ANTSTORE World of Ants

[badman]

I'm guessing a little heat, and sand/soil, or would Ytong be better? Is this species pretty similar to L. Niger in terms of habitat/diet?

[Skippy]

Yeah this specie like all like Lasius niger , it can live in sand/soil formicary , also in ytong (but small chambers) .... , but there is one different btw this one and lniger

lniger like to drink food (honey water , egg mixture etc) ... but Tetramorium do not dring well so there you must feed more with insects than water-style food

[mysiak]

Hi, don't want to start a new thread about Tetramorium caespitum so using this one

is it necessary to cover the nest part of formicary with red foil - is this species light sensitive, or is it ok to have them uncovered?

thanks

[mpir]

If you start the colony with queen only than they get used to being on light and there is no need for the red foil. If the colony was dug out then the red foil is a must.

[amrik singh]

Hi,
I keep all my ants except one colony in a room at 24°c ( 23°c minimum 25°c max.)that's a maximum for my Myrmica rubra and that's really a minimum for my Camponotus sp from Punjab so it is not ideal it is a compromise but I think it is the best for Tetramorium caespitum : My small colony develop very well in the test tube cover with a red foil and I feed them killed insects from the animal shop and they like also sesame seeds that they collect as they eat it ,not more. These robust little ant are quite but very actives and steady .They arrived with a large queen about the size of a queen of Myrmica and 2 or three workers and now they have about 15 workers with a very big pile of brood .

[amrik singh]

The brood develop more slowly than that of Pheydol p. but it is at least as big as Pheydol p.'s in number of larvae at least when the colony is small . The Tetramorium c. are slower but as active as P. p.
I think Tetramorium need warm temperature to develop to its potential . In colder areas the colony are smaller , less active and less dynamic.
So at 25°c or so it is a very active , interesting and easy sort of ant to keep .
Lasius niger or L. a. are more adapted to cooler climate to develop to its potential. (Personally I do not like to
keep Lasius n., anyway they are so visible outside everywhere where I live and I do not find them so interesting .)

[amrik singh]

Now my colony is growing fast and I think , as I can judge by the number of nymphs , it will have between 60 and 100 workers within a few days.

[amrik singh]

The development of the brood of my Tetramorium caespitum colony is much slower than that of Pheidole pallidula at the same temperature . So despite the temperature of about 25°c and enough food the colony grow is much slower than I first expected .

[amrik singh]

This summer I had to give away all of my ants when I was going to India because I could not find somebody
to look after properly. Now I keep only two colony's of Tetramorium caespitum : They are easy ants for somebody to look after when I am not there and can feed for a few days on seeds only before been given insects again. They are very interesting too .There is also a controvetial point: The online store site indicate the necessity for T.c. to hibernate , other sites are telling that hibernation is optional not necessary . In fact both can be right, genetic studies make scientist think that MAYBE T.c. is a group composed of different species or variety physically indistinct (cryptic species) but having differences in behavior . Invasive Tetramorium caespitum in NorthAmerica is now provisionally call Tetramorium specie E.
As I like to observe my ants all the year (I myself do'nt enter into hibernation ) I 'll keep my colony's
active all the year . I try and we see if it does work . The room temperature is between 20°c at night and 22°c
(max. 24°c) during the day. The plaster nest is warmed full time by a reptile warming stone and the other by a defective warming matte warming the nest just 2°c above the room temperature . The water tank is under the nest so instead of drying the nest it increase the humidity level .

[amrik singh]

When I was in India I observed a Tetramorium specie ,I think Tetramorium bicarinatum. It was the dominant specie in combat , even the Camponotus were avoiding concentrations of these Tetramoriums but they are relatively slow to recruit to dead insects . Of the dead flies , I did give, most were stolen from them by Pheydole ( 2 small species) faster moving and much faster to recruit . The Pheydole's , avoiding the Tetramorium , pulled the fly to theyr nest in group very efficiently before the arrival of any soldier . In one instance a Tetramorium succeeded to catch a Pheydole and to kill it without any difficulty. A few meters from there it was the Camponotus who stoled most of the flies from Tetramorium before they could recruit nestmates . Only ones the Camponotus dared to still a fly from a group of 4 or 5 Tetramorium puling back and avoiding them and coming back again until all the Tetramorium's left the fly to attack the Camponotus who ceased it and ran away unmolested.

[amrik singh]

Now the Tetramoriums are doing well , the volume of brood is increasing much . I feed them small house crickets killed by friezing and give in permanence seeds of sun flower after removing the husk they seems to love it specially one of the two colony's the other also but less . I don't know why because the volume of brood of the 2 colony's is about the same . Now that they have s.f. seeds they seems not to be very interested in honey water after the initial recruits the honey water is left with few or no ant interested , at the same time they continue to exploit the sun flower seed. Next time I will try fresh peanuts an other oily seed .There is some report that Tetramorium's , Monomorium and Solenopsis are much more interested by oily seeds and nuts than by sugar .

[amrik singh]

The Tetramorium caespitum , especially one of the two colony , like sun flower seeds much . I remove the
husk , the ants pierce the skin covering the seed and empty it from inside until there is only the skin left ,
most of the ants going back to the nest carrying a pellet a bit smaller than there head . When the colony is
big enough I will try to give complete sf seeds to see if they can pierce the husk without help .
It is necessary to be careful when removing the food left over : The Tetramoriums even more than other ants can be still inside the carcass to extract the last bits of food .

[amrik singh]

Yesterday I did give both colony's half fresh peanut ( by fresh I mean not roasted and NOT salted !!! )after removing the covers . They love it ! They like it even much more than the sunflower seeds .
One nest is 23°c or 24°c during the day and 21°c or 22°c at night. The other is at 25°c or 26°c during the day and 24°c at night . Both nests have a relatively high degree of humidity.

[amrik singh]

Both colony's have seen a sort of demographic explosion the last few days , especially the one who is warmed by the reptile warming stone :The brood is now much larger , the worker number have easily quadruple since I got these colony's and the workers of last generation are now bigger , some about as long as a Lasius niger (but much thinner ) . I think I had it right for the food : All the time half a peanut or a sun flower seed and a house cricket every day ( as they can eat in one day ).
Next winter I plan to have them hibernate at a moderate temperature like mediteranean ants with little food .

[amrik singh]

I give sometimes diluted honey , the colony warmed by the reptile warming stone seems not very interested ,
the other one like it and finish it within half an hour . I just gives a white, soft body meal worm instead of dead cricket to the biggest colony and it recruits , attack and kill it quickly for such small ants.