ANTSTORE World of Ants

[yomchi86]

Hi all - congrats on a very informative and helpful forum which I'm very much enjoying reading through all of the posts. I've been searching the internet for ant keeping instructions and stumbled across antstore.net which looks like it's the place to be for everything to do with these cool creatures! We are moving house soon so I am holding off getting the ants until we have moved as I don't want to risk creating their home and then moving and the tunnels collapsing etc! I've bought the following items in preparation for the move (in a month or 2) I have a feeling I should have joined and read the forum before buying the items as I'm hoping I've chosen correctly....

glass M - ant display 20x2x10cm
Seramis ton granulate 0,5 litre - 200g
Sand Loam Mixture 1000g
Book: Principals of keeping ants (Always good to have instructions!!)

When the time comes, I am considering getting "Lasius niger (Black Garden Ant)" as they seem to be a good choice for novice ant keepers. I may go 1 step further and get a species that has different caste's like queen, soldier and workers but I'll read the threads here and see what would be best.

Do you think that the above set up would be good for a beginner? Any thoughts/comments would be most welcome as I'd rather do things correctly from step 1!

Thank you in advance and look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards
Stu

[yomchi86]

No replies?

Picked up the above items from where I had them delivered. All very well packaged. I have a feeling that perhaps the "Glass M - Ant Display" would be better suited to their waste disposal/playground area and am considering a basin to link the above item to. I'd like to get a well established colony set up which has room to grow and expand (plus it's a good excuse to buy some more cool stuff!!)

Thoughts and opinions anyone??

[Andie]

Hi and welcome to the forum I don't really like to try and offer help with species i have not kept myself but i'm sure what you have bought will work just fine. From my own experience i find that with ants you can buy the ants first then worry about where they are going to live later as they are usually happy to stay in their test tube for a few months while the colony grows. In that time you will have read plenty and know how your ants will behave. Also keeping them in a smaller container may also give them a better sense of security with a better chance of survival until you eventually release them into a bigger home.
I would think that if you are about to buy Lasius niger then it wont be long until they will need to begin hibernation and there probably wont be much in the way of a brood until next year, so you would have plenty of time to prepare for this species.

When i started with ants ( less than 2 yrs ) i started with Messor barbarus because they have different castes and only have a short hibernation period compared to our native species, but again at this time of year you will only have them for a few more weeks until hibernation begins. I think if i were starting again i would probably go straight for an exotic species which don't require a dormancy period as such and many only require it to be a bit warmer.

[yomchi86]

Hi Andie and thank you for the welcome. I like the idea of a short hibernation period, caste system and the fact they like it a bit warmer. As my partner and I rent a flat, keeping the colony outside in a shed etc during winter isn't really an option and I'm sure my girlfriend would love it if I converted the fridge into a hibernation chamber

I'll have a look around the species and see what would be good for me as a novice to use but at the same time prove a bit of a challenge. I'm very excited.

Also - a thank you to "Acid150" for his private message offering advice

[adam james]

Hello Stu , welcome , Lasius niger is a great beginner species. I have a new colony here which is doing great. My queen was caught during the july flights and produced her first eggs and larva. I boosted the colony with lasius niger worker cocoons i found under a slab in the garden and after these emerged I boosted the colony further with more. She is proberly only a few months old but now I have a colony with quite a large work force. That is the best thing with having ants from your own country. You could always boost with more from your area

Good luck mate with what ever species you keep.

Regards

Adam

[yomchi86]

Hi Adam, Thank you for the welcome - sounds like your colony is doing great! I've decided to go for Messor barbarus and have got the starter kit for them. I'll not get the ants themselves until after I move house as the last thing I want is a tunnel collapse or to stress the ants out!

Best regards
Stu

[adam james]

Hey Stu , great stuff , well goodluck mate and im sure you will enjoy this fasinating hobby of ant keeping

Regards

Adam

[yomchi86]

Hello and a Happy New Year to you all. Thought I'd update my post as I've got a nice little colony now. After all my deciding about which species I wanted, I decided against all of them and got an impulse buy! I'm really glad I did though as the ones I have are absolutely fantastic. Really active and interesting to watch - so.....Which species did I get? I went for Pheidole Pallidula.

If anyone is interested, please feel free to take a look at the journal I've been keeping at the address below. There's pictures and some high definition videos to take a peek at.

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[Niallr2012]

You have a really nice colony Yomchi86, I really like the species Pheidole because of their big headed soldiers! I hope to get a colony of them in the future!

You should make a journal on this forum!

I have a journal on another forum have a look! http://antfarm.yuku.com/topic/14978/My-ants-finally-arrived-Updated-large-photos?page=1#.UORt_29WzTo
I own 4 colonies myself!

[SlyKoala]

Hey yomchi, I'm interested in starting an ant colony but its winter and our native ants are in hibernation. So i was thinking of purchasing Pheidole Pallidula queen + workers. I have asked about them on this forum and people have told me that they are not good for beginners. I was just wondoring if you would suggest them, as i don't really feel like waiting 3 months for Lasius niger.

[Markus]

If you don't be able to wait 3 months,
ceeping ants will frustrate you!