A few Newbie Questions on Lasius niger & a Setup

A few Newbie Questions on Lasius niger & a Setup

Beitragvon Renster » 13. Jul 2010 06:18

Hiya Peeps, New to the forum.

Ive just ordered a Queen and about 20 Workers or Lasius Niger, I have a lot of experience breeding certain Insects (Crickets and Mealworms for my Gecko's) but Ive never kept ants lol and before it gets thrown at me, Yes Ive done my research on the species but there is a few things I can't find answers for (Hence why I am here asking).

One other thing I will say which has me pickled: The site I bought the Ants from states that "Lasius Niger eat gass seeds" now this may well be true but almost every site I have found states that they don't..... Which is rather annoying considering I bought a Kilo bag of seeds when I ordered them :x

I am going to buy sand tomorrow as I need it for both my Gecko's and for the Ants that are on their way. Thinking of it, I should probably get in contact with my Mailman and tell him to front seat that parcel as he has a habit of tossing parcels around (Receiving shattered panes of glass is not amusing!)

I will keep them in a 11" x 4" x 5" Exo-Terra Faunarium, I also have a 15" x 15" x 21" Tank waiting for when the colony picks up.

My main question is: I do create mass amounts of Decor for my Gecko's out of Polystyrene coated with Grout/Plaster and/or Varnish.

Would It be OK to make some Decor for the ants out of such materials? Excluding the varnish as I am pretty sure that would be bad if they had a chew on it.

I know that eventually they will probably chew through the polystyrene and tunnel it but is it harmful to them?

Another question is: I use Coco Husk/Coconut Fibre (Compressed/Water Expansion) Bricks for my geckos, would this be OK to top the sand with? It holds moisture extremely well and I have tons of it bagged up.

Can anyone recommend a brand of honey from a supermarket that has no pesticides, I don't want to take the chance and kill my ants on day one because of a stupid error.

Once the colony picks up I may put it in the larger tank I have or I may make some Aircrete/Ytong/Hebel Nests with the Exo-Terra on top.

Also does anyone know when the Mating flights for Lasius Niger are in the UK? I have a MASSIVE nest in my back garden under one of the slabs I am pretty sure it is Lasius Niger but then again all I can say right now is that it is a Native small black ant :P I have seen a few winged ants about but haven't found any Mated/Wingless Queens yet. I remember a few years ago I did spot 8 or 9 *What I would assume to be* mated queens plus a hefty amount flying about. If its like that again this year I could possibly get another colony going from them.

The slab which the colony was under is now broken into 3 large pieces, I will take a look under one of the pieces about 11 today and check to see if they are still there.


Cheers!
Renster
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Re: A few Newbie Questions on Lasius niger & a Setup

Beitragvon SteveUK28 » 13. Jul 2010 08:38

Hello and :sign_welcome: to the forum... Its great to see you have done some research... I can confirm that Lasius do NOT eat seeds so that site was pretty wrong.. its Messor that eat seeds. Making Decor should be fine.. and as for Lasius chewing through things.. they dont really so i wouldnt worry there... Honey.. i use tescos own and have never had a problem. As for the coconut fibre i use it on my own ants so yes its cool to use.. in fact i think its prob the best thing you can use. As for the mating flights either they are late this year or i have missed them.. ive not seen any yet... But they will usualy fly when it is hot and just before rain.. or after rain..
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Re: A few Newbie Questions on Lasius niger & a Setup

Beitragvon Renster » 13. Jul 2010 16:20

Thanks for the reply mate!

Woot!

After an hour of messing around in the back garden (I own ferrets, so was feeding and cleaning) I spotted a little trail of ants coming out from under the slab I talked about, must have been around 20-30, I lifted one of the smaller pieces of slab and found the nest was still there! There was easily 100 + under the slab plus there was a few winged one's wandering around and a ton of pupae.

I live up in the hills and recently we have had extremely hot days and a few days of rain mostly heavy but short spells and I have only ever seen flights after some heavy rain.

I popped into Focus DIY to see if they had any Aircrete (It was worth the laugh)...... The supposed "master of bricks" (<One of the staff actually said this as they referred me to him) tried telling me Aircrete/Ytong/Hebel/Thermalite (I tried all these names) is not sold in the UK and never has been... #-o I mean seriously Its a MAJOR material used in the construction of new houses, This is like saying Tea Bags are not sold in the UK and never have been!

Anyway Nipped round to Argos next door and grabbed a big (15kg) bag of play sand for £3.50.

Major bargains in Argos at the Moment!!! I got a black and decker spirit level for 25p! was ready to spend £19 on the model below it :P There is also a Ronson plier set (Variety) for sale for 60p and a ton of other stuff!

Anyway, Ill grab some Tesco honey when I am there next, I may be going to B&Q and buying some Aircrete tomorrow, I stupidly reserved the smallest bricks they had shortly after realizing that I should go with the largest (22KG 45cm x 75cm x 10cm) which was £2 more as I could either cut it to size or block it up for future expansion #-o

Im assuming they will arrive tomorrow just to be safe, so what should I feed them with assuming they do? Sugar water? 1 Teaspoon of sugar -> 1 pint water? then dropper it into a dish then freeze rest?
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Re: A few Newbie Questions on Lasius niger & a Setup

Beitragvon SteveUK28 » 13. Jul 2010 18:32

bud go down to wickes the blocks there are well cheap.. and you can get sightly damaged ones very cheap..

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Re: A few Newbie Questions on Lasius niger & a Setup

Beitragvon Renster » 13. Jul 2010 20:28

Im going to B&Q tomorrow anyway so I will get what I reserved then nip to wickes with my uncle, Prices are pretty much the same so is the size.

The nearest Wickes is twice the distance of the nearest B&Q so I will spend more getting there anyway, Plus I need to pop into maplins to take back a UV Cold Cathode which was DOA.

Thanks for the Info Steve, Ive set up my small Exo-Terra for now: Here's a few pictures.

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Im gonna go with the Aircrete nest but I am keeping the Exo on standby incase they arrive and I don't have the nest made.

I have an acrylic panel outside thats a bit war-torn and covered in all sorts of paints and varnishes, Any ideas on how I could clean it? I will flame polish it once its cleaned.

Was thinking maybe paint thinners or turpentine or something of a similar effect, but I don't know if it will etch/frost the perspex.

Sorry for the Quality of the pics, My phones flash was not working due to low battery.

Its a 5 MP camera so aint exactly a garbage lol just bad lighting. Ill take some once its charged.
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Re: A few Newbie Questions on Lasius niger & a Setup

Beitragvon SteveUK28 » 14. Jul 2010 09:20

well untill ur nest is ready you can keep them in an icecream tub in there test tube.. Lasius are known to not want to move untill there test tube is very full.. like 100+ workers.. so time is on your side :)
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Re: A few Newbie Questions on Lasius niger & a Setup

Beitragvon Renster » 15. Jul 2010 01:23

They arrived today, they are still in the test tube.

So far I have seen about 8 workers having a wander around the Exo-Terra, A few are still in the tube but with the queen and all the mess in the tube its hard to see how many workers there are, I know theres at least 20 eggs as they are stacked at one side of the tube.

The workers have already been eating and taking it back to the tube which is something I wasn't expecting for a few hours but they seemed to do it almost instantly.

Even though I bought them from Life-Unearthed which is UK based the test tube has a sticker on it which says Antstore :P so I guess they must buy their ants from here lol

They all seem healthy and active which is a relief, not one dead that I can see in the tube. Would have been better if they had taped the cap on the tube as when I opened the box the cap was almost off.

Im going to leave them on a cleared space on my desk so I can watch for any escapees.

As for the huge bag of grass seeds which I was told would be an idea to buy and now know are useless, I just threw a pinch in anyway, its not going to hurt them and the workers have moved them up the hill towards the tube. If they don't use them I will just grow them in my Gecko tanks or empty the bag outside.

I got my Aircrete today, I will start carving it tomorrow.
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Re: A few Newbie Questions on Lasius niger & a Setup

Beitragvon ant kid » 6. Sep 2010 08:30

any news?
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