ANTSTORE World of Ants

[darradar]

this is an ambitious plan, and one i really will be interested in seeing when completed, just remember, your ants will need to hibernate, and so yuor set up needs to be easily monoverable (mine are up in the loft), and due to the sand volume in my formacarium, its quite heavy, just take this in account when setting it all up.

I think the local sand at yuor beach will be fine, just make sure you steralize it first...

[Indica]

Ur challenging me here now lol
Well I cant really say which sand is better but if you do choose the white sand at your beach I suggest that you mx it with your loam and then bake it in the oven at 200C for 15-30 min
Why? because the beach sand is untreated and may contain nasty bacteria and such for your ants

Sorry that I could not help you in the sand difference

Your ants will survive a long time in the test tube aslong as you feed them

It's ok, man I'm very thankful for the help you've given me so far.
I already readed "Lasius Niger caresheet" and it described how to prepare the sand..

About the sand. I personally think that the desert sand would be easier to make tunnels in for ants, as they have larger pieces (By the looks on picture anyways). But beach sand with finer pieces would make stronger tunnels..

this is an ambitious plan, and one i really will be interested in seeing when completed, just remember, your ants will need to hibernate, and so yuor set up needs to be easily monoverable (mine are up in the loft), and due to the sand volume in my formacarium, its quite heavy, just take this in account when setting it all up.

I already thought of that. I'm thinking of making very solid and thick wooden base for it, should hold up just fine.

I think the local sand at yuor beach will be fine, just make sure you steralize it first...

[ashhad1]

Hmm mix the loam with desert sand and abit with beach sand
and boom your problem may be solved lol

[Indica]

Hmm mix the loam with desert sand and abit with beach sand
and boom your problem may be solved lol

Heh.. yeah

But on the other hand just desert sand would probably hold up fine too as the loam hardens and bonds the desert sand pieces together.

Can someone tell how the desert sand looks in real life? Anyone uses it?

I would like desert sand for it's red color.. would probably give cool effect and you can see both, black on it as well as white, young ones. But if it's not good for diggin' then the color wont be that important.

[darradar]

I already thought of that. I'm thinking of making very solid and thick wooden base for it, should hold up just fine.

i was refering to you being able to pick it up and move it, and not the bottom giving way..

[Kale^^]

The idea is very good, but when you make a formicarium like that, the ants probably dig their nest in the wider part; most ants (aswell lasius niger) prefer darkness. So if you want them to move to the thin part, you need to cover it well first, and when they are settled in you can remove any covers and they will get used to the light. But still they may want to move to the wider area. One way to prevent them from moving to the wide area, is, that you keep it very dry, they don't like to live in dry places, that's more important than the light for them.
Lasius Niger will dig into almost any kind of soil, i've seen them in the wildlife on Finland in a lot of different types; sand, rotten wood, gravell, all that kinds off things. L Niger isn't too choosy. So don't worry.

[Indica]

I already thought of that. I'm thinking of making very solid and thick wooden base for it, should hold up just fine.

i was refering to you being able to pick it up and move it, and not the bottom giving way..

Oh, well.. I guess i could just carefully pick it up and move it.. if needed I can always ask someone to help if I cant grab it alone? I was personally more worried about it being quiet wide and when holding it the thinner part might give up.

The idea is very good, but when you make a formicarium like that, the ants probably dig their nest in the wider part; most ants (aswell lasius niger) prefer darkness. So if you want them to move to the thin part, you need to cover it well first, and when they are settled in you can remove any covers and they will get used to the light. But still they may want to move to the wider area. One way to prevent them from moving to the wide area, is, that you keep it very dry, they don't like to live in dry places, that's more important than the light for them.
Lasius Niger will dig into almost any kind of soil, i've seen them in the wildlife on Finland in a lot of different types; sand, rotten wood, gravell, all that kinds off things. L Niger isn't too choosy. So don't worry.

I was thinking of pluging the hole to the wider are at first until they start to dig into narrow part. Once they have started digging then I unplug the hole and they can access there too. Would it work, or they sometimes change places too?

Also thought of covering the narrow room, and only opening it for.. well looking at it. But the bigger room would always be exposed to light.

[darradar]

well its gonna be trail and error, though if they decide to, once they do move, youl find it hard to get them back, Ants can only be minapulated to some degree, give them free range, and they'l most like do the opposite of what yuo require...

[Kale^^]

I was thinking of pluging the hole to the wider are at first until they start to dig into narrow part. Once they have started digging then I unplug the hole and they can access there too. Would it work, or they sometimes change places too?

The idea is good, but they do move if they think they need to/it helps the colony.

Also thought of covering the narrow room, and only opening it for.. well looking at it. But the bigger room would always be exposed to light.

Yuo can also buy a http://www.antstore.net/shop/product_in ... cking.html
anc cover the glass with that, so you can observer the ants whenever you want, without stressing the ants.

[Indica]

Hmm, what if I close the hole, like I planned. But leave the underground part connected between the narrow and big room, so if the narrow room gets to small they can still expand to big room?

I plan to keep both rooms equally moisture, but only narrow one always in the dark. So the narrow room would be better for them anyway, right?

[Kale^^]

Nah, they'd just dig in the middle of the wide part, so they will not see the light (obviously, if you're not going to use transparent sand).

[Indica]

How do these things work then?

[Kale^^]

those work, in fact in that way; The nest site is damp, and the feeding area is flat and dry so the ants wont dig in the wrong place.

[Indica]

those work, in fact in that way; The nest site is damp, and the feeding area is flat and dry so the ants wont dig in the wrong place.

Would this work then?
If yes which would be better, tiny rocks (Which ants cant lift) or a dry sand?

[Kale^^]

Most ants (at least lasius niger) can lift 5-10mm rocks. And those rocks would be easy to pass for l. niger, since they would sneak between them.
I've seen it.

And how are you going to prevent the grass moving to the nest area?

And if you are going to use that "very dry sand" how do you keep it dry, if you want to keep the lower part damp? It is very hard to control such.

I'm not trying to discourage you, but you have to solve these problems before you can put the ants in. When the ants live there, it is harder to control this.