ANTSTORE World of Ants

[jhousele]

Hi

I would like to buy an antfarm for my girlfriend, but I'm not sure what I will need. If I buy a startup kit (eg. labyrinth) and a colony (eg. lasius niger), will we need anything else except food, and where can I get information on food?

Thanks for your help

Jon

[NuEM]

The starter set contains basically all the must-have items. You should also get some red foil. Most ants can't see red light, so you can watch them in their nest while they believe it is dark.

Feed them honey and small insects.

[Psychosimian]

Can you feed them Live insects (if you have an arena for example)?

[NuEM]

Yes you can, but it can be problematic. Living insects may harm or even kill some ants. So be carefull what you feed them. Reason number two is parasites, especially mites. Some of them can infect and kill a whole ant colony, if you are unlucky. So to be safe it's best to kill any insect, by putting it into boiling water for a few seconds, before feeding it to the ants. That should kill most if not all parasites.

Rule of thumb is to kill all insects that way, if you bought them from some place, like mealworms. Insects cought from nature are less likely to be infected. A small risk remains.

By the way, you should always have some sort of arena for your ants, and all colonies are not to be fed inside their nest. That's their "sacred" place, and it's best to not disturb them there. Only feed them in the arena.

[Psychosimian]

If you have the starter kit, presumably they will nest in the 'Farm' bit (tall, thin glass part) and not in the arena (smaller, wider part) area?

[NuEM]

That's the idea. To discourage them from nesting in the arena it is wise to keep the arena dry, and the farm moist.

The ants will usually be shipped in a test-tube which serves as their temporary nest. Just put the tube into the arena. After a while the ants will move from the tube to the farm. Depending on the species this may take weeks or months, or it may happen after a few days.

Lasius niger for example will try to stay within the same nest for as long as possible. They don't like to move and rather work to improve their home, instead of moving out.

Myrmica rubra colonies on the other hand are pretty mobile compared to Lasius niger. It doesn't take much to make them pack their bags.

Either way give them the time they need and don't force them to move. Just offer them the place you want them in, and keep it at optimal conditions. And if they don't move despite that, it just means they have it good enough, which is what we want, after all.

[Psychosimian]

How would you keep something like the Ant Farm moist?

Do you just pour water in from the top?

[NuEM]

Use a pipette or something alike to put water on the sand/loam. Or have a small hose installed under the sand/loam, to channel the water below and keep the nest moist from the bottom. Both is possible.

[Psychosimian]

does dripping it in from the top work?

[NuEM]

Yes.

[Psychosimian]

Is that the same for the initial set-up? When i first put in the the loam/sand mix stuff that comes in with the starter pack, should i wet the stuff first or put it in and then dribble water in after?

[Psychosimian]

Is there a guide to how to set up a farm/arena for the first time anywhere online?

[Martin S.]

Dear Psychosimian,

better, you dribble water after loam/sand mix.
The guide is only in german, but with pictures.

greetings Martin

[Psychosimian]

Would it be possible for you to email me a copy of the guide so I can start on getting it translated before my farm and ants arrive! - i'll send you back the translated copy if you like.

My email address is in my profile

[Martin S.]

Dear Psychosimian,


here the antfarm guide in german:
http://www.antstore.net/pafiledb/upload ... fa4573.pdf

and here the starter set in german:
http://www.antstore.net/pafiledb/upload ... 4656ce.pdf


greetings Martin