ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Azzer]

Not very good quality pics I'm afraid - my camera is dead and this old camera is the best I could find (and it doesn't like doing closeups)... still it gives people an idea of the setup

The magazine is just to give some darkness in the Y-Tong until they settle in. I may try and get some red perspec/red plastic of some sort to go over it as I heard rumour that it's only the Lasius species' that can see red light? Anyone any experience with either having Myrmica Ruba in the "open light" in a Y-Tong, or in comparison under red plastic/red lights?

Anyway, the (not so great) pics of my initial setup (and first attempt at a Y-Tong) below

[4mykids]

Looks like Ant paradise ; )

Good stuff here.

[4mykids]

Forgot to ask -

The bird feeder is an excellent idea for this set up -

Does the solution ever get a bit moldy of turn to an alcohol flavor?

[Azzer]

Forgot to ask -
The bird feeder is an excellent idea for this set up -
Does the solution ever get a bit moldy of turn to an alcohol flavor?

It can after a while. Honey is a natural preservative so from the honey side it does keep a while, but you will want to take it out and give it a very good clean out every once in a while (just lift it up and very lightly brush the ants off with some cotton wool to get it out safely without hurting the ants ) as like anything that has standing water in for a length of time, you can get green mold develop in it. Personally I'd say once every couple of months is the minimum you should clean it out, preferably more like once every 2 weeks or so though - give them fresh honey & sugar water and give the bird feeder a safe (ie - non-toxic cleaning materials) clean & scrub.

[Necturus]

I agree,very nice

4mykds, if you drop some grains in it, youll have Antbeer after a while
Greetings,
Necturus

[4mykids]

I have had some luck with can cat food beleive it or not, especially the smaller ant species, the wetter the better : )

[Sam]

Setup looks good. How long have they been in there? They look quite busy.
Will you be covering the test tube?

[Azzer]

Setup looks good. How long have they been in there? They look quite busy.
Will you be covering the test tube?

They have only been in for 1 day now - not even that in fact. I put them in last night about 9 PM - I had spent the afternoon building the colony (and had to nip out to B&Q - a large hardware shop for those not in the UK not knowing what that is - to get things a few times like a silicone gun ).

When I put them in, I put the test tube where you see it (picture # 1, bottom of the picture, and the last picture too) and removed the seal (so the entrance of the test tube was facing the entrance of the tube that connected to the Y-Tong) - without exaggerating, ants instantly went up the tube (before anywhere else) - like within 10 seconds an ant was half way up the tube. Within an hour, the queen had moved in to the Y-Tong, and all of the eggs were being taken up there. They settled in incredibly fast. It took about 4 hours before all the ants had cleared the test-tube though.

Ants still keep coming in and out of the test-tube, so I am leaving it in just temporarily - I think they must still be going for some food left in the tube by the AntStore guys or something (there is something brownish in there, looks vaguely spongelike, I do not know what it is, is it some sort of food the Antstore guys put in new colonies/test tubes?)... but ultimately the test tube will be removed once they stop being so interested in it still.

[Sam]

Well done that lad, the Y-Tong must have seemed extremely inviting to them, my lasius took about 4 weeks to move into their display. No need to cover the old test tube now then.

Think the brown stuff might be ant sh**.

[JimmyVe]

Very nice Azzer, a really paradise like 4mykids said. (if i had more time, i made mine like yours )

Myrmica sp. are fast movers. Lasius sp. not. It takes them ages to move, from a old to a new nest i mean.

To answer to your question. I tried it out with Myrmica rubra i covered up a part with black folio a part with red folio and left a part uncovered. The uncovered part they didn't like. The other to where just the same to the ants. For as i know red folio is good for al species except for Lasius sp. like you said.

Ah, 1 question. Do they can move into the hole nest, i mean is the hole nest open for the colony ? If the colony is so small like yours it is better to close down a part of the nest. otherwise they are going to use same chambers to dump trash. If the nest is to big they can not keep it clean.

[Azzer]

To answer to your question. I tried it out with Myrmica rubra i covered up a part with black folio a part with red folio and left a part uncovered. The uncovered part they didn't like. The other to where just the same to the ants. For as i know red folio is good for al species except for Lasius sp. like you said.

Excellent, this is the information I was after, thanks Now I just need to find something appropriate... I am not sure what product to buy or where to buy it from! Anybody in the UK know what sort of store I might find some, basically see-through red plastic or perspex? I don't want to place another order from AntStore just for this 1 item.

Ah, 1 question. Do they can move into the hole nest, i mean is the hole nest open for the colony ? If the colony is so small like yours it is better to close down a part of the nest. otherwise they are going to use same chambers to dump trash. If the nest is to big they can not keep it clean.

Unfortunately it is all connected. I knew this would be 1 potential problem but I had not heard any good ideas on how to expand a Y-Tong nest safely (if you have glass stuck down, then taking the glass off would need a razor blade or similar to break the silicone seal, but then surely all of the ants would just start running around all over the top of the Y-Tong, making it too hard to place the glass back down afterwards without squashing them... and you would disturb them greatly carving out a new entrance to the expansion area too?). If it gets bad and needs cleaning by me, I can razor-blade the seal of the left hand pane of glass (the 1 you can see in the pics) as not many ants go in that area while the colony is small... there are actually 2 seperate plates of glass sealing the nest down, 1 over the "covered" area (where all the ants are), and 1 over the 'future expansion' area.

But, for future reference (for myself, and for anyone else reading this) - do you have any experience with expanding a Y-Tong nest? How did you go about doing it (can you describe the entire procedure in full)?

Cheers again JimmyVe

[sithmaster676]

hi all
i have had experience expanding ytong in the past and i will try to explain how i do it.
when i first buy a ytong block i make all of the chambers and tunnels then make an entrance tunnel, and also a separate tunnel which sticks out the side of the block, when the colony is placed into the setup i fill the extra hole with cotton wool so that no ants escape.
when the time comes to adding extra bit onto my block i remove the cotton wool and add a piece of tubing to the hole connected to another piece of ytong i wrap, (but you must make sure the the tube isn't very long or the may move into it) i then wrap the extra tube in tin foil so that it is not unnatural for the ants and cover the new piece like i would the old.
i hope this has helped
Sithmaster676

[Sam]

@Azzer. You could buy some of those transparent plastic document covers/folders, from any good stationary shop, they come in a variety of colours and then cut them to size.

Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar

[JimmyVe]

But, for future reference (for myself, and for anyone else reading this) - do you have any experience with expanding a Y-Tong nest? How did you go about doing it (can you describe the entire procedure in full)?

If i have the time i will take a picture of one of my setups.

[Bob]

great setup! Bravo! Wish there more up close pics of the ants inside their nest, especially of the queen and her brood. I like the idea of the nest partially standing in a cup of water. Does the nest soak up water that way? And does the water get evenly distributed throughout the nest?