ANTSTORE World of Ants

[dodgydogman]

I am going to order a Acromyrmex queen (with 3 workers as for some reason that is the most you can get her with..) and was wondering what products would be best to maintain a temperature of "air 28°C / ground 22°C" and a "dump-tropical rainforest" environment. (Specifically what products, like a link (if you could ))
I am thinking about getting a couple of "Acryl Ant Cylinder 20x20cm", a connecting tube and a couple of bungs to start with and I have plenty of room to keep them so don’t worry. My garden has a "Queen Elizabeth Rose Tree". Can I give them that type of rose? I can also get them oak and apple, just not as easily.
I mainly need the questions about the products answered! I have looked at all the posts in the English forum and the German forum. Nobody has said what they used in their set up.

Thanks in advance!

[donbilbo]

Just look at the pictures in the german boards and you can see what most users use as their setup. Glass basins with at least 27mm drillings, plastic pipes for connection. As for the environment, i suggest you first order the basin and some differnet granulates and make some testing. You could just spray some water on the granulate each day to control humidity.

[JimmyVe]

Yes with these ants it is better if you build the farm first, try it out a few weeks and than put the ants in it.

[Phasmid]

Theres a pic of my setup for Acromyrmex octospinosus and some info on my pic thread.
http://www.antstore.net/viewtopic.php?f=133&t=8088&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=15

[dodgydogman]

Ok thanks. Still need some advise on how to control the temperature of the farm though. If I got a heat mat. what voltage do you suggest I get for a 20x10x10 farm and how would I regulate the temperature because as far as I can tell.. there doesnt seem to be a dial, you just plug it in and it heats ur tank up so what would i do in the winter if my tank was slightly too cold or in the summer it was slightly too hot... or the mat just made it too hot in general?
Lol im asking so many questions I just dont want them to die as they are REALLY expensive...

[jartok]

to control the temp on the mat you need to connect the mat too a thermostat and u set the temp u want and it maintains this temp

[dodgydogman]

So what mat and thermostat would you recommend? Because that was pretty vague...

[Phasmid]

Any mat and any thermostat as long as it works, I use Habistat mat and thermostat.
Just stick the sensor in the farm where the garden is and set the thermostat to 25C.

[dodgydogman]

Ok thanks! Im going to get a Thermo control II and a 13 x 28 cm 7 wat mat for my 20*10*10 farm. Give me a shout if that wont work. I think that i have done enough research. One last thing; if i give the ants leaves, but they are not the type they need, will they not cut them up? So if all goes badly with me rose and apple leaves, il know, so I can just get some parsly from Sainburys?

Once again, antstore forums have been great!

[Phasmid]

They will take a bit of almost anything, just put various leaves and fruit in the foraging area and see what they like, if something is no good to the fungus then they will stop taking it, also they can get "bored" of the same food all the time so use different leaves and fruit.

[dodgydogman]

Hehe ok, im going to buy them tommorow.. about 117 euros all together (without a basin because; I am using my old one..) Thats over £100 D:. Stupid expensive BUT AMAZING ants...

Ok another Q ^^ : How should I regulate the humidity? Should i just buy humidemeter (or whatever its called) and put a dish of water? Would that work, or should I get a spray of water, spay some; wait for it to humidify and spray some more for more until I get the right humididty? Or do I need to get something special (to add the the already overflowing cost -.-).

Is there anywhere I could find a list of things that they could take because the list on the antstore website is very short... They dont say anything about fruit..
(Sorry for not putting this on the post above, but it came to me as I was clicking the submit button...)

[Phasmid]

I just keep the substrate damp to maintain humidity in my setup, I can't advise on how to keep your setup humid till I see it.
As for food just experiment with anything organic (exept wood) and see what they take, I feed mine whatever I find in the garden such as eucalyptus, peach leaves and even grass, as well as other things like apples, oranges, grapes, sprouts, salad and especialy cauliflower leaves, mine love them^^.

117euros is quite a bit, is it the same Acromyrmex spec. as anstore are selling? you could get queen+1-3 workers for 50euros, unless it costs 67euros to get the ants to you, which wouldn't be too surprising.

[dodgydogman]

Ok thanks! It cost 117 because of the heat mat and thermostat. Any random advice you have would great

[dodgydogman]

Ok, I have looked on ebay and found out that it is easy to get a heat mat and thermostat for virtually nothing but I but i have to take their old vivariums... So its a 45 minute drive for £40 off the overall price.

Should i pay for the 24 hour delivery as it is winter or would they be fine with the other one?

[Phasmid]

With any sensitive exotic ants you should use 24h delivery, otherwise you my get a healthy-happy looking queen who dies a few days later because the journey stressed her out so much.