ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Fleur]

If that's true, that in 20 years they are still just a few thousand of them, I might decide to get them. But I need to be "sure" (for as far as that's possible). Where did you get that information?

[JimmyVe]

Size of a full grown colony (Camponotus ligniperda) is estimated at 10.000-15.000 ants. So yes they can still fit in your 1m².

[Fleur]

Size of a full grown colony (Camponotus ligniperda) is estimated at 10.000-15.000 ants. So yes they can still fit in your 1m².

Seriously? And they would still fit?? How on earth do you fit 15.000 ants in 1m2???

[miszt]

a full grown colony will take around 10 years to develop, i wouldnt worry about that to much! also you would need to be able to feed them on the scale they would have in the wild to reach that size, which is virtually impossible, unless you want to raise several thousand crickets and other insects every year aswell!

[tail__]

I don't remember where I read about Camponotus colony size, the different sources may give different info, but i think 15K is really absolute maximum for this species, most grown-up colonies are smaller. It depends of many things, temperature is very important (they would not grow so fast in average 25C, and will probably not reach so huge size even after 10 years)

Remember that ants REALLY like crowd If every ant would need 1 cm^2, then 10.000 will need exactly 1m^2 of 2-d nest, and even large Campo don't need so much space per one ant, they like to be close together and they will feel comfortable with density of 5 ants/cm^3 (maybe the big soldiers would need a little more, but they are a minority) And the nest for huge colony can have several levels (e.g. you can add a new piece when colony grows), so you really don't need to worry about space. And for sure, you will not need to think of it in next 5 years.

[Fleur]

You have a point there.

I don't know. That youtube video really shocked me. Eventhough they were Messors. I think I'm going to see if I can find anyone here in Amsterdam that has an ant-farm I can go visit and see for myself. I think in order to make the final decision, it's best to see it in reality. Anyone else from this forum from Amsterdam or near to Amsterdam?

[JimmyVe]

The nest you saw in the video was not that big. A normal y-tong is 60-25 cm and if you use hole the y-tong you can fit many ants in it. You also need a out world to feed them.

[Mocap]

What do you think of Temnothorax nylanderi? They are tiny and therefore probably less scary. You will only need a Labyrinth-Farm which means you could use 0.9865 m2 of your 1 m2 for other stuff ... and the Labyrinth-Farm fits easily in every fridge. Outside Temnothorax nylanderi colonies can live in an acorn because of the small number of individuals.

By the way I've never seen a thread with that many responses in such a short time, but I've a theory about that

[daweed13]

nice, i just thought the same, and really had to laugh as i read your post....^^


but anyways, what about F. fusca? These colonys don't become so big, up to 2000 individuals max. and these ants are also easy to keep. they are not big as C. ligniperda, but also not as small as L. niger. if you keep them in a nest separately from the arena, you can put the nest into the fridge for hibernation, wouldnt take that much space.

DaWeed

[badman]

As miszt said in your other topic herculaneus are a nice ant too, in my limited experience, more shy than ligniperda, and less likely to escape. Slightly smaller but similar in appearance, they have shorter legs but have the same red mid-section. Also known as carpenter ants as they live in dead wood.

[SteveUK28]

mocap.. there would be no point buying a setup for nylanderi they are too small to use it. i have a fully developed colony and they are kepyt in a very small plastic tub.. around 6" diameter and they nest in a nut shell.. n are very happy lol

[mzfckr]

how do u keep it moist?(shell i think)

[Mocap]

@SteveUK28: You are right ... you don't need to buy a farm but if they move into the farm-nest they are better to observe. But I have never had Temnothorax nylanderi ... It was just an idea for people suffering from ant-phobia.