid of the tank will activate them, especially in the evening hours.

These make wonderful communal tankmates with death feigning beetles, darkling beetles and other tenebrionidae family beetles.

Velvet ants can live exclusively on the beetle jelly product that I offer below. They provide the moisture and sugar/fuel content to keep them alive and active. Every few days, I mist the tank and the jelly product as it does have a tendency to dry out under the heat lamp if you’re running one with a screened lid. A sponge soaked in sugar water works too.

Video below showcases a variety of species.