ANTSTORE World of Ants

[DwayneD]

High I recently purchased a starter set (C) from Anstore along with some Formica (Serviformica) fusca ants. I'll post a picture soon so people can comment. Anyway, I'd quite like to connect a Ytong or Beton nest but have zero DIY skills. Does anybody know if I can buy one of the ready made nests from Antstore and connect it to my starter set (without having to drill holes etc myself). The pictures seem to show the nest inside a basin but I'd like to connect via tube.

Thanks in advance.

[DwayneD]

Here is my setup - ants have vanished !!

[insanebe]

do you mean something like this, (i made a mess of this by the way so don't copy it lol),

Poor quality i know im still waiting for my DSLR camera :(

buy the ytong with pre cut glass plate from ant store and use a screw driver to carve out chambers its really soft and you do NOT need a drill
their are guides on making ytong nests on this forum here http://www.antstore.net/viewtopic.php?f=172&t=12332

[DwayneD]

Yeah that sort of thing - looks OK to me by the way - and I think I can see ants in it - how long did it take them to move in? - mine have only been in 2 days but within 30 minutes they had disappeared from the test tube. I saw one ant carrying chunks of soil but that was it. I suspect they've build a bit of a nest in the basin which wasn't the plan!. Back to the Ytong - I was just being lazy and hoped I could buy one already carved out so that I could just connect the tube.

[insanebe]

the problem with my ytong is it was poorly designed by me, it was suppoed to stand upright and there trench in the ytong you can see to the south of the picture would be filled up with water and drain into the ytong to keep the nest moist, the tube would come out of the top but the ants couldn't climb up the tube very well and got stuck in the tube and dried up and died.

i laid the set up down horizontally in the waterproof cabinet that you can see above and now just pour water into the cabinet, the ytong soaks it up, because its on its side the ants can move through the tube easier now.

as for the ants moving into your basin they will do that if they like it more than where they are.

it took my ants months to move into the ytong

carve it yourself it takes all of 30 mins

[AndyB]

The thing with Lasius niger is that they are slow movers and can take their time, But with my ones that had a queen and about 70 workers, they always moved back into the test tube for some reason until i accidently left the cover off and the sun got to them and they rushed all the eggs into the ytong. I really wouldnt reccomend doing this for obvious reasons but thats what happend with me. Good luck mate. just give it time

[JimmyVe]

I think the reason for that behavior is the heating, if the sun is on the tube and you covered the ytong its warmer inside the tube than inside the ytong (farm), its not neccesary for these ants to use a heating mat (device) but if you would do that they will stay inside the farm. Or you can just leave them in the tube.