ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Rudi]

hello, I am planning to build a new formicarium for Cataglyphis velox. it will measure 60*30*30cm. I was wondering if it would be possible to keep a small colony of between 500 to 1000 individuals and then keeping it that way. mabey by giving them a nest that would support a colony that size or possibly by culling without endangering the stability of the colony.

[baumarkthammer]

I don't think that it will work with Cataglyphis velox. I would imagine that it would destabilize their colony quite a lot but than again my experiences with Cataglyphis are minute.
Anyway a colony of that size will need a much bigger tank since they are very active ants that run around a lot and hunt activley.
I would strongly command a bigger basin or an other species!

Regards
Kaj

[Rudi]

what other species would you suggest? preferably a dessert species that is kept fairly dry and warm, carnivorous and has only a small colony

[baumarkthammer]

Most desert ants are carnivorous to some extend. I assume you are searching for a species that hunts very actively. Problem with them is that they need quite some space and often are expansive (since African ants are just expansive). You might look into Ectatomma, hunt actively and are very aggressive but they are American Ponerinae which means that they don't really like a climate that is too dry.

If money is no factor than I would recommand looking into Tetraponera rufonigra (I will sned you a link via PM), they are probably one of the most active hunters among ants I know of and extremly interesting to watch!

You can try with Cataglyphis velox, I'm not saying that there is no chance that it will work. I'm only saying that I can't imagine that it will be the best solution. However it will be interesting to see if you succeed.

About the original question about the way to keep a colony small: The easiest way to do it is to give only a small amount of food. Trying to control the size by space will be tricky, ants fit in the smallest spaces and when there is no other way they might even use the whole basin as a nest.
Probably the best way of keeping a colony small is killing some workers off by hand. I say it is the best way because you have the best control over how many ants you take away and after some time you will have the nessesary experiance to know which number is enough and how fast the colony grows.

[Rudi]

a larger formicarium would in this case mean 80*40*40cm. money is not a factor however experience might be... I'll look into Tetraponera rufonigra and see if I feel confident enough.

some things I would like to see in the ants: kept in dry desert like formicarium(at room temperature with a small lamp for a higher surface temperature), small colony, active hunting, different castes of workers, little or no hibernation.

I thought Cataglyphis velox met most of my wishes and that the colony would not grow to large. added bonus is their difficulty. with climbing glass

[Rudi]

a followup question regarding the nest itself. how many chambers would a colony need and of what size(y-tong), I was thinking an y-tong block of 25*10*5cm making the tunnels 1*1cm and the chambers 5cm long 3cm high and 3cm deep into the block. I assume 5 or 6 of these chambers should be plenty for a colony of 500 to 1000 individuals.

the datasheet on antstore says that Cataglyphis velox colonies grow to a few hundred individuals and can be kept in a 30*20*20cm formicarium, can anyone confirm disprove this estimate.