ANTSTORE World of Ants

[stevendunn2003]

hi there, ive just bought the ANTSTORE Starter Set 3 and ive bought the lasarus niger ants, i have put the sand in, and the ants, but they keep trying to get out because it has no lid,

how do i stop this from happening???

ta

[Martin S.]

welcome here in the forum,

have you use the PTFE?
can you make a photo how you have protected the glass basin?

greeting
Martin

[Bender87]

You can also take Talkum but the best solution is PTFE.
Just take a picture so that we can see how you can prevent brake-out (i hope this is the right word ^^)

Bender

[stevendunn2003]

i have put an A4 peice of paper over with tiny air holes so they can breathe, i got two little brown bottles with the starter kit, i know one is the honey, is the other used to keep the ants from getting out>??
]
thanks again

[Cephalothorax]

The tiny bottle with PTFE GP1 on it, is the stuff that makes your ants never come out! Its kind of polymere, like in pans, where the lunch doesn´t stick on, the ants won´t get up there because they can´t hold on PTFE when its dry! Just put a stripe, about 3 times the ants length wide aroung the inner side of the formicarium, and the antz won´t break out!

[stevendunn2003]

ok thanks a lot, just one more thing, what is the best way to give my ants water???

[Cephalothorax]

There are many ways to do that! The most important thing is to make sure they havewater whenever they need it, so have ever some water ready for the ants.

1. You can take a "bird drinking thing" (I don´t know, how you call it) from the petshop! Just put a sponge in the little waterhole on the bottom, so the ants can´t fall into it!

2. You can use a little test tube made of glass or plastic, which you fill almost full with water and put some cotton wool in it, so that the water can get through the wool, but doesn´t run out itself!

3. Use a little plate with a sponge on it! The bad thing: You´ll have to refill it more often!

[LeonofLondon]

Or even wet tissue or cotton wall placed in the foraging area thats how I water my L niger colony.

[stevendunn2003]

ok thanks guys, really helpful, just waiting for my ants to multiply now, they are a bit quiet at the moment

[LeonofLondon]

If you want your lasius to become a large colony quick you should go out into your garden or around fields local to you find a nest and capture some cocoons. I did this after captering a queen after the nuptial flights about late july this year and now i got about 200 strong colony. My queens now laying 100s of eggs and has enough workers to tend to them.

[LeonofLondon]

If you want your lasius to become a large colony quick you should go out into your garden or around fields local to you find a nest and capture some cocoons. I did this after captering a queen after the nuptial flights about late july this year and now i got about 200 strong colony. My queens now laying 100s of eggs and has enough workers to tend to them.

[Cephalothorax]

It´s good that it worked, but I would wait until the first ants of the queen appear before pushing the colony! It depends...

[stevendunn2003]

what cocoons, you mean like any insect cocoons?

thanks

[LeonofLondon]

no Lasius niger cocoons (pupai) just look for an ant nest under a stone or log and collect some. This time of year you might have trouble since there getting near hibernation I collected some about a month ago so you might be lucky.

[stevendunn2003]

oh right, thanks