ANTSTORE World of Ants

[abz uk ants]

Well my mate is selling these ants. I want to get them but i am paying alot for them so I want to get every thing right.

I will keep them in y-tong
and a fish tsnk for a basin

I will keep them in a testbue in the fish for now but I want ants that are active and are always foraging.

If these ants are not always active can you recoment any other exotic ants that are.

[undercoverAnt]

Hey Abz,

I am very envious of you mate, brilliant species. how are they doing?

G

[Creature]

I dont think he bought them. But I've seen Harpegnathos saltator in a little basin filled with Sand/loam and they were foraging all the day. Was pretty funny to hold my finger in there. They were just starring at it and tried to jump on it. Looked very funny but it might hurt if they get your finger ^^

[baumarkthammer]

No doesn´t hurt that much. It is like a wound that gets disinfected. The Pain remains for like 30 sec..
It isn´t that hard. But you are right they look very funny when they hunt and stare at you.

[undercoverAnt]

cheers for the reply creature.

Are they seasonally available? if so, when do stores generally have them? They are really cool.

I am thinking of setting some up, wth the tube between the nest and their hunting grounds running through my fishtank, so the walk way is through the water. i think it would look pretty cool.

Baumarkthammer, how long have you kept your colony?

best,

G

[baumarkthammer]

I keep them since 2 month or something like that.
They are sometimes avaidable, at the moment some private people sell their ants.
By the way the queen is able to live more than 5 years.

[undercoverAnt]

Hi Baumarkthammer,

thanks for the info. I need to build up my system first. are there any care sheets I could find for setting these guys up?

I was going to feed them flies, maggots, field caught insects and get the sugar/honey water solution from the ant shop. Do you keep yours in a Ytong or a testube setup. is it best to furnish the hunting area, or keep it very basic?

best,

Guy

[baumarkthammer]

Well i keep them with many other species in an big basin and in an Ytong. They seem to like it because they don´t move out of the Ytong.
Many people hold them very basic in small basins, but i don´t like that.
You can feed them with flies only if you want but they eat a lot when they have larva, so it is better to feed them with crickets.
By the way if one worker hunts down a cricket and brings it to the nest, it mostly needs like two or three workers to eat it (even the queen helps), so the most workers sit in the nest and crack the crickets open and eat. But if you feed with flies they can eat them easiely and need more time to hunt and are more active.
The nest in nature is one big camber with brood food and everything together, so if you want to make an Ytong you will have to make one with one camber.
I don´t think there are care sheets, since everyone has an different opinion of the basics.

[undercoverAnt]

Hi,

Thanks for the information, particularly concerning the chamber. Do you need to keep the Ytong moist?
I was going to use the flies, because in the UK you can buy fly larvae for very cheap at fishing tackle shops, and then pupate the larvae in a very warm environment. I fed my mantids exclusively on gutloaded flies and was able to produce several hundred flies per week with minimal effort, so i just saw that as a better way as crickets are ridiculously over priced in the UK. I also have a thriving blatta lateralis culture which i could feed alot from.

do you heat the nest with a heat mat? and do you heat the hunting area too? if so, What kind of temps?

Thanks for all your advice!

best regards,

Guy

[baumarkthammer]

So the min. temperature for them is 21° but the brood needs month and month to grow then, so min 24° would be better. Yes it should be moist.
When you already feed flies than thats a very good idea, because fresh flies cant have mites. The hunting are should have more than 21° because in nature the air is always a little hotter than the ground.

[undercoverAnt]

Thanks for the temps, so if i keep the nest chamber at 25c and the hunting area at like 25 - 28c.
How do you keep the Ytong moist? do you drill a hole in it and pour water into this?



could you mail me pictures of your set up?

Thanks again,

G

[baumarkthammer]

The arena should be about 22-24°C I think. Otherwise it would be to hot.
The arena can be dry as hell if you want, but not the nest.

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Thats my nest. By the way I got Harpegnathos saltator but the difference is nearly non.

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The pics are a little old.
The Ytong is in here. In there are also Diacamma spec..
I keep the Ytong moist with water i simply spray it with, thats enough.
In my basin are many more insects but enough of that.

[abz uk ants]

My basin isnt going to be that big and those ant are quit small arnt them should i get diamma insted ?????????

[undercoverAnt]

Baumarkthammer, nice setups. i bet they love it in there, haha. do the Diacamma sp. and the Harpegnathos ever predate eachother?

cheers,

G

[baumarkthammer]

@abz: Diacamma are very nice and easy in holding. But are as big as Harpegnathos, which aren´t small at all.
You can get them instead.

@undercoverAnt: If the Diacamma get to close to the Harpegnathos, they get a short bite and the Diacamma run as fast as they can. I never saw that they fought.