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syphonuk: Dry sand/loam (5. Mai 2007 22:04)

Hi all.

I've added this to the beginners area as I am by no means an expert! I have 3 enclosures (all Glass basins 30x20x20 cm with panoramic display) but I am starting to get a bit concerned about my ants. I have a small Lasius niger colony, an even smaller Lasius flavus colony and a very successful Myrmica rubra colony.

What concerns me is the way that the sand/loam mixture either seems to be very moist or dry to the point of being brick hard. Is this normal or what am I doing wrong? When I add water down the drinking straws I have located in two opposing corners, the sand obviously moistens up but herein lies the second problem. My ants have a really annoying habit of tunneling into the red gravel stuff which stores the water meaning I run the risk of drowning them every time.

Any idea on how to solve these issues?

deadmeat30: (5. Mai 2007 23:11)

hey syphon, and welcome to the forums, i understand what ur saying there, i to have a few formicariums and just got my first panaranic one. but it so far seems to ok with the sand/loam moisture. does it get hard on the top of the sand? if so you could try spraying it every other night with water, so it'll soak down through the sand/loam.

i dont know what can be done to stop the ants digging to the seramis. as i havent had any dig that deep.

hope this helps.

Alan

Kale^^: (6. Mai 2007 08:48)

I have Glass Farm basin 20x20x30 and i have same kinda problem - there is some 2-5 mm space between the bottom of the basin and the nest area glass, so they have dug their nest into the seramis! I dont have a problem at keeping the nest moist, but it is kinda stupid that there is that space, next time i put ants into this formicarium, i'll put silicon there to prevent ants getting there any other way than digging.

JimmyVe: (6. Mai 2007 11:46)

Hi syphonuk and welcome.

I don't think there is any way to stop your ants digging to the seramis. Maybe there is a better way to keep the sand/loam moist. Like deadmeat sad, spray it a few times.