bigbibble: home made (13. Apr 2008 13:43)

I have a tank that needs filling for my new ants but i dont have enough money for the sand/loam mix. Is there any home made things i could use? Also it is an antstore tub, how high should i fill it? Thanks! :D

JimmyVe: (13. Apr 2008 13:50)

Maybe you can by some sand in your local pet shop. Make sure it is sterile. Which species are you going to keep in there ?

bigbibble: (13. Apr 2008 14:29)

i am hoppefully going to keep Camponotus ligniperda.

=> edit Mod
Post from 3:32pm

whats better ligniperda or herculeanus?

tail__: (13. Apr 2008 17:06)

What means "better ant"? They are very similar, lingiperdus is a little bigger. Both make nests in dead wood and I don't think the sand and loam nest would be good for them.

miszt: (13. Apr 2008 17:51)

Soil or Peat is excellent for keeping ants in :) recomend you put it in a Blender first to make it very fine, but it works well, only reason people use Sand is coz it shows the ants up better, but for a big species, this doesnt matter to much

bigbibble: (13. Apr 2008 19:50)

cheers miszt i have some potting soil would that work? Also could they dig in something like play sand or even compost?

Skippy: (14. Apr 2008 16:54)

Yes ligniperda and herculeanus are similar but queens are different ;) ... ligniperda is a bit bigger.
Ligniperda in soil? , I think , for this ant is better to keep it in some nice decoration wooden nest or ytong nest :) ... but in soil hmm , they live in soil only under stones ;)

miszt: (14. Apr 2008 17:39)

I've yet to find a forest that has sand instead of soil skippy lol

Skippy: (14. Apr 2008 17:48)

no ? :lol: ... I know about forest in Slovakia where is big concetration of sand and it looks like desert in summer ;)

Phasmid: (14. Apr 2008 20:21)

I have my colony in a large tank so they have loads of nesting and foraging space. This is with a peat and sand mix and they are very happy in there.