ANTSTORE World of Ants

[frackyboom]

Hi all, i was wondering if someone could give me a rough idea on maintaining moisture in my formicarium, i have a glass apartment basin with a sand (the one provided by antstore) nesting area and out world. Any kind of info would be great, thanks

[Shiver]

You should have been given a leaflet with your order explaining this already.. If you didn't or can't find it now, you should have been supplied with a hollow plastic straw with you block at both ends with cotton wool or kitchen paper towel, then stand it vertically in the sand (obviously this is easier to do before putting the sand in..), I then use tweezers to remove the top bung and a pipette or syringe to put water in it.

Also I often just use a large syringe and gently put water across the top of the sand all the way along, this helps to "pat" the sand down that has been excavated by the ants too.

[frackyboom]

yeah i have the tube and manual, however, the tube only supplies the bottom left of my tank. Funnily enough, yesterday i did what you have just explained (syringing the top with water) and straight away the ants semed happier, they have also started digging which is great! So, lesson learned, make sure the whole nesting loam is moist. How often do you syringe the top shiver? and thanks btw ;P

[Shiver]

Yes a gradient is better so they can choose the best area to be in at any given time so just wetting one half is ok, plus it will move along the granules at the bottom anyway.

Depends on the species you have Camponotus vary a lot. Look at their data on the site here and use that as a rough guide, it's down to experience really so you need to learn yourself per colony, not too dry and not too wet (hard to explain how much that is exactly haha)