ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Sphecomyrmex]

Hi,

I want to purchase a Polyrhachis dives colony and i've some questions abouth their keeping.
Could i put them into a display connected to an antfarm? Could they make their nest into the display?
Do i must put a substrate into the display?
Do i must purchase also an humidifier? What moisture and what temperature are optimal for this species?

I want to put some plants in the antfarm... what's plants are the most proper?
What about the feeding?

Thanks

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[donbilbo]

Those questions sound like you are not ready to keep those ants, yet. Have a look at all the reports in the german boards, even if you cant translate it you can have a look at many good pictures of our setups. Basically those ants are really flexible, you can keep them with hardly any substrate, with or without plants, humidity doesnt seem to be a big problem either.

Just one thing, those ants need more space than other species. If you purchase a big colony like 500-1000 ants then you need a huge basin and you will have to connect more, soon. Even if you purchase a smaller colony it will hit 500-1000 in some months anyways so you will need to connect huge tanks.

[Messorus]

Hello
I think, it´s possible to keep Polyrhachis in display, but you(like Donbilbo said) will need more space after some time.....

[Sphecomyrmex]

Thanks for informations,

I've ready that polyrhachis dives are polydomic, then could i put the colony into a display connected to other displays?

What about the plants?

[donbilbo]

As i said, they need space. Connecting displays is not enough, better think about connecting some big aquariums....

[SNiDE]

as Donbilbo has said, they need some large open areas to thrive- my set-up is 2 ft by 1ft and I've just connected an extra chamber as they needed more room- having large basins/aquariums doesn't mean you can't have it displayed well- some of the best setups are in big basins, and you can encourage them to nest in a visible corner. For instance, put a hollowed log or piece of wood against a corner of the basin, put a heatmat under it, cover the glass with dark material and they will probably nest there (in my opinion it looks better than a display).
My advice would be to purchase a decent sized setup with a basin, decide how you will control humidity and temperature, buy all the bits and pieces- soil/sand/loam/whatever, heatmat, lid, vegetation + nesting materials, then post some pictures up and ask the people on this forum whether it will work before you actually order the ants- the guys here are a treasure trove of information! Better safe than sorry. Good luck!

[highered]

They don't need humdification, moderate humidity is fine. They should be housed in a big basin, but whatever size you can afford and have space for should be ok. Don't forget that they will want to build a tall anthill like nest so high sides is a good idea.

[Sphecomyrmex]

Thank you for advices

I'll purchase all the necessary I think i'll purchase the colony in spring