Snoop1000: Some Beginner Questions (18. Feb 2008 20:19)

Hi.

I have never made an ant colony before and I am interested in buying some ants and I have two questions.

Question 1:
I have an AntWorks set already, but people have been saying that it is bad. Will I be able to put sand in the AntWorks container instead of the normal AntWorks gel?

Question 2:
Will I be able to put Lasius Nigers in the AntWorks container? Will they be able to escape?

Thanks for your time. I look forward to a response.

Snoop1000

JimmyVe: (18. Feb 2008 20:24)

1) if you put sand in there it should work but not for long, the colony would probably be to big for it after 1 year.

2) if there is a lid on it, they can not escape, you can also use a glide material.

Snoop1000: (18. Feb 2008 20:33)

Thanks for the help.

I have six more short questions that I forgot to add.

Question 1:
How much water do I need to give them to drink?

Question 2:
Won't the water just mix in with the sand?

Question 3:
How regularly do I need to give them water?

Question 4:
What should I feed them?

Question 5:
How much should I feed them?

Question 6:
How regularly should I feed them?

Sorry for having so many questions.

Thanks.

thomie: (18. Feb 2008 20:34)

Hello,
Don't forget that you need a room for feeding. The nest of the ants need to be dark as possible (you can make light if you want to see the ants but not to long). Otherwise the ants try to make the nest dark (they'll try to put sand on the glass). The outer world can be light, so most people make a separated outer world so you can see the ants eat, and it's much more easy to feed them.

Snoop1000: (18. Feb 2008 20:40)

I didn't know that they had to be in the dark?

Can't I keep them in the light?

thomie: (18. Feb 2008 20:43)

You can but they wont like it. It give much stress.. I'll search for a link to a site:
Questions For beginners Lasius Niger.

=>edit Mod
Post from 8:48pm

This is the link to the "caresheet".
http://www.misztikal.com/ants/lasius_niger_caresheet.pdf
You can find much information when you type (name of species) Caresheet
(Lasius Niger Caresheet).
If you've got more questions you can ask them hear

Snoop1000: (18. Feb 2008 20:52)

Okay. Thanks for the help, Thomie!

tail__: (19. Feb 2008 09:42)

Can't I keep them in the light?

Ants get used to normal light, if they are born in artificial nests. New queens also don't begin being photophobic, if they are put to artificial nest shortly after mating flight. Only ants taken from natural nests are stressed by light (that's one of the reasons you shouldn't take entire ant colonies from natural habitat). Only don't put them in direct sunlight, as this may fry them...

How much water do I need to give them to drink?
Won't the water just mix in with the sand?
How regularly do I need to give them water?

They don't really need water pod, but their nest must be always damp. This is the most important thing in formicarium, drying will kill ants very quickly. However, as it has to be damp, can't be WET. The best strategy is to moisten only half of nest, this way the moisture level will be diverted and ants can decide in which part they want to live.

What should I feed them?
How much should I feed them?
How regularly should I feed them?

Every ants need two types of food: energetic for adult, and protein for larvae and queen. And of course a bit of vitamines and minerals, like all animals. The best energetic food is honey, becouse it is similar to ant's natural food, the honey-dew. For proteins, best are insects (proportional to ant size - small ants hunt on small prey!). Another good way is to mix honey and egg yolk - this is universal basic food containing everything they need.

Snoop1000: (19. Feb 2008 11:44)

THANKS VERY MUCH, TAIL__!!!

That helped me a lot.

I am very determined to make a colony now! ;)

thomie: (19. Feb 2008 15:58)

Can't I keep them in the light?

Ants get used to normal light, if they are born in artificial nests. New queens also don't begin being photophobic, if they are put to artificial nest shortly after mating flight. Only ants taken from natural nests are stressed by light (that's one of the reasons you shouldn't take entire ant colonies from natural habitat). Only don't put them in direct sunlight, as this may fry them...

I've never heard of that. I thought ants didn't like light and that it will give them stress.. Maybe less if they are used to it but they still want darkness, because of their instinct.