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Daint: Building a y-tong nest!! (newbie) (21. Sep 2008 19:34)

Hello i'm Very new to this hobby so excuse me if i say wrong or something :wink: I'm thinking about building my own y-tong nest, i think i got all the materials but lacks in experience :(

So my first q is: how big should the nest and the arena be i thinking having a Lasius niger colony

Second q is: what should i use to carve the y-tong?? (send links and pics because i'm Swedish so i don't understand the tools)

And last could you send me some links and pics on ideas for my y-tong nest, how i should carve and stuff :?:

Apologies for the terrible English hope you can read it :lol:

ps: don't know if this should be in this index or questions for beginners but i put it here because of i gonna lay up some pics later on my nest here :P

=>edit Mod
I corrected a bit from you're writings. ;)

Kale^^: Re: Building a y-tong nest!! (newbie) (22. Sep 2008 17:00)

Hej, och välkommen här :)

What size colony are you going to get ? If you get a very small colony i suggest you use a test tube attached into the bottom of a jar, they should be fine in it until some 30-50 workers. When the colony is big enough you can make a y-tong maybe 10x10cm and some chambers (about 3cm*3cm*1cm)

As tools you can use a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chisel, or a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screwdriver
or a drill with a carving tip.

Search around and you'll find LOTS of pics of nests :)

JimmyVe: Re: Building a y-tong nest!! (newbie) (22. Sep 2008 18:46)

Hello Daint and welcome. :sign_welcome:

This is the wright topic to post youre message. ;)

To start with you could use a tube for your colony (like Kale said). Put the colony in a tube and connect this tube to a out world, there you can feed your ants.

When the colony gets bigger (second year) you can make a bigger nest.
There are a lot of pictures of y-tongs nest here at the forum, you can use the search engine to find them.

Good luck and have fun with your ants.

Daint: Re: Building a y-tong nest!! (newbie) (22. Sep 2008 19:49)

Thx for the good answers yeah i just gonna get a aquarium at a pet store nearby, should i get a pretty big aquarium so i can use it later to connect with my y-tong nest??

JimmyVe: Re: Building a y-tong nest!! (newbie) (22. Sep 2008 20:15)

You could buy a bigger farm, that way your ants can grow into it and you don't need to buy a new one when the colony is getting bigger.

Daint: Re: Building a y-tong nest!! (newbie) (23. Sep 2008 18:18)

ill do that : :)

Daint: Re: Building a y-tong nest!! (newbie) (24. Sep 2008 14:35)

ohh sorry for that i thought i would have my colonie in a testtube for 2 years xD

JimmyVe: Re: Building a y-tong nest!! (newbie) (24. Sep 2008 15:34)

Some species i keep in tubes for more than 2 years. If they grow slow i leave them in there tube. When that tube is getting to small i give them a new tube.

I use plastic containers (small aquariums) and i put the tubes in there. The tubes are the nest and the container is the out world. Sometimes i go up to 3 tubes before i move them into a bigger farm. But like i said, that depends on the species, how big the workers are and how fast they grow.

Daint: Re: Building a y-tong nest!! (newbie) (24. Sep 2008 15:45)

Lasius niger :D how long for them??

=> edit Mod
Post from 4:36pm

How fast does the Lasius niger grow??

JimmyVe: Re: Building a y-tong nest!! (newbie) (25. Sep 2008 14:48)

I kept my Lasius niger colony in tubes for about 1,5 years. (i had 3 tubes ;) )
They do fine in tubes, i moved them when there where about 150-200 workers. They grow very fast. My colony (if i'm not mistaken) is 2,5 years old and i have +-500 workers now.


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