ANTSTORE World of Ants

[miszt]

i'm making an island farm, the farm is cylindercal, its equivelant to a ~40cm x 15cm x 1cm farm, think that'l b ok for a couple of years? heres a pick of the farm, i havent finished it yet...

The farm will sit in a basin/dish ~30x30x10cm, will post pics in a nu thread wen its finished, foraging area will be about 20x20cm at the bass of hte farm, and also inside the central cylinder, in which i'm gona put a small plant, and can be used for live food...do these ants go for live insects, they look like they can handle a small cricket ~2-3mm?

[Necturus]

Oi Mate,
afraid that island is way too small for more then a tiny colony.. Also, please make sure none of them can escape. Dont forget they chew through most Materials and get through the tiniest gaps. What are you gonna use as a lid?
Greetings,
Necturus

[miszt]

its going to be on an island, so I wont be using a lid, can they swim? lol

the farm seems smaller than it is, it is the equvilant of a 40cmx15x1 flat farm, is that gona be to small?

Whats the growth rate of these colonys and max size? cant seem to find any info

[JimmyVe]

It would be good to start with but like i said, they grow fast.
I keep them in a farm 70*50*15.
I have this colony for about 2 years now, they started of with 2 queens and 10 workers (when they arrived) now they have about 500 workers (and 50 soldiers), they have really strong jaws (and like Necturus said, they chew through much materials, like Y-tong)

I once give them a small caterpillar and they managed to kill it, but i give them (most of the time) dead food. I don't cut if before i give it, they do that them selfs .

[miszt]

ok kool, well i can extend the nest no problem, i have only a one queen colony coming, so shouldnt grow as fast as yours did, however do they breed incestusly so i will end up with more than one colony eventually?

cheers for the tips

[JimmyVe]

@ miszt: in my experience they do not. If you colony has only one queen they should grow a little slower.

@ Dark_Nemesis: nice good thinking to give them a farm you can expand. (I do this with most of my colonies, first keep them in tubes until they are about a 100 workers strong and than let them in a bigger farm)

[Ant mad]

JimmyVe how big would you say your conoly is now and any chance of a photo of your setup.
thanks

[JimmyVe]

Here you can find the setup (when the ants where not in yet. )
http://www.antstore.net/viewtopic.php?t=3456

They are in a sand nest so it is hard to say how many workers there are, but the colony is very big.

[Ant mad]

wow so much space for such small ants.

[JimmyVe]

Yes its a big farm, but they need it. The colony is very big.

[Ant mad]

but do they use it all because i have a colony of approx 300-350 workers and they are in a small 10x10x20 basin and they seem happy.
although i am thinking of getting a bigger one what would you advise.
Thanks

[JimmyVe]

It is a sand farm so i can not look into the nest area but i can see tunnels every where. They probably don't use the hole farm but i guess a large piece of it.

10*10*20 seems a bit small for them to keep growing. I think you better consider giving them a bigger farm.

[KiamCameron]

Jimmy anymore photos ? and how many workers and soldiers you got now ?

[JimmyVe]

Een paar nieuwe foto's.

Here you go.
Don't know how many works, a lot !

[JimmyVe]

Nieuwe foto's
New pictures