ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Sced]

the starter set comes with everyting in ther picture, everything you need to start off.

Hmm, in my opinion I would put a layer of clay granulate on the bottom, then place the tube on top of it and place it at the side, then fill the rest with sand.

[R3dFox]

why the clay first?

I thought that the clay is there to soak up water and keep the sand wet?

do the tube down the side...and then a bit laid across the layer of clay....or across the whole layer...

I was just wondering about what comes in it cause the picture dosnt show much. Like i cant see any clay in the picture.

[JimmyVe]

I'm not sure they clay comes with it. I never had a starter kit.

One of the best ways to do it, (in my opinion) the tube down the side (like you say) so it comes out a little higher then the clay. put water in the tube until they clay is underwater and it touches the sand.
(if you now what i mean, my English is not so good)

[R3dFox]

yea i think i get it. So rest the water tube on top of the clay..still put cotton wool in the end?

Then put enough water to flood the bottom..

Should it always be kept flooded? or should i fill it, then let the clay soak it up then fill it again

[JimmyVe]

In dead, put some cotton in the end are els your ants can fall in the tube and drown.

First time you fill it let the clay soak up the water en than fill it again. Then fill it back when the water is lower than the clay. (after a few days/weeks)

[R3dFox]

hello everyone.

Sorry i havent posted for so long.

Well, i got my ants. Everything seems to be fine with them. I am feeding them on sandwich meat at the moment, which they seem to like, because theres not really any dead insects around. tho with spring now here im sure ill find a few dead flys around at least.

I do have one problem tho. i followed the instructions on filling the antfarm up with the clay and sand/loam....the tube provided didnt fit so i had to use somthing else....the problem is tho that the whole thing just flooded. so at the moments my ants are still living in the tube in the arena.

so im going to have to try to empty the ant farm (the sand/loam has turned hard now =S) and just wondering if you had any more tips or advice? or know where i went wrong?

is there a easier way to keep the ground moist...like just spraying it every day?

[JimmyVe]

You can try that, spraying it every day.

Maybe you just put to much water in there?

[R3dFox]

well yea lol i guessed that was the problem.

Well i was trying to follow the picture you posted. and as i was putting the water in it wasnt going past the clay. so kept putting some in and it still wasnt rising above the clay....so i left it, then the next day the whole thing was flooded.

Im not sure if it was to much water..or that i had it on a windowsil so maybe the water evaporated upwards and soaked the sand/loam


the ground is hard now tho..so if i wet it should it be easy to tip out? and then just try again lol. this time il ljust keep a spray bottle with me and spray it a few times every morning.

[JimmyVe]

I think if you make it wet is will come out easily.
Maybe the picture is not so good. If the tube is still full of water and the water is not getting in to the sand it will flood. You don't have to put much in it. You can try it again, as long as there are no ants in it, it is not so bad it floods. If that doesn't work you can still spray it every morning.

[sithmaster676]

hi all
nice to hear that your colony is ok r3d
i was wondering what other meat can you feed ants as bugs are at a shortage at the moment but i have heard that ham is to high in salt for them any pointers
Sithmaster676

[JimmyVe]

Indeed, ham is not so good, if you can't find bugs at this moment you can always go to a store (pet store). I order my Cockroaches in a pet store and my flour maggots i buy in a fishing store. They don't cost much and you can get them the hole year.

[sithmaster676]

thanks for the reply
in the terms of things like mealworms how do you stop them going into there adult stage
Sithmaster676

[mpir]

You dont! That is the best part of it. You buy a whole bunch of them. Put them in a box with some food and you let them be. They will reproduce and at any given time you will have maggots, small bugs, big bugs... Whatever seem to please your colonies. Just make sure that the box has a good seal if you keep it in your home.

[JimmyVe]

In deed.

If you don't like them alive you can boil them for a few seconds (until they are dead) and then put them in the fridge until you give them to your ants.
Make sure you cut them up in pieces, the outside is rather tuff for most ant species.

[R3dFox]

my ants dont like the ham at all lol. But they do like chicken. This isnt processed like the ham and other sandwich meat so it should be ok for my colony to eat?

when i can find my camera ill take a picture or 2 of my setup at the moment for you all.