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Synapse: What is needed for Lasius Niger colony? (4. Jun 2004 18:42)

Hi there,

I am really keen on starting a lasius niger colony, but i am stuck on what exactly i need.

Please can you tell me what things ill need?

Ive decided to go with the antfarm standard, should be big enough right?

Now the rest i dont know,

-How many tubs of loam/sand do u need to buy from your store?

-Ive heard about this "foraging area" please can you explain what i need for this and how to connect it?

-Do i need any accessories (such as pipettes? etc)

-With the Antfarm standard, can you see the different tunnels the ants make (clearly?)

-And last, How large do you think my colony could be with the antfarm standard?

Cheers!
Hope to hear from you soon!

gonzobey: (5. Jun 2004 09:06)

Hello Synapse and welcome here!

I just startet another thread in "questions for beginners" how to fill the ant farm. There you can find all informations...

Now to the other questions:
- As fouraging area you can use the ant box, ant island or a glas basin (which kind you choose is a matter of taste). Our Antstore-Articles can be easeliy connect by an 10mm diameter flexible tube. If you choose a glas basin you must go to the glazier and let you make a 10 mm hole into the glas basin.

You can fill the fouraging area like you want with sand, accessoriers... please don´t humudify the area, because you don´t want to digg the ants there.

- You can see the tunnels, some clearly some not so clear, because sometimes sand is at the discs. I also have Lasius niger in a ant farm and I can see enough.

- I can´t say who long a ever growing colony fit in the ant farm standard. At the moment I have a colony with nearly 30 workern in it and I think this farm is suitable for more than 200, but I don´t know it by expirience.

But allways no problem with the ant farm standard. There a two connecting possebilities, so the formicarium can grow with the size of the colony.

- As needful accessories I would recommend you a pipette (just written in the other thread) and a special tweeze, which we call in german "Federstahlpinzette". With this one you can´t destroy the ants by catching them. I often need this one for my experiments and I´m very contentend.

I hope that I answered all you quetions so that this would helped you forward.

Best regards
Bianca