ANTSTORE World of Ants

[bigbibble]

Since I am going to order Polyrhachis illaudata soon I was hoping anyone who has kept any sort of Polyrhachis before could give me a rough sort of crash course in their basic needs and other tips.
Thanks for replys!

[kashmir79]

well, what experice you got for them ?

They need big setups as they weave their nests, when the colony grows, and have more than one queen in a colony, and if a queen escapes, she may infest your house, causing lots of damage

[miszt]

Hi Bigbibble, yep would be good to know what experience you have of ants already, as kashmir asked...

I keep P dives myself, they are luvly ants

To be honest, if this is your first species, then I must recomend against them, the basics you should learn with an easier species, for eg Lasius niger

If this isnt your first species, let us know what u've kept in the past, and we can build from there

[bigbibble]

Hi guys,
I have kept two basic british ants before lasius niger and flavus. As well as loads of different reptiles and insects as I have got a life long fasination with them so I have access to fairly big containers as well as heat mats and most importantly experience! There is one thing I am worried about though you mentioned if a queen gets out she could infest my house! I thought these were a fairly easy (exotic) ant to keep. Thanks for your support so far though.

[SteveUK28]

i wouldnt say that any exotic species is easy to keep.. not when u have to keep the tempreture and humidity at set levels.. and you have to worry about escapes a lot more than ur average Lasius Niger..

[miszt]

Hi guys,
I have kept two basic british ants before lasius niger and flavus. As well as loads of different reptiles and insects as I have got a life long fasination with them so I have access to fairly big containers as well as heat mats and most importantly experience! There is one thing I am worried about though you mentioned if a queen gets out she could infest my house! I thought these were a fairly easy (exotic) ant to keep. Thanks for your support so far though.

They are pretty easy, and if you've succsefuly kept Lasius spec, and exotic animals, you shouldnt have to much problem...heres sum basics about them...


They grow fast, very fast!

They dont mind dry conditions, damp the substrate 2-3 times a week with a bit of water from a spray, but they dont need much more than that, temp between 25-28C is fine, I keep myne between 25-26C at the moment, as I dont want them developing to fast coz I'm moving house lol

They eat anything pretty much, insects, honey, sugar, carbs

They love to spray acid, so dont go poking around to much

A tank maybe 60x60x40cm should hold your colony easily for a few years


put a little substrate in the bottom of the tank, not much mind, they do like to dig, so unless u dont mind them making their nest underground, keep it a thin layer, put a few sticks n plastic leaves in a kind of 'cage' shape in the middle of the tank, and they should weave their nest into it you might want to add sum dried moss aswell so they can use it to construct the nest

[bigbibble]

thanks miszt, really helpful .
I was thinking of usinglava stone as the base, you can buy it off of antstore. is this ok? I will also be using a 40x30x20 container because I am using my larger enclosure for a reptile at the moment but I can add more containers on as the colony gets bigger I'm sure it wont be a problem. Also can you tell me a bit more about these sticks and leaves in the middle of the tank in a cage shape.Thanks again!

[miszt]

I'd run a few image searchs ( Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar ) have a look at the terrain in Israel, where these ants are very common, and you can find a few photos of natrual nests aswell, shuld give you sum ideas about what will work, and what they will like most

[bigbibble]

I just looked on antstore at the Polyrhachis illaudata are now only quality class two! So I'm not even sure if I should get them. I'm not going to pay £60 for a queen that isnt even mated. Does anyone know when exotic ants are coming back in stock because right now out of the 31 types on offer only 5 are in stock!