ANTSTORE World of Ants

von **akell** » 28. Jan 2009 00:20

You know,selective killing. Like the park rangers do with deer and swine when the populations get too big for the ecosystem. I´m being very optimistic here, thinking perhaps one day I´ll have a 10,000 member colony and no room. Of course one would be buying seed from a farming supply company before one got to that point...

von **JimmyVe** » 28. Jan 2009 18:33

Okay, now i understand.

Well i don't think that would work for ants, than you would need to kill a few 100 every time. So i don't think that would effect it like it does with deers and pigs.
Some colonies don't grow very large if you feed them less, that is less crewel than kill a few 100 workers.
Still i wouldn't do any of these things to my colonies.

von **akell** » 29. Jan 2009 01:43

Geez Louise, I wouldn´t either if there is an alternative. I don´t want to squash ants. Especially ones I have raised from puppies. [-X

I don´t know what the heck these yellow faces are about. If they mean something offensive, ignore them. Oh, this one looks nice #-o

von **JimmyVe** » 29. Jan 2009 18:35

You could try it with the food thing.

von **Kale^^** » 12. Mär 2009 19:34

I took my Messors out of hibernation on tuesday. They quickly activated themselves and have eaten 6 pieces of fly cocoons that i've given to them. They do not seem to have lost any workers during hibernation, so i think they will quadruplicate soon.

von **Psynapse85** » 26. Jul 2009 13:33

A question, how do You moist the cotton inside the tube without stress the queen?

von **akell** » 26. Jul 2009 15:44

You put water into an enpty test tube. Then you insert the cotton, then you induce the queen to enter the tube. You can wrap the tube in metal foil, to make the interior dark, and put both it and the queen in a bright, dry environment. She will eventually enter the new tube. She will want to be in a dark moist place without any vibration. (so a woofer is not a good place as far as she is concerned, ha-ha!)

von **Kale^^** » 3. Okt 2009 14:19

when the old test tube dries out, just connect a new tube with fresh water so that the ants can move in there.

von **Lewis** » 3. Nov 2009 22:50

i hope to start a colony of these with what i think maby the right set up

von **akell** » 4. Nov 2009 02:09

My Messors seem to be more at home in a test tube connected to a length of pipe stopped with cotton for the first or even second year. I added pipe as the colony grew, and only linked up to a small basin when their numbers got up to 100 or so. I used a 30x20 basin for another Messor colony, and that colony had some problems initially.