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Hi guys new to the forums and looking forward to meeting likeminded people who dont look at me like im an alien for loving ants so much! :roll:
Had a fair bit of experience with my european species of Messor Barbarus, Lasius niger/flavus & Pheidole pallidula and confident enough to treat myself to an exotic species.
Went for the Polyrhachis Dives to start with a simpler exotic spec. after reading Miszt's brill posts (thx Miszt!).
Had my colony about a month now and all is going really well, seen 3 queens maybe more and about 300 workers, already laid LOTS of eggs even in just a month and am astonished at just how fast these guys reproduce!
Enclosed a pic of the open topped setup i've been using for a month now, have a 2 inch layer of vasteline around the top of the tank and also around the rim which seems to work perfect with not one escapee!! :D
Hopefully more pics of the ants/colony itself when i get a better camera.
Any tips/comments for me are more then welcome! :D
It looks nice. Only problem I see is if this set up is expendable or not. As you said, they reproduce very fast and I'm affraid that they will out grow it sooner than you think.
Beeing open setup, how do you regulate moist and temperature?
The temperature i have a large heat matt which i made sure only covers half of the tank so they themselves have some choice as to the temperature they prefer on the ground, and also a heat bulb in the lamp shown to keep the tree heated, i also measure this at around 24 to 26 with the side away from the bulb being cooler.
I was hoping to encourage the ants into the tree itself but as per my luck i hadnt noticed the box's under the lava lamps are hollow and have a small hole allowing the ants in, they have settled in there blocking most activity being viewed! But im sure they'll outgrow that soon. Good news is a lot have also set up under a cooler section of the heat matt itself at the back of the tank and with the tank being glass bottomed i can slide under the table for an amazing view of lots of activity which is how i spotted all the eggs. They seem to take the eggs too and from the block to the ground nest at different stages in their growth more then likely to optimise their temperature/moisture, if u asve the pic it zooms in quite a lot and `u can see in the pic a line of them going back and forth from the two but they seem to absulutely thrive under the matt.
Moisture i maintain through keeping the tank regularly sprayed with a simple bottle sprayer,. the bark retains any excessive and dangerous ammounts of water pooling stopping the tank/ants being flooded and the ants love to drink the droplets left on the side of the glass, its amazing to watch especially if on the front of the tank under a magnifying glass, you can see their gasters fill up like a balloon as the droplet gets sucked up by the ant and dissapears!, i also keep a tray of cotton buds soaked in water allongside some soaked with honeywater (which they love!!), but they tend to ignore these prefering the droplets of water.
The cd i was using as a flat surface to place food on and has now being replaced by a proper dish, i also place feeding trays i made up in the tree which they regularly visit, allowing me to inspect the ants a lot closer then through the glass.
I'm not too sure about them outgrowing the setup, its as rather large tank and hopefully will allow much growth for them but i presume i'd have the same problem with any size tank i used. From reading bits n bobs i think the colony size is somewhat dependant on how much room they have to expand so wont over populate dangerously.
Hello Antdung and welcome to the forum,
I must say i like you setup very much, looks cool. ;) I would love to see some more pictures of you ants and other setups to. Good luck with these ants. ;)
You will need a cover for the tank to keep the winged ants from escaping.
Polyrhachis dives are some of the species suspected of incest, which would prove them a possible thread to our enviroment, should winged ants get out - please adjust your setup and be a good keeper ;)
Greetings,
Necturus
Well i forgot that for a moment, thanks Necturus. ;)
Yes he is right you know, winged ants could be a problem, but i'm sure you can fix that some how. ;)
This is indeed something i have already thought of, i have some netting i can cover the tank with simillar to mosquito netting that they wouldnt get through so i can still keep the overhanging tree setup i have. Wouldn't have been able to see much if it was on in the pics however so i didnt include it. If push comes to shove tho i will indeed be responsible enough to simply add the lid :wink:
Looks good antdung :D glad my thread was inspirational to you!
I am moving my colony to a very large setup over the next month or so, using mosquito netting aswell :)
It certainly was! Greatly appreciate it! Just hope i can encourage them into the tree, but patience is a virtue
As for the mosquito netting what can i say... Great minds think alike! lol 8)
Hello Antdung,
I'm sorry, but when I saw your setup I was like wtf. It looks realy realy strange to me.
The cheesy lava lamps with the aluminium foil, the CD inside, the cables in the tree, a thermometer in the centre of the front pane, the unaesthetic and incomplete breakout protection...
Sorry again, if my words are too hard, but i'm realy disappointed by this construct.