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Ok, so i am getting a ant farm sometime this month. ( a valentines present from my lovely girlfriend lol) but i had a few questions.
1) i was going to buy one of the starter sets from the antstore andwas wondering what people think of the mini starter set. Or is it better to spend the extra few pound and get the standard?
i will be getting the Lasius niger colonie with it.
2) what is the best to do when everything is set up?
Should i put the test tube with ants in, in the basin? or could i take the ants out and put them straight into the farm?
Because i obviously dont want the ants to dig their nest in the basin, because then the whole thing is pointless, i wouldnt be able to see them! lol
3) i plan to keep the ant farm in my bedroom. Will that be ok light and heat wise?
4) is it a good idea to buy some food from the antstore site when i get the ants? and what would you suggest? insect protein/vit jelly? or dired flies? or are live insects better?
Does the ground in the actual farm need to be kept wet from time to time? and how would i go about doing that?
I think my main concern is that the ants would dig in the soil in the basin rather than the actual ant farm.
So any personal experiences and just answers in general will be greatly
Nice to hear that your (lovely) girlfriend is suportive. :)
ad 1) Starter set or standard set... does't really matter. Starter set can be expanded by conecting another one next to it. So it is a question of estetic. If your colony lives long enough it will outgrow bouth of them. However, Lasius niger can control their number if formicarim gets too small.
ad 2) Don't put to much soil in basin. Maximum 1 cm. Then ants wont dig there and they wont live there. You can put the tube in basin or farm they will find the way to the farm and build the nest there. This "move" from test tube to new home can take some time so don't be disappointed if after a week they will still be in test tube. Having ants equals having lots of patience. Don't rush things.
ad 3) Lots of light is not very good as ants usually live underground. And NEVER keep them in a place where they are exposed to direct sun light. Room temperatures in summer are ok. However in winter you do need to keep them in a cold place as ant hibernate. This is very important. Look at some topic about this subject in the forum.
ad 4) You can buy food from antstore but you can feed them also with things from your home. Most important is sweet water (honey/sugar + water). Adult ants need only carbohydrates larva needs proteins i.e. flys, bugs, meat, eeg yalk,...etc. When the colony is small feed them fresh dead bugs, as the colony grows in numbers feed them also with live ones.
Ground do needs to be wet. Not soaking wet but dump. Ants can go on without food for weaks but no water and too dry soil will kill them in a few days. So do keep the farm area dump. Depending on nest type and humidy of the room... water must be added every few days. You get manual with starter set but I think it is only in german. English manual on how to set things up and keep the ground wet can be downloaded from the forum.
As mentioned before ants will not dig if soil is too shalow. So don't put to much soil in basin area.
All I can say is ... have lots of patience and never forget that nothing happens fast in ant world. From egg to ant in Lasius niger world it taks about 55 days. First few months the progress will be slow however later on the numbers go up quite fast. Try to read as much of the topics on this forum as you can. Educate yourself about them and your ants will have much better chanse of survival. :wink:
Good luck
p.s.: don't forget to post some photos (of your lovely girlfriend :wink: ). You can also keep diary of your colony on the forum for everybody to follow you progres.
Thanks for that. Very helpful :)
So just a few more questions...do both starter kits come with soil/sand for both the basin and the farm? or will i have to go digging outside for the basin lol.
And my room is the smallest in the house, and where i am the light gets pretty much everywhere. So is there anything i could do to stop the light getting to them? like stick some thick black card both sides of the farm when im not being nosey at them. Or ive read somthing about red plastic stuff on here?
Also, proberly a silly question but is hibernation a absolute must? if i leave the ants alone will they carry on? or die? or just naturally fall asleep?
Cause if they need to hibernate, and they are in the ground then how would i get them out without destroying their nest?..
Or could i just stick the whole thing in the shed over winter.
Would not hibernating kill them?...Could leaving them in the shed kill them? lol
sorry about all the questions.
Yes i will definatly be posting pics....Maybe not of the missus but definatly the ants.
One last thing, where can i download the english guide from?
Good day,
winter sleep must be! If the ants the winter sleep do not hold gotten then die the colony/queen gradually away. Final accusing, if the text is incomprehensible, I works with one translation program.
Yours sincerely Michael Herker
Hi R3dFox and welcome to the forum,
First things first, Mpir i like your explanation a lot. Maybe they need to make a "Sticky" of it for starters.
now the rest, ;)
They both come with sand/soil (as for as i now)
That is a good idea to put black card over the nest (it is better if you do this) Red foil is also useful but not with Lasius species. (they see through it, most other species don't)
For all European species hibernation is a must. The queen stops laying eggs and prepares to a next year of laying eggs ;) Lasius niger keeps hibernate from October till March. put them in a shed is a good idea, they need to be under 10°c to have a good hibernation.
Pics of your ants are always welcome (try to put them at the right topic off the forum)
Good luck with your ants, if you have more questions, just ask. ;)
Greets
Do both starter kits come with soil/sand for both the basin and the farm? or will i have to go digging outside for the basin lol.
Not sure about this. Look for more information in Antstore shop or post a note to section Customer service.
... So is there anything i could do to stop the light getting to them? like stick some thick black card both sides of the farm when im not being nosey at them. Or ive read somthing about red plastic stuff on here?
You can simply put a box over them... like a shoe box for example. Just make few holes so that air can circulate. Red foil will not stop the heat from getting in the antfarm and killing them. Red foil only fools ants that they are in the dark as most of the ant species can't see the red color.
Also, proberly a silly question but is hibernation a absolute must? if i leave the ants alone will they carry on? or die? or just naturally fall asleep?
Hibernating is good for ants. You can keep ants in warm place all winter and they will not hibernate. If they hibernate than they do much better next year. They have more offspring and their numbers go up faster. To put it in lamers terms: not hibernating is like you not sleeping in the night. You need a rest, ants need it too.
Cause if they need to hibernate, and they are in the ground then how would i get them out without destroying their nest?..
Why would you destroy the nest? Put the whole antfarm somewhere cold and they will hibernate. They can hibernate everywhere also in test tube. Just put it in fridge and they will hibernate. You just need to be careful about one thing. Bring the temperature down gradually.
Or could i just stick the whole thing in the shed over winter.
This is a good idea. Just make sure that frost don't get to them. Put a blanket or stirofoam next to glass.
Would not hibernating kill them?...Could leaving them in the shed kill them? lol
Of course not. :D Hibernating is good for ants. Before ants moved into our houses as pets they lived for milions of years outside. :wink: However, in captivity lots of ants die during hibernation due to lack of water or drowning if there is too much water.
Yes i will definatly be posting pics....
Looking forward to that. :wink:
One last thing, where can i download the english guide from?
Not sure. :dontknow: Some people have complained about manual being only in german so english version can be downloaded from the site. Look around.
Take a look here, maybe it is there. (the english version i mean)
http://www.antstore.net/dload.php?action=category&cat_id=5
Thanks alot for all the questions. You've all been very helpful lol. Ive just this second ordered the ant farm, so how long do you do you think it will take to reach the UK?
My girlfriend has just told me i cant have them untill valentines day!! lol. She wants to know if she should just stick them in the fridge when they come?
It will take around 3-5 days to reach you.
excluding sunday?
ill just make sue the missus is up early every day to get it lol.
So what should she do when she gets them? its getting warmer over here now, so i was thinking if she left the ants in the shed while the hibernate? then its more natural.
Also, as your from the uk, what did you do for keeping the ground moist? i cant find anything in the downloads section.
Just spray the water every now and then? once a week? or on some pictures i saw something with water behind cotton wool?