ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Kale^^]

Getting a colony of C. dalmaticus (5+ workers and queen) and i'd like to get some information for these.

They come from south europe, so i guess 25-30 celsius temperature but i have no idea about moisture. I think i'm putting them in a ytong by the way. (They nest under stones, rarely in ground). I'll put them in a 20cm high 30cm wide 40 cm long basin with sand/mould and the ytong next to glass.

[JimmyVe]

You can always find some info at antweb.
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They will do fine in a y-tong. About the humidity, i can not say (no experience with these ants) but you can try it out. Make the y-tong moist for 1/4 and if they stay al the time in the moist part you can make the moist place bigger. If they stay in the dry part, make that one bigger.

[Kale^^]

I looked it up, not much info on antweb on these kind of species. I'll go head first and hope they like my setup.

[JimmyVe]

I'm sure they will like the y-tong. Post some pictures of the setup and the ants.

[Kale^^]

I will, for sure. As soon as i get the ants & my camera back.

[Kale^^]

The y-tong in the basin. The y-tong is wet after washing so it looks grey, but it's white.

I think i should carve the backside of the nest so it would look more natural..?

[Kale^^]

Done. I think this nest is big enough until there is about 70-80 workers.

Shaped to look better =) Holes are for water.

Uh i think i need to buy some aquarium sand to fill the floor of the tank.

[JimmyVe]

Don't use to much sand or they will dig and make there nest in there. The setup looks nice.

[SteveUK28]

Would i be right in saying those holes are gonna be filled with water to make it damp?? Ive got one of my ytongs like that and it is not working very well i have to refill it like twice a day. I was thinking of letting it dry out then fill the bottom and some of the sides with selant.. so that it only escapes through the top like i want... What you think of that Jimmy ???

[Kale^^]

I'm going to put about 5 centimeters of sand in there, but i will keep it dry (then they should not make nest there?)
Also i'm going to glue tubes in the holes to they can store more water. Or maybe i'll make more holes side-to side?

[JimmyVe]

Well the hole holes thing is not a bad idea, you just need to refill it almost every day to keep the farm moist. When you use a leg you don't need to refill every day, that is way i always try to use legs.

I think it could work out Steve. Maybe it is harder to keep the hole farm moist that way. But you can try it out.

5 cm, is more than enough for a small colony to make there nest in there. Also when you moist your y-tong it will also moist the sand.

[SteveUK28]

Ahhh yes kale ytong and sand do NOT mix well mate.. when i first did my pallidula setup the ytong turned my sand into a swamp... it was awfull i had to completly redo it. I used a ruler up against the ytong and used selant to keep it in place.. that way none of the sand would get wet... just some the same side as the ytong.. but i added very small pebbles to that side, ive had no problems since i did that.. i have pics somewhere...

[Kale^^]

Oh darn you're right. The sand does suck the water out of the ytong. Hmm maybe i'll make a new nest anyway. This y-tong doesn't seem to take any water.

[Kale^^]

I've just understood that this species is European. So this topic shall be moved to the European ants forum.

Anyway: I got the colony now. They came with one queen and maybe 15 workers, instead of 6. No brood, they had hibernated for a while (2-3 weeks).

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with 20cm*20cm arena, and put the Dalmaticus tube in it. They moved within 7 hours (last checked before going to sleep, and in the morning they were init). These ants seem very nice, body is like most camponotus but much smaller.


The ants in their formicarium right after placing them in.

the ants in the cork nest

The ants in the test-tube (mini test tube)

the ants in the test-tube another pic.

For now i cannot say much about the ants, they seem to be hibernating. In the spring, i expect a egg-boom!

[Skippy]

Nice one Kale , this specie is similar to Camponotus fallax , just live more at south of Europe. Radek´s cork nest is fantastic for them , that you can believe , because in nature this one lives in small holes in wood or btw wood-bark. When is this colony so small you couldnt have fear about destroy cork , they can maybe make some visual rebuilds but not new holes - until colony will be bigger. From spring you have to feed them well , the best by flyes and honey water and do not stop with feeding for any day , colony of dalmaticus grow much quicklier than other Camponotus with which you had experience what I know (ligniperda ..)

Good luck