ANTSTORE World of Ants

[JimmyVe]

Looks very nice, you are doing a good job.

[sithmaster676]

like jimmy said that pictures are good and i hope this colony goes well for you
Sithmaster676

[darradar]

Hello guys,

Well today I set up my 3rd nest, the second attempt, though ok in itself, I had used a peice of wood to hold up the plaster nest against the side of the tank....and through lack od air behind the nest and the condensation, I saw mildew at the weekend, so emediatly started work on my 3rd and hopefully final nest.!

I took on board yuor comment about my last nest, the length of the tunnels, so this time I'm sure I did well..

As you can see in the photo's I now have 12 workers, and these new ones are much larger in size, and yippee look at all my eggs and larvae...

I thought I would just add here, for any one wanting to keep this speciec, they are I would say 98% if not 100% carniverus, they never seem to take suger/honey water, but always take down a moth/cricket instanly.

[Azzer]

Looks great Hope that's the last nest you have to build for them now, I'm sure it's a pain both for you and for them!

[JimmyVe]

Don't worry darradar, my first nest wash really bad.
I must say this is a great nest. The setup is really nice.
A thing you need to remember building a nest is this: most species drag there pray (insects) into the nest, first room, so it is best to have a big room after the entrance of the nest. If the colony is small the positions of the rooms are not of a big deal, but if your colony is getting bigger it is easy for them to have a main tunnel that connect to almost every room. So they can go fast from one place to another.
Almost everything in you nest has this so i like it.

only one point (if i may) this colony is still very small and the nest is nice and big, i'm worried they are not going to keep it clean. They probably are going to use one of the rooms to dump there trash. (It is in deed better to build a nest bigger so they can grow in to it, but it is better if you can block a part of the nest that you can open if the colony is getting bigger)

[darradar]

Yes I fully take your point Jimmy about the small colony and large nest, how ever, before I destroyed the last nest, I found a bunch of trash beneath the plastic plant leafs up in the foroging area, so maybe they will remember in this one. It would have been impossible for me to cut off a part of this nest, until their numbers grow, I guess that's one of the problems with this king of plaster nest set up.
Thankyou for your guidance in my quest to improve thier home..

I must say, since those photo's were taken, they have found the heated chamber and moved the queen and the intire brood from the top left to the bottom right, so they really do prefer the heat.

One last question, as my colony grows, which with cruentatus is slow, what capacity (of ants) can I expect my set up to hold? the demensions of the plaster nest are, 16"x6" each chamber is roughly 2"x1&1/2" with a depth of 1&1/2" with a foroging area of 16"x8"
Just an estimated guess would help me realise how far off I am to needing to make bigger thier home !! I know it will be months and months, but I am curiose how long they will be ok in this... I don't envy the thought of having to move 100's of ants, lol today moving just 13 was stressfull enough.....!!

[JimmyVe]

It is always a little stressful to move them.

I'm not sure about that, the growing of the colony depends on lot of things but i'm guessing about 3 years (just a guess so you have an idea )

I hope they will remember the old trash place, so they will keep this nice nest clean.

I must say, i build a few nest myself (;)) and still i'm far away from the perfect nest.

[darradar]

hello everyone, remeber me......

just want some advise on my colony, as you can see in the photo's its growing nicely, i'm really rather proud of em'......my set up has proven most succesfull, and they are thriving.

I need some advise on hibernating them, and how/when to do it, I have noticed that they have slowed down as the temp's about are dropping. This will be my first winter with them, and as i am about to wind down my tortoise's for hibernation, it suddenly dawnd on me that the ants need to also. So i need to know how i go about it, do i stop feeding them and turn off the heat pad? do i moniter them throughout the winter in any way?

I am sorry if im asking questions already asked, but i have looked to see if there are any hints/advise, but i must have over looked them, if there's any here.

thanks guys
Darran

[kashmir79]

well to get them to hybernate you just need to lower the temp every day or 2 untill it gets colder and then they should hybernate, and top up their food like once a week, the occasional worker will wake up and look for food and take it back to feed the queen i think

[Purifier]

Hmm....i wouldn´t say its good when you lower the temperatur every day. I believe its better all 4. or 5. day....

[JimmyVe]

in deed, lower the temperature slowly. They do not need much food in hibernation.

[sithmaster676]

ants seem to be able to adapt to sudden drops in temperature aswell my lasius niger colony in my garden shed has suddenly gone into hibernation after the temperature dropped from around 16 degrees c to around 6 in the course of maybe a day but colonies usually wont eat anything during hibernation they rely mainly on there body fats
Sithmaster676

[darradar]

thank guys, but may i ask what about the pile of eggs i can see? tho at this time i can see no cocoons, of which there is usually a bundle....

[4mykids]

Hello Darradar, really nice work here

This makes me want to shoot home and do something for my ants now

Your Queen and colony looks exactly like mine. Are they Carpenter ants?

[darradar]

4mykids please excuse me a minute.... ....ahh thats better, please forgive me, but you did make me laugh there, my ants are not carpenter's the clue would be in the topic subjetcs name. they are camponotus cruentatus,

And can anyone advise about hibernation when i see a huge bundle of eggs.. i have lowerd the temerature, as advised, am i to assume that the queen will stop laying, but they will continue to care for the eggs untill larvae stage, and that lavae can indeed go through hibernation? please help..