ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Antdung]

Are these the Ants shown in 'Life in the Undergrowth'?

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They look almost identical barring the yellow antennae?

[JimmyVe]

Very nice video, i have seen that one before, to bad the sounds drops away.

[Kapeć]

Hi,
I'm Polish ant keeper . I'm keeping Pachycondyla apicalis too and it is first Pachycondyla colony in Poland. I'm making nest for them now .

[JimmyVe]

Very nice Kapec, you can start your own topic about them if you like and don't forget to place some pictures.

[miszt]

Are these the Ants shown in 'Life in the Undergrowth'?

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They look almost identical barring the yellow antennae?

Hi Antdung, no they are not the same species, they are a Ponera that specialize in hunting termites, dont have an exact species for you i'm afraid (suprised Sir David doesnt same the real name...a shame, they stopped using correct species names in UK docs a few years ago for fear of alienating viewers..pfft!)

Enjoy your colony Kapeć! They are wonderful ants!

[damondeionno]

I don't know the species name either but I think they are what is commonly referred to as African Stink ants.

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[miszt]

I'm pretty sure thats not the same species, the Stink Ant, Pachycondyla tarsata, doesnt conduct raids in the same way that termite specialist Ponera do (the link u provided also mentions their single foraging behaviour ). I suspect they are Pachycondyla analis, a common termite raiding species in Africa

[damondeionno]

Sorry Miszt, I wasn't saying it was Pachycondyla tarsata, just that it was likely an African Pachycondyla species. I just provided the link so people could find out a bit more about them if they wanted to.

The name stink ants is generic and applied to pretty much all the big predatory ants of that type - from my experience in Southern Africa.

[Kapeć]

Humudity in my formicarium with Pachycondyla apicalis is high: more than 80%. Is that ok?

[miszt]

Ah fair enough damondieonno, good to know, local knowledge is always much more useful

Kapec, that is fine, they enjoy high and low humidity, coming extensivly from mid-America, although they do like a dry section of the nest. My only concern with 80% humidity, would be the stability of the enviroment, high humdity can be allot more difficult to maintain succesfully. A fan, with negative pressure into the basin will even out the humidity quickly, remove any condensation and help prevent the buildup of moulds and bacterias.

[Kapeć]

I have white mould in my in rotten wood nest :/ how can I fight with this problem? I made them better ventilation. I found preparation with copper can I use it? It is my first tropic formicarium and I'm very scared.

[damondeionno]

Kapec

I would be extremely careful before using copper based treatment. Copper is highly toxic to many arthropods.

Not sure what the alternative is, so probably best to wait until someone with experience of this type of set up, comes along and posts.

Edit* - I should say that it is toxic in solution (as found in copper based treatments) rather than as a metal.

[miszt]

Ventilation is the key, allow the tank to dry RIGHT out, may take a week or more, making sure they have plenty of fresh drinking water, then gradually u can increase the humidity of the tank until you get it balanced.

dont use any chemicals to fight of moulds!!!!!

[Kapeć]

I made big ventilator for them. They were only 3 days without good ventilation. It will be dificult to dry becouse they have ground made using 2 humus bricks. It is keeping 80% humidity. I made rotten wood nest and I think they went out from there becouse there is a lot of mould. I hope they are OK. I don't know where is queen now and other ants. I'm trying to make natural environment for them and I hope that they will make nest where they like and of course survive.

[SteveUK28]

I have to say my experience of using wood is not good.. The wood was not rotting or going moudly.. but i did loose my whole colony of ants