ANTSTORE World of Ants

[armyoforigin]

Hey,

I was wondering if anyone had any experience with there captive colonies fighting each other?

It's just that most of my colonies contain small ants that can squeeze through the air holes and such, and they are close together, I was wondering if anyone knew if there would be any conflict between the colonies?

As far as I am aware there should be no problems unless the ants are not fed well.

The colonies are:

P. Pallidula
T. Semilaeve
L. Niger
And Myrmica Ruginodis

They are all on the same surface to make the most of the heat/light for day/night cycles.

The pallidula workers and first/second generation nigers can get through the air holes. The semilaeve are in a small open basin. And while the ruginodis cannot get out of there farm the nigers often raid them for bits of insects they have discarded.

The niger colony is small ~30-50, the pallidula are ~50-100, ans the semilaeve are ~below 10 and the ruginodis are ~20.

My main worry is that the pallidula have a relatively large colony and might try to kill the other colonies.

Also moving to different surfaces will probably not work as the pallidula forage all over the room.

Any help/advice would be welcome

[delete-14751]

I don't know about your P. Pallidula and T. Semilaeve but you Myrmica Ruginodis will attack and kill other ants but as your L.niger are raiding them they can run away and get out of their farm. Would be more worried when your colony gets bigger as large fights may start up and you will loose alot of ants. BUT IT IS BEST THAT YOU DON'T ALLOW THE ANTS TO EXCAPE IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!

[armyoforigin]

I don't know about your P. Pallidula and T. Semilaeve but you Myrmica Ruginodis will attack and kill other ants but as your L.niger are raiding them they can run away and get out of their farm. Would be more worried when your colony gets bigger as large fights may start up and you will loose alot of ants. BUT IT IS BEST THAT YOU DON'T ALLOW THE ANTS TO EXCAPE IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!

They are escaping through the air holes, I have tried plugging the air holes, which stops the ants but since I have been doing that I have noticed mould which does not *seem* to harm the ants but is not welcome...

The air holes are there for a reason. I cannot stop the ants from escaping. =(

[JimmyVe]

Its not always easy to stop ants from escaping, but i have a lot of colonies and i can count on one hand the escapes that i had. You can use a lot of stuff to stop them from escaping. (Glide material, a lid, ...)

The workers will kill each other for sure.

[armyoforigin]

I do not have a lot of escapes
I am just worried something is going to happen.

I have tried Vaseline, which is the only thing I could get a hold of.
It didn't work, the pheidoel just piled sand onto it and walked over =(

[JimmyVe]

You can also use PTFE, that is a very good product.

[delete-14751]

They are escaping through the air holes

If you put sticky tape ove the air holes and then make smaller ones using a fine needle. This should work as you can still have the same air flow just more smaller holes so no escape!!!

You are putting the Vaseline round the top aint ya?? PTFE is the best as Jimmy said plus sand wont stick to it.

[armyoforigin]

They are escaping through the air holes

If you put sticky tape ove the air holes and then make smaller ones using a fine needle. This should work as you can still have the same air flow just more smaller holes so no escape!!!

You are putting the Vaseline round the top aint ya?? PTFE is the best as Jimmy said plus sand wont stick to it.

I tried that on the nigers and they chewed through the tape on one of the holes =S

I think I will try doubling the tape this time, I do think that that is the best option. =D

[mpir]

They are not talking about the PTFE tape. You should try PTFE in liquid form which you apply and then let it dry. Also in my experience that is the best method (of course combined with some other - lid, island,..) to prevent escape. PTFE tape does not really work from what I could read from other keepers who have tried it.

[delete-14751]

yeah another way would be to put each farm and basin in a dish with about a cm deep of water (plus a bit of washing up liquid in so the surface tension doesn't pull them into the water). this will stop them reaching the other farms/basins when they escape.

PTFE needs to be replace about once a month and if you havn't put it on smooth enough or it cracks the ants can get passed it, so i don't use it.

I use Sticky tape and water.

P.s Good air flow should prevent mould so don't block up your air holes.

[armyoforigin]

Well I know that we weren't talking about PTFE tape

I have done the tape thing, put a needle through to make some airflow, no escapees so far...

The water did not work for me, over the course of a few weeks I had about ~20 deaths in the Pallidula colony =( And I did use detergent in the water.

I had no deaths in the Niger colony using the same system though...

Does anyone know if the Pallidula are that aggressive?

[SteveUK28]

pallidula can be aggressive if they want to be especialy when hunting for food. If i was you id be more worried about your myrimica colony.. they are very nasty ants when they want to be and given time would easily kill the others. PTFE is definatly your friend, i use it along with Vaseline and i dont have hardly any escapes.. the odd one or two but not a full blown invasion

[armyoforigin]

pallidula can be aggressive if they want to be especialy when hunting for food. If i was you id be more worried about your myrimica colony.. they are very nasty ants when they want to be and given time would easily kill the others. PTFE is definatly your friend, i use it along with Vaseline and i dont have hardly any escapes.. the odd one or two but not a full blown invasion

The Myrmica cannot escape they are too big.

Today I also changed the foraging area set-up for all my ants as the ants tended to like foraging in other colonies areas Now the forraging areas are directly attached to the farms and only the ants in that farm can get in

I think that was one of the main reasons the ants were being so annoyingly Houdini(ish).

I feed my ants every few days, maybe 4/5. As when I try to feed them more often they do not really eat a lot. Can someone just comment on this and tell me if it is okay? I always make sure I give them a lot of food so that some is left over, rather too much than too little =)

[SteveUK28]

Well as a general rule i feed my small colonys either every other day or every 3rd day.. and take out what they leave the night before i feed them..

[miszt]

be careful putting your basins in water with washing up liquid, i discovered painfully that ant-store basins are not entirly water proof, and I lost a Pheidole colony do to the basin filling with soapy water

If you want to use this method, I recomend you place something in the water (eg a brick) and place the basin on top of it, so it is not actually in the water, this will have the same effect

(if you are using aquariums as a basin, this isnt an issue)