ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Marten]

Hello, all, and thanks in advance for any help. I have recently collected some wandering dealated queens of several different species, and I have some specific questions about their care, particularly with respect to formicarium design (in a following post).

The ants were collected in North Georgia (USA). I have identified my queens as Camponotus pennsylvanicus (3), Camponotus americanus (1), and members of the Formica pallidefulva group (3) (probably F. dolosa). I am particularly excited about these latter, as I have never before encountered a dealated F. pallidefulva queen (I think that they have only a few mating flights per year), and I have always wanted to observe them in captivity.

I was unprepared to collect these queens, but after a rainstorm about two weeks ago, the ants apparently had a large mating flight. I was staggered when I saw a beautiful red Formica queen struggling with a Solenopsis invicta (red imported fire ant, damn them) worker, which was attached to her right leg and attempting to sting. I immediately collected her in a small glass jar and saved her from her assailant, from which she suffered no apparent injury. I subsequently returned with more jars, and a search yielded the other queens I mentioned above. Unfortunately, I did not have any test tubes handy. Therefore, I placed a moistened, wadded-up tissue into each jar, resolving to transfer the queens to test tubes as soon as I could acquire some (this was during a weekend).

My queens had other ideas, and each began to lay eggs underneath the shelter of their tissue wads. Once they had laid eggs, I was reluctant to move them, for fear that I would destroy the brood. Thus, for the past week and a half, each queen has remained in her small jar, and they have laid an average of 4 – 5 eggs apiece. I have opened the jars periodically to refresh the air and to add a few drops of water to the tissue wads.

Two of the C. pennsylvanicus queens, as well as the C. americanus queen, were collected under a piece of rotting wood, and already had a small brood, which I collected. There were no workers present, and their cocooned pupae are extremely small, leading me to conclude that theirs is an initial brood of minim workers.

None of the Formica queens will take any nourishment (neither sugar water nor crushed insect food); each merely tends to her small pile of eggs. On the other hand, the Camponotus queens have each happily accepted a share of part of a small crushed spider, as no trace of this offering remained after one day.

Following are my questions. I will greatly appreciate any answers that you might be able to provide:

(1) Should I continue to offer insect food to the queens? It is a very difficult process. Since I do not want untaken food to rot, I have devised a method whereby I tie a thin thread around part of a crushed insect, and then lower the offering into the jar. This way, if it is ignored or only partially consumed, I can draw it back out after a day and thereby prevent a fungus infestation. However, I am worried that these ministrations might be overly stressing the queens, particularly the Formica queens.

(2) Should I attempt to offer sugary liquid food to the queens? If so, can anyone think of a way that I can do this so that the food can be completely removed if it is not accepted without unduly stressing the queens?

(3) How moist should the jars be kept? I have tried to keep the paper moist enough so that light condensation forms on the inside of the jars. Is this too much?

(4) Should I increase the ambient temperature of the captive colonies? They are currently kept indoors at around 71 degrees F (approx. 21.5 degrees C). Although they are laying eggs, this temperature is far cooler than the average temperature outdoors, which probably never goes below 78 degrees F (25.5 degrees C) and soars to above 92 degrees F (33.3 degrees C) in the daytime. If I should increase the temperature, what is the easiest way to do this? Some desklamps? A heating pad? Please note that I have little skill in designing / building things.

(5) Should I change the tissue paper? Each queen has decided to locate under this water reservoir, but the tissue paper in each jar has begun to mold (darkened color, small black dots). I am worried that replacing the paper might be more stressful than the mold.

(6) One Formica queen (the one attacked by the fire ant) decided to lay her brood under a tissue paper that had been soaked (accidentally) in sugar water. This paper is now merrily growing mold, but the queen has laid her eggs on the underside of the paper. Should I attempt to change this paper?

(7) I would like to attempt to “boost” the colonies by adding cocoons from existing wild colonies. The woods here are overflowing with Camponotus colonies in particular, and it would be easy to collect an arbitrary amount of cocoons without inflicted serious harm to the wild colonies, and I would be happy to do this if it would substantially increase the odds of my captive colonies' survival. If I do collect “booster” cocoons, how many per queen should I add? Also, should I add them immediately, or wait until the brood is larger? Please note that I have not yet constructed any permanent nests (formicaria), but I do want to give my queens every possible advantage.

(8.) I will probably not want to keep more than three or four colonies permanently. If all of my colonies survive, is it possible to reintroduce them to their original habitat so that they will have a good change of survival (anything to compete with the damn fire ants)? How might I go about this?

(9) I am very excited about the Formica queens and the possibility of having a captive colony of the very interesting species native to here (a large, bright orangish-red ant that forages very actively). Does anyone have any experience or pointers about keeping members of the Formica pallidefulva group in captivity?

If you have read this far, please read my following post with questions about formicarium design.

[Marten]

Part II – Questions about formicaria

I have never made a plaster (or similar) formicarium, having always preferred to observe ants performing excavation in an “ant-farm” style setup of sandwiched glass panes. With the advent of the resources available on the Internet, however, I've been greatly impressed by visibility (and aesthetic attractiveness) afforded by pre-molded nests. I have definitely decided to fabricate some prebuilt nests for the colonies in my previous post. However, I am not mechanically inventive, and I perceive further problems arising with prebuilt nests:

First of all, I live in the U.S., so autoclaved aerated cement (or an equivalent) is not readily available to me. Further, I am not enthusiastic at all about using plaster. The quality is too variable, and guaranteed quality plaster (such as dental-grade plaster) is too expensive. Plus, I have read that water acts as a solvent upon plaster, and that the plaster will degrade and outgas over time, thereby threatening the colony. I have considered some alternatives, and I submit these questions for your consideration (all responses will be greatly appreciated):

(1) Is there any reason (other than the initial problems with fabrication) why concrete would not be a good medium in lieu of plaster? The way I see it is: concrete will wick water well, it is so strong as to be utterly impervious even to the jaws of C. pennsylvanicus, and it is chemically inert and will not degrade. Why not use concrete? Would it be less comfortable to the ants?

(2) I am not good at making stuff, so I'd prefer to make some small formicaria for my colonies and then upgrade them later, when I have more experience. I doubt that my colonies could possibly grow beyond a few dozen workers each before hibernation (perhaps much less than this: I have never kept a Formicinae species before). How small can I make the nests (i.e., how many chambers, assuming a nest with a single main tunnel and isolated chambers)?

(3) I am often out of town for as much as week at a time. Hence, it is very important to me that my formicaria be designed in such a way as to minimize the necessity of frequent maintenance. Assuming that the nests are made of concrete, would it be a good idea to add an isolated water channel (a small tube connected to an isolated chamber at the bottom that is always filled with water)? How can I design the formicarium in such a way that the nest is kept within proper parameters for humidity with minimal maintenance?

(4) If it is at all possible, I would like to fill a portion of the nest with a substrate, for several reasons. First, it will discourage the ants from using an unoccupied part of the nest as a dumping ground. Secondly, it will provide these species of ants (all of whose larvae spin cocoons) with a substrate for cocoon-making. Thirdly, the ants might prefer some substrate to bare concrete. Additionally, it will allow me to observe excavation! However, I do not want to add any substrate that will significantly impact visibility through adhesion to the glass or by allowing the ants to build hidden tunnels or chambers. Given that my captive species are relatively robust, would wood shavings be a good candidate for a filler substrate, or would they still have a big negative effect on visibility? Since the shavings would necessarily be damp in the nest, would they be likely to grow some intolerable fungus in the course of decomposing?

I figure that I have at least a few weeks before the first pupae begin to eclose. However, I am really unhappy with the crappy glass jar habitat that my ants all currently inhabit, and I am worried that I will discover all of my queens to be dead one day due either to some environmental problem inherent in the glass jar nests, or due to stress from me opening the jars and watering the (slowly decomposing) tissue wads. I'd like to get some permanent habitats ready soon.

Once again, any answers and advice will be greatly appreciated.

[miszt]

Hi Marten I would suggest that you put the queens in test tubes, half fill them with water, bung a piece of cotton wool in to make a resivior, then put the queen in and bung up again with more cotton wool

Also check out my Lasius niger caresheet, although not specific to those ants, it should give you some pointers for keeping most species, unless the species you have captured have specific requirements I wouldnt expect you to run into any problems

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Sorry I havent got time to answer all your questions, I'm just heading off to work, will have another look in tomorow night/sunday, but the care sheet will get you started!

as far as concrete goes, yep its great, as long as its Aereated, if you know how to make this yourself, please do post up a recipe! We'd all love to know! But you can buy blocks of it ready made, called Ytong/Breeze Blocks (do a search, u'll find lots of options), plaster is rubbish unless you need a very dry nest

[Marten]

Hi Marten I would suggest that you put the queens in test tubes, half fill them with water, bung a piece of cotton wool in to make a resivior, then put the queen in and bung up again with more cotton wool

Also check out my Lasius niger caresheet, although not specific to those ants, it should give you some pointers for keeping most species, unless the species you have captured have specific requirements I wouldnt expect you to run into any problems

Hi, Miszt, thank you for your reply. I read your Lasius niger caresheet -- it was excellent. I do wish that I had my queens in test tubes. However, I am now hesitant to move them, because I do not think that it will be possible for me to move the eggs without destroying them. Do you think that it would be better to move the queens and potentially force them to "start over" in the test tube, or should I let well enough alone?

Sorry I havent got time to answer all your questions, I'm just heading off to work, will have another look in tomorow night/sunday, but the care sheet will get you started!

Thanks. I'm particularly looking forward to hearing your thoughts on "boosting", as I've heard it called.

as far as concrete goes, yep its great, as long as its Aereated, if you know how to make this yourself, please do post up a recipe! We'd all love to know! But you can buy blocks of it ready made, called Ytong/Breeze Blocks (do a search, u'll find lots of options), plaster is rubbish unless you need a very dry nest

Well, I was just thinking of just making a regular concrete mixture. I am not a structural engineer, but it was my understanding that regular concrete will absorb water well. Of course, I wouldn't rely on it to allow sufficient air circulation. However, I assume that if the nest entrance is reasonably large, then air circulation will not be a problem.

There are actually a few companies that manufacture aerated concrete in the U.S., but I don't know how to go about obtaining any. I haven't seen it at home improvement centers, so I suspect that I'd have to buy it in large (building) quantities. Paying high rates to have smaller quantities shipped from Europe is also an unattractive option. I'm inclined to mix up my own concrete and make a large quantity of nests at once. Do you think that regular concrete has any important flaws?

[SteveUK28]

Hi Marten and Welcome,
depending on how big the jars are, can you not tip the eggs into the test tubes? They do really need to in test tubes. As for heating i would advise a heat mat half under the jars/test tubes with half off, so they have a choice of if to be hot or not.
Reintroducing them to the wild is not a problem as long as you do it where you found them.
You can continue to offer them food once a week, its not a problem if they dont accept it, as in the wild they would not get food themselves anyway, as for honey/sweets they could have some, you could try using a cotton bud soaked in honey/sugar water, or use an empty pill popper.
As for the formicarium, im not sure about making it yourself would work as i dont know if you could get enough air into the mix for it to hold the water. I think you'd be better off buying an aerated block. There is actually another guide here about them... http://www.antstore.net/viewtopic.php?t=5737
Hope that helps