ANTSTORE World of Ants

[ElliotHC]

Hi,

I'm pretty new to all this ant stuff, I've got some leaf cutter ants on the way and they should be here tomorrow. As I've been too busy playing on my PS3 to make them a farm and I was hoping that someone here could give me some advice.

Now that I am sure I have raised a few peoples blood pressure I will come clean

I kept Formica Fusca for about 3 years and ended up with a mite problem, I managed to get hold of some Formic acid from a local bee keeper although it's not so easy to get hold of these days as they use something else to combat the verroa mite. Anyway, after about 4 weeks of treatment almost all the mites had died off. I went away for a week and when I had come back they had all died (all 21 of them that is) including the queen... I think I may have overdosed There aren't any instructions that I could find on how to deal with it although I am pretty sure I will get the does right if it happens again.

I was of course quite upset by all this and decided to to try again but something completely different.

I have on the way from the Antstore camponotus ligniperda 1 queen and 10 workers, I have just spent the last 3 hours making a Y-Tong nest... I think I have pretty much got it sorted but I need to heat it and was wondering what people find is the best way..

The idea of using a heat mat seems ok but not so good without a thermostat, Ideally a fishtank type heater which sits in a bored hole but it would have to be low power or it would probably break as it needs to be immersed in water to dissipate the heat. Maybe heat mat on a thermostat??

Any suggestions would be great and any tips for keeping my camponotus ligniperda, I have an acrylic arena (moated) although I doubt I will put any water in it as it's just gets all lime scaled and my ants might drown. Is that enough or do they need something else?

Oh yes, I almost forgot..

I have painted the bottom 2 inches in silicon (on the outside only of course) and bored a hole at 45 degrees on the side going down, this has a bit of hose siliconed in to it so I have fill the hose with water and it will soak in to the block (hose on the left, see attached image)

[Creature]

U kept Formica fusca for 3 Years and had only about 21 workers??????

U got Leafcutter on the way and build an Ytong for them?????

U know that Camponotus ligniperdus is not a leafcutting ant? Leafcutting ants are for Example Atta and Acromyrmex.

Your Ytong looks a bit to big for ligniperdus. All the chambers of the nest are really huge but you are lucky , often ligniperdus
dont mind about that.

[ElliotHC]

The leafcutter bit was a joke, yes I heard that ligniperdus are ok with larger chambers as I have seen many videos of them in Ytong nests.

I had quite a few workers die off in the first year then it bounced back, it was doing really well until the mites got in.. I am pretty sure it was on a fly I gave them.

[ElliotHC]

Here is a photo of the darn mites on the queen , initially and after treatment.

[ElliotHC]

Before the mites hit she laid a load more eggs too, they managed to eat all the eggs.

I also got a nice shot of her eye.

[Gortello]

Keep them in the tube until there are about 40 workers. Then add another test tube until 100 and then give them a y-tong nest. I think when you made it up to 100 workers you have enough experience to know if your y-tong is good or not.

[ElliotHC]

That sounds like some pretty good advice, thanks.

Shouldn't I just put the tube in the arena and let them get on with it?

Won't they move in to the Y-Tong if they want to?

[ElliotHC]

Will they use two test tubes if they aren't connected together?

[Gortello]

Yes they will use the tubes just lay close and there is no problem.

[ElliotHC]

I have just set up my farm ready for my ants, stones, sand, etc.. I'm not sure whether to put down the stones (1mm - 8mm) of the sand?

I have given them the small cork nest so they have a choice and I will give them another test tube when they reach 40 workers, I thought I'd like to give them the YTong as it is more space for them to explore. I am sure they will move in if it feels right for them?

The water system works really nicely and is far less messy than some of the other methods I have seen, I packed some cotten wool down the end of the tube which stops the water from soaking in to the brick quickly..

I have used petrolium jelly on the top edges of the acrylic arena as the oil I got from the Antstore doesn't seem to stay there very long and it clumps together leaving gaps if the surface is smooth.

[ElliotHC]

Well, it was a tough choice and in the end I went with nothing.. It seems like the best choice as it's easy to keep clean and yuo can see the ants really well.

As I initially was going to put them in the appartment I ordered fine sand (0-1mm) and stones (1-8mm) to use with what I already had, I think I need some light sand 1-2mm for the arena but I can wait until they move in to the Y-Tong before doing any upgrades.

They haven't come out much yet except for some honey water.