ANTSTORE World of Ants

[damondeionno]

I started keeping ants when I was about 8. Though I was interested in them a long time before that.

I read everything I could get my hands on and one of books that really excited me when I was young was an old book by Sir John Lubbock called Ants, Bees and Wasps. It was written in 1929 - though I am guessing my copy is a reprint. A brilliant book, full of experiments on ants and bees conducted by the author.

My first attempt at keeping ants was Lasius niger, but unfortunately I managed to kill the queen while extracting the colony from a plant pot. Then when I was about 8 I was at a family friend's house in Wales, and while exploring their garden (mostly looking for ants, which is something I still do), I lifted a board that was on top of a compost heap and found a a large colony of Lasius niger including the queen. I managed to collect a large number of workers. I still remember getting this massive colony home and trying to work out how I could get them into the formicarium I had built (vertical, 2 sheets of glass with wood around the edges. I but the whole colony in a partly filled bath with a raised island. Nobody in my family was allowed to use the bath for a couple of days while the ants gradually moved into the formicarium. I kept them in the cellar surrounded by a moat of grease. I have to say that my mother was very supportive of my interest.

When I was about 9 or 10 I also kept Mymica ruginodis and Lasius flavus. I didn't know anyone else who kept ants so I was pretty much self-taught. I learned that horizontal formicariums tend to work better for ants such as Lasius niger, Lasius flavus and Myrmica r. species.

I raised my first Lasius niger colony from a nuptial flight queen when I was about 14, and kept this through school and even took it with me to university. At around that time I also brought back a number of queens and small colonies from visits to the South of France.

After that my lifestyle was less settled. I think people tend to move around a fair bit in their early 20's and keeping ants was more difficult. I did have a couple of colonies or Monomorium pharaonis - in escape proof, sealed tube formicaria. One of which I even installed on my desk at work. I want to make it clear that I know the risks with M pharaonis, and am not advising them as a good choice for people who aren't v. experienced with ants in captivity, or who aren't old enough to deal with the consequences if things go wrong.

I have continued to read extensively on ants. My favourite book, was a bit of an investment, but I would consider it a must for anyone who is passionate about developing their knowledge - Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar

More recently I have kept Pheidole pallidula - as described on another thread.

And this year I temporarily kept Myrmicra r again because they are common in my garden - though I released the colony again when it grew.

I have also done a lot of travelling, where observing ants has been a big part of the motivation. So Europe, various parts of Africa, Madagascar and Australia (South America is next on the list).

I am now settled in a bigger house with my partner and intend to start keeping ants again more seriously, though I am more interested in species that I have a particular passion for and these tend to be European or more exotic.

I noticed a few people on this thread are a little embarassed about their hobby and I would counter this by saying that I have never been shy about talking to people about ants. I have found girlfriends, friends, colleagues, people i've met are generally fascinated by ants. It's true that some people have a general dislike for 'creepy crawlies', but there is a almost universal interest in the mechanics of social insect societies.

I generally talk to people about the concept of emergence and parallels with other emergent systems. Our brains are a good example of this - lots of simple units co-operating to generate complex behaviour and even memories, where no individual entity can be said to hold that memory or plan of behaviour. And when it comes to sexual reproduction, ant colonies can be compared to complex multi-cellular organisms such as ourselves. After all most of the cells in your body (workers), and that includes the cells in our brains, only exist to allow the cells in our gonads to reproduce. Perhaps what I'm trying to say is that people are interested in ants if you can explain how things about ants relate to ourselves.

During my travels in Madagascar last year I was thrilled at the reaction of the national park guides, who were incredibly enthusiastic about learning about ants - inhabitants of the environment to which they'd previously paid very little attention.

Sorry for the long post.

[ant dude]

jimmyve, he means the one above ur post

I noticed a few people on this thread are a little embarassed about their hobby and I would counter this by saying that I have never been shy about talking to people about ants. I have found girlfriends, friends, colleagues, people i've met are generally fascinated by ants. It's true that
some people have a general dislike for 'creepy crawlies', but there is a almost universal interest in the mechanics of social insect societies

i'm one of the embaresed ones lol! i dont want to say to many people/if any, that i keep ants just in case, better safe than sorry. plus just in case people start thinking im some sort of GEEK! at skool i mean at the moment im pretty populuer i do mc/rap/spit battles whatever u wanna call em, hang with da hard kids mainly cos im one lol, listen to rap/rnb music, play football/basketball and im quite a good rapper (fast thinker good rymer). now every one probaly thinks im some vain/big head, ol well fault i would just say it any cos its true and people will critersise why i dont tell other people about that im into ants.

thanks for da post anyway

sounds like a great book, but im not paying dat much 4 it though lol. maybe some day when im a milloniare

[Phasmid]

I have been interested in ants since i could walk, but I only started keeping ants at the begining 2007 with my first colony, C.ligniperda(yes, it's still alive today ).

[ant dude]

phasmid:i have really aswell, as far as i can remeber anyway, but i think i was around 7 when i started collecting them in bottles/jars to keep as pets

[SteveUK28]

Ive always loves ants myself and always found L.Niger well exciting.. they used to tunnel there way into our dining room then through into our kitchen.. right by the bin.. always remember layin on the kitchen floor an watchin them carry little bits away....
I dont remember ever tryin to catch them tho.. my mum would have killed me lol
had loads of differnt ones in the back garden tho.. and now i think about it the ants i always really loved are the ones i saw in the forest.. huge things around 1-1.5cm long... and the nest was always huge and looked like saw dust... Not sure what they was tho.. Anybody got any ideas??
Anyway.. First colony was last year when i noticed a queen on ebay.. unfortunatly they vainished.. so either escaped or died
Now ive got me a new colony from Miszt Which hopefully will live forever lol

[miszt]

they where probly Formica rufa

[SteveUK28]

Tell ya what il pop up the forest tomorrow and get a pic or 2.. or 5.. and post them.. thats if there is still a few running about..

Just wondering Miszt... Can u actually buy a queen of this ant? and if so is it a good ant for me ?

[miszt]

i doubt it at this time of year

f.rufa are endangered, so highly unlikly you will find someone selling them, if so, they shuldnt be

i recon the size of the nest is a good indication that theyr not very good for keeping lol

[SteveUK28]

Saying this ive just been a lookin on ebay and there is still some ppl sellin L.Niger and Lasius Flavus.. Tis a bit late aint it ??

[miszt]

allot of people dont hibernate the colonies they collect for sale

[SteveUK28]

never good.. i was looking at the Lasius Flavus colony they had.. but it is gettin a little bit late to be buyin a new colony now.. But.. saying that if i did.. do u think i could still manage to hibernate them ?

[ant dude]

Tell ya what il pop up the forest tomorrow and get a pic or 2.. or 5.. and post them.. thats if there is still a few running about..

wont the ants be hibernating now?

if u do manage to see some of the ants u mean, and manage to get some
pictures of them that would help a lot!!! but just in case u cant get anyway, do u know what colur they were at all? were did u hunt for them? maybe f.rufra (like miszt said) or f.sanguia maybe u agsaguated there acsual size. and were acsually f.fusca(much more common memeber of the wood ant family only smaller) etc.

or look around a couple of websites and try copy a pic from there onto here. but like miszt said probaly rufra or maybe sangina

u could get them, and always hibernate them next year it would'nt be the end of the world. i think u should probaly be able to hibernate them (i think!!!) as long as u steadily drop the temperture and not do it all at once if u know what i mean

thanks 4 da posts but i think we are starting to get a bit off-topic its ok as long we dont go a bit to much so

[tail__]

Of course, they don't need to hibernate exactly the same time they do in nature. Most species are flexible, e.g. Lasius niger live in Paris and in Petersburg, where hibernation time is very different. They can sleep a month or six months, they can also survive a few years without hibernation at all, though it is not recommended. (this can shorten the queen's lifespan) You can even send them to hibernation in summer, most ants don't have calendars and won't care.

[ant dude]

thanks tail_ for confirming that about hibernation for me u see i did'nt want to say for certain cos i was just a little bit unsure about whever u could hibernate them at this time, thanks again anyway

anyway thanks everyone for voting so far, much appricated. and for giveing your first expirensises well done

[damondeionno]

plus just in case people start thinking im some sort of GEEK! at skool i mean at the moment im pretty populuer i do mc/rap/spit battles whatever u wanna call em, hang with da hard kids mainly cos im one lol, listen to rap/rnb music, play football/basketball and im quite a good rapper (fast thinker good rymer).

Antdude

It's true that at school, kids often struggle to look past conformity, but as people get older non-conformity becomes more respected.

There are lots of ways to earn respect. But you have to ask yourself how much people really respect you if you can't be honest about the things you are interested in.

This poem is worth a few readings and half an hour's thought - http://www.swarthmore.edu/~apreset1/docs/if.html

Lastly be careful about telling people you are 'hard'. There is always someone harder than you, and some people take assertions of hardness as a challenge. I got into a lot of fights when I was younger (18-25), I think partially because of the way I walked - chest out, head held high. I even got stabbed once. Yes, I can handle myself, but that kind of stuff is better avoided.

All just friendly advice.