SirJet: Myrmica ruginodis colony arrived! What now? (30. Jul 2008 18:00)

Hi all,

My colony of Myrmica ruginodis has arrived (1 x queen, 10-15 x workers)

I was expecting them to arrive in a test tube that I could connect directly to the farm once they were mature enough to move, however they have arrived in a plastic box full of green foliage (see pic). The test tube is inside at the bottom. few questions:-

1) When will they be ready to move to the nest box? (this is already set up with foraging tank).

2) Does the green plant stuff need to go in the foraging tank? (At present there is a thin layer of loam, stones, water test tube and some other items)

3) Do I need to start providing food immediately as the queen has workers and the ants appear to be foraging?

Thank you.

http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/1036/picturewi9.th.jpg

Edit Antstore - please use the edit function! thank you!

post from 19:45

Also, I got a 10ml bottle of ant food (honey). Do I feed this to the ants neat, a few drops at a time or do you always dilute with water? If so, how much water? And should I add any additional sugar?

thanks again ^^

Calco: (30. Jul 2008 18:56)

same question here with regarding the tub :hihi:

miszt: (30. Jul 2008 18:56)

put the box into your foraging basin, and remove the lid, put a few drops of honey solution onto some kind of small dish, then leave them to it :)

Calco: (30. Jul 2008 18:58)

basin isnt large enough for me to fit it in, they seem to be happy in the moss, might attempt to lift them in the moss into the basin. Just hope that they actually leave the basin and go to the nest area

MrNixy: (30. Jul 2008 19:10)

The best thing (in my opinion) is to take the moss from the container making sure not to hurt any, they won't notice you move them if your careful.

If the moss stays damp it will take a little while for them to move out so you could speed moving up by letting the moss dry and not add anymore water, they wont like it dry and will move.

Just be careful not to hurt any, i'm sure you will.

*edit* Why is antstore sending them in moss anyway? Is it too hot? It's a pain in the ass to move the ants from moss :S

miszt: (30. Jul 2008 21:05)

they won't notice you move them if your careful.

:lol:

i'm afraid thats not true, I wudltn recomend picking up the moss, Myrmica are an agressive species, and although their sting is not much from one or two ants, from a whole colony is a very diffrent matter.

I would recomend cutting a small hole, and connecting the tub to the basin, and allow them to move by themselves, let the tub dry out completly and keep the nest damp and warm, they will move eventually

Skippy: (30. Jul 2008 21:34)

i'm afraid thats not true, I wudltn recomend picking up the moss, Myrmica are an agressive species, and although their sting is not much from one or two ants, from a whole colony is a very diffrent matter

one or two ants , it is nothing John ... , but try it in nature , to get with hands some 50+ stings ;) , then it pain A LOT (!!!) , and it is very dangerous. Your hands will be red for 1 hour and it pain , you will hard breathe ;) - also if are you not alergic. If you are alergic, it is option you can get anafilactical shock and then die (!)

MrNixy: (31. Jul 2008 01:01)

Stick them in the fridge for 5mins if your worried about getting stung, the colony only has 10-15 workers. The amount of formic acid that 10-15 worker would give off would be nothing really to worry about.

Stick them in the fridge first if you don't wish to be stung at all, miszt suggestion is more sensible then mine, but i'm not a great fan of waiting when I get a new colony.

Skippy, your making me itch all over now, I think the "you can get anafilactical shock and then die (!)" did it for me :P

Regards,
Nixy

SirJet: (31. Jul 2008 05:49)

Thank you all, I'll connect a tube from the plastic tub to the nesting box and wait for them to move.

gabranth: (31. Jul 2008 05:59)

goodluck with your Myrmica ruginodis colony

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