ANTSTORE World of Ants

[SteveUK28]

Hiya guys...

As im makin a ytong for a friend.. i thought i should put some pics up of the setup i have. Its ya basic 30x30x20 basin from antstore.. and ive put a ruler inside and sealed it in place to make 2 seperate chambers.. Ive then put down some chippings/gravel.. which the ytong sits on.. and the other side ive piled with the small pebbles.. then some soft sand on top of that. The hole in top was being used as a well but it made the nest a little tooo moist.. so i only use it every now and again now... water is now poured down the side so it comes up from underneath... The ants seem to like it.. so im happy

[JimmyVe]

Very nice Steve.

[gabranth]

someone put to much PTFE on

[McK]

First of all, making such a big basin for Pheidole pallidula is useless because you will almost never see them except when you are watching really really closely.
They are better kept in a testtube nest linking the different test tube together, watching that will most definitely give you an itchy feeling
Also remove the fluon/pfte layer completely and do it right this time, the minors will just walk right over it if you do it like that.

[SteveUK28]

lol mck.. its more than possible to see them.. they are very active.. well they was before hibernation. as for the PTFE.. i thought the lid would keep them in.. it never so i had to add after the setup was made...

[McK]

Yes they are very active, but my opinion is if you put something is a special built basin, it has to be something impressive, like Cataglyphis or Atta

[SteveUK28]

TBH.. i have been thinking of moving them out of the basin setup.. but we'll have to wait an see.. If i did i have no idea what nest i would use for them.. what would you use??

[McK]

Well, my experience has taught me that they do very well in a y-tong nest, but they dig right through it.
You could keep them in a couple of testtubes connected to a foraging area like in the picture below.


(Picture by Mika of Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar)

[SteveUK28]

I think thats more than likely what im gonna do mate... No idea tho how im gonna get them out of the ytong lol

[McK]

Yeah, that's gonna be tricky, maybe you can put the y-tong in the foraging area of the new nest and then make sure the conditions in the testtubes are better (hotter, more moist, etc).

[SteveUK28]

thats just what ive done now.. ive taken the ytong out and put it into a tank.. with 2 test tubes that are covered over and ive got a light shining into the ytong.. im sure they aint gonna like the light much..

[JimmyVe]

The farm you build is not that bad, but like McK said they activity you will see in the nest is very little. Mine or in a sand nest so i don't see any activity at all (from inside the nest). It would be great to do so but i still think these ants are better kept in a sand nest. The tube setup isn't bad nether but as you can see these little ants don't only dig through y-tong but also through cotton, that could be a problem if there is still water after that piece of cotton.

[SteveUK28]

very true jimmy... I must admit im not 100% sure what i should do with them.. the only other idea i have is a plexi/acrylic nest!