skelta: (29. Mär 2005 19:35)

Thanks very much for the advice. The service you provide is excellent!!

I will definatley buy a proper Formicarium with normal ground when I get paid this week. Your english is pretty good mate!

Martin

barnettgs: Lasius Niger still in tube (22. Mai 2005 16:31)

They are in tube inside Ant box since 11th May and I have connected it to Display Standard last Monday 16th May but they still seemed to be happy staying in tube.

It is only 9 workers, 1 queen & brood. I know I can not force them to go in but shoud they be ok in tube for how long?

I still have ant island but I decided to leave it until ants moves to display standard.

What do you think? Am I being inpatience? :P

uta: (22. Mai 2005 19:13)

Hello barnettgs,

Lasius niger are very nest faithful. The test tube was so far their nest - there are their scents (Pheromone). You don' t have to make yourself concerns. Have patience with the ants. Don't lose courage - don't get impatient! Make the test tube unalluring.... no feed in the test tube. Moisten the new nest - the ant farm and wait...

Good luck! :)

greetings
Uta :sun02:

Peter: (22. Mai 2005 20:42)

u could try coving the farm in black and the test tube left in teh lgiht as that may also help them to move

barnettgs: (22. Mai 2005 21:56)

Thanks, actually test tube is inside Ant box where I put food in.

Since Lasius Niger ants are small, display farm seems a long way from Ant box - it is only about 30 cm of tube but they seemed to be interested in what happening around them (Antbox), no further.

I will leave them and see what happens.

barnettgs: After 2 months with L niger ants & what to feed... (6. Jul 2005 17:37)

Hi,

I have received Lasius Niger queen with 8 workers from Antstore on early May. So far, the number of workers has risen to 14 or over. I don't know if it's a slow process.

They are still settled in the tube inside Antbox and seemed to prefer it to Ant display. I guess it is a matter of time before colony glow out of it.

For feeding, their favourite food is apple, no doubt about that! I think it is to do with juice from apple so I have tried strawberry, banana, a jam but they are not that interested in them.

They were excited with the fly at first but each time I put fly in (say once every week or two), they seemed to less excited by it! They like the ham too but not that much.

I have run out of ideas of what to feed them. I thought Lasius Niger would eat anything but they seemed to be fussy about foods!

Any recommended food?

Thanks

uta: (6. Jul 2005 20:53)

The ants like very much honey-water and sugar-water. Also you can offer fruit. Important are also proteins, if brood exists..... Flies, mosquitoes etc ... also milk is possible. Ham is not so good, because there is a lot of salt contained. I believe, you have offered too much fruit! I believe, you have offered too much fruit!

I wish you a lot of luck!

Uta

Deanola: (8. Jul 2005 11:30)

Have you tried catching a few little insects around the house or garden?

Some of my ants have a particular taste for moths, this time of year is the best time to get them.

good luck

Dean..

barnettgs: (9. Jul 2005 17:50)

Thanks...I will look for different kind of insects. Will any insect do fine for food?

I didn't realise about salt in ham so I will stay away from that in future.

For water - use tap water or bottled water? Because there is a chemical in tap water (I think) to take care of our teeth!

Also I'm considering getting 2nd L Niger colony - for mating between two colonies? Is that possible?

Thanks again!

Azzer: (9. Jul 2005 20:07)

I fed mine a house spider that was in the bath last night - I drowned it first since it's a new colony and I didn't want them having to try and fight a "Tegenaria gigantea" spider by themselves - they really enjoyed it and I haven't seen so much activity since I first put them in their new home on Wednesday (as I say it's a brand new colony with only a handful of ants). Was "fun" to watch them carve up it's legs and carry them off in to their nest.

I've tried to feed them a fly today, but they are not interested - this is most likely because they still have enough food from the spider, they normally love flies.

They particularly like legs and wings from insects, not entirely sure why.

Be sure to remove any discarded insect parts that you have easy access to without disturbing the ants within a couple of days.

You should be fine with tap water. Our water boards don't put Fluoride in to our water, as much as I'm sure dentists would love them to.

Not sure if queens and males from seperate colonies will mate in their pre-nuptial flight - don't see why not though. Just keep the colonies completely seperate or they *will* fight.

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