ANTSTORE World of Ants

[gabranth]

ok im going to start a harvester ant colony next week that im going to keep in ytong for a change even though they can apparently chew though it but im going to copy mpir's idea as ive got lots of carte dor containers and keep them in there until they get bigger.

so i was wondering if there difficult to keep and how long it takes for them to grow?


and also what the hell does this mean i got it when reading about messors on the forums and my profile has a uk flag on it i would of expected germans would know by seeing it that i probably don't speak there language

From: thomas_g
To: gabranth
Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 8:40 pm
Subject:
frage Quote message
hi ich wolte fragen ob di icq hast

[Antlord]

I have got my colony for over 6 months now,
haven't had a problem so far.

They have always been very active day and night,
when I recieved them there were like 4 workers and immediatly 1 was exploring the outworld in the middle of the day.
In my other small colonies the workers would only forage at night.

I find them very easy to keep.
They eat almost every kind of small seed and insects you give them.
If you keep them around 27°C like I do, they will grow fast enough.
I keep them in a ytongnest and I never noticed them digging.
I think they wont try to dig as long as they have plenty of space.

I hope this is helpful to you!

[gabranth]

thxs im going to keep them in a 60cm ytong block should be enough room for them and ive got to cut into it some how hopefully a bread knife or flat head screw driver will do it

[SteveUK28]

wood chisels are good.

[JimmyVe]

Mine didn't dig through there y-tong until a few weeks back, i have them in there from last year, about 14 months.

The German guy just asked if you had ICQ. That is all.

[gabranth]

maybe i should put a couple of glass sheet on the other side as well

[JimmyVe]

Wouldn't harm the ants. And it's much saver.

[gabranth]

here's my temp encloser for them for a while well they grow then ill put them into ytong

[gabranth]

i got my colony unfortunately one of the workers drowned and my only major almost drown so i had to tip them out and put them into another testube and save the major that has a leg missing

[JimmyVe]

Sorry to hear that, i'm sure they will do just fine as long if the queen and a few workers are okay. They will grow back stronger soon.

[gabranth]

yep ive been feeding them fruitflies that they love expecally the queen but they don't seem to like honey water




edit: these ants are small would they need 60cm ytong or would 30cm be big enough?

[mpir]

Hehehe... Carte D'Or rocks...

I've never feed M. barbarus with sweet water. I've tried giving them some fruits but they ignored that too. So I only feed them seeds and insects. I gave them a bit of cheese the other day and they loved it.

One more thing, make big nest for this ants or at least expendable one. They grow very fast. Really.

[SteveUK28]

i dont know why but my messors are well shy.. i hardly see them out.. and they have filled there test tube with grass seed and left the other seeds alone, i dont think they touch the crickets i give them either, Is there anything else i can try em with ?

[gabranth]

fruitfly's or a small fly that's what ive been feeding them



edit: ive now put a small criket in there testtube that the workers ignored but the queen went to the end of the testube and dragged it to the other end and is now eating it

[JimmyVe]

Ants only need insects when there is brood. If there is no brood or not much they don't eat allot of the insect you give.

Most Messor sp. don't eat sweets. Only insects and seeds. They make ant bread from it. The workers feed themselves with that.