ANTSTORE World of Ants

[spwl]

Hi Ant-ists )

i will within the next few days order from antstore. I will order one colony of Pheidole pallidula and id like to set them up in a Acryl four chamber nest. However im considering to also order a tiny arena for the P.P's...however i can only find the Acryl Ant Island 30x20..this seems somewhat too big ?

Im planning for a long long run of the Pheidole however i want to do it proper from the start/setup and would like input for the "best" antstore buyable setup for these nice ants. Specifically the best way to interconnect the proper amount of space for these guys.

Please go nuts and help me with additional ideas for allready made setups.


PS: Also how would i best go about connecting the chamber to an arena since the holesize is not the same..? i need to gluemeld glassy flexible tube in two sizes for this ?

PPS:
I'd really really like to buy a small colony or just a queen and a few workers of Temnothorax nylanderi - Since antstore dont stock them atm ..would anyone within postal reach of Denmark be able to sell me a tube of these beauties ?

best regards

Stephan

[akell]

Hi,
I connected different sized tubes using aquariun silicon and two component epoxy putty. I am sure someone will have a better solution though...

[spwl]

Hi akell and thank you for your idea

I was thinking of that solution too. However ive settled for "nothing" for now. My Pheidole pallidula should be arriving some day next week and for the first lfew months time i will probably not need an arena / basin. So i will keep wondering how to make a nice tube from 10 to 4 mm =))


Stephan

[akell]

Let us know what you come up with!

[JimmyVe]

What do you actually want to know ?
I keep these ants for a few years now, they are small but the colony gets rather big. Make sure they can not escape, they are masters in it. (i have a diary from them here at the forum, its been a while since i update it but you can see a few pictures there )

[spwl]

actually was looking for ideas to make a tube going from 4/6mm - > 8/10m but its no biggie atm.

[JimmyVe]

Than i would go for akell's answer. Good luck.

[akell]

Hi JimmyVe,
How have you been? I am keeping Pheidole pallidula, queen and 5 workers, in a little acryl farm with some molded sand/loam so she can find a good temperature. Can you give me any feeding tips? looked at your diary on Pp, it's really impressive!

Thanks!

[JimmyVe]

Hello Akell i'm fine thanks. btw: Happy birthday !

I feed my PP almost everything. All insects i can find, most of them i cut in two before i give them.
They also are fund of sweets. Make sure to keep the nest moist, if it gets to dry the workers will die soon.
I need to update that diary, the colony is much bigger now. You can see some recent picture of this colony in the dutch part of the forum.

[akell]

Hey thanks for the birthday wishes Jimmy. I looked at your PP diary again. I was looking for a good mesh or screen to give them some ventilation, maar beestjes zijn zoooo klien toch! There are still only five workers, but there is quite a sizable brood. I'll keep my fingers crossed. These ones are my daughter's favorite. She wants to bring them to school. I'm sure that would work out wonderfully...
See ya,
A

[SteveUK28]

i also have a colony, they do grow very very fast so be prepared and make sure your setup can be expanded in the future. As for connecting tubes i use simple cotton wool.

[spwl]

thanks steve and yes i want t be ready for the expansion =)

[JimmyVe]

At the moment i don't have a lid for my Pheidole pallidula colony. I just use PTFE to prevent them from escaping. It works fine (for now ). A closed lid would not be an option for my farm and like you said they are very small (heel klein ) so they easy escape trough most of the grids.

[akell]

How wide is your PTFE barrier Jimmy? 1 centmeter, 2? I am keeping 5 PP plus queen in a cork nest placed on Excavator sand in a plastic food container with a square cut out of the top. The underside of the cover around the square cut out is surrounded by a really thicklayer of Vasiline 3cm wide. This is NOT ideal, I know.

[JimmyVe]

Usually i multiply the size of the biggest worker 3 times. So if the biggest worker is 1cm i use 3cm of PTFE, but with my Pheidole pallidula i use 4cm of PTFE.