ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Jokke]

Hi.
I'm new to this forum and been wondering for a while now about formicariums. I'm thinking about starting a ant colony (or ant farm if you will) this summer. And before buying a formicarium I was wondering about the dimensions of the formicarium. I want a rather large formicarium but thin so I can see all the tunnelswithout them moving the sand in the tunnel forwards towards the glass covering up the tunnel and blocking my view. I want a clear view at all times.

Now what I had in mind is more like 60-100cm tall (around that I want a very tall formicarium. And something around 50-100cm wide. Now about the depth; would 30cm suffice for my anti covering-tunnels plan? or do i have to go for thinner wont 10-20cm do the trick?

Now...on to my little dilemma. I'm having trouble deciding how to solve this one, if its even possible that is.
But I want a large "forage area" that will serve as the top of the formicarium. Picture like a 200L aquarium ontop of a formicarium that somehow is "liked together", and will create a more reallistic look to it. Because I want a large area over the ground that they can forage in, but I want a large underground area for the "real nest" but at the same time being able to see all the tunnels the ants are digging.
But I only want to use natural products like dirt and vegetation etc. not Ytong or any artificial hives. I want to follow the hive's growth.

And im just wondering if this is possible in any way? Do you have any suggestions on what im looking for, or any sollution on how to create this formicarium/terrarium mix?

It would be really fun to have this exhibit (if thats the correct word for it ). It will prove a challenge to the ants by the means of collecting food.

/Jokke

[miszt]

really depends on the type of ant you are going to keep, i assume as you are new to ant keeping your gonna go for Lasius Niger, i highly recomend you do!

a 100cm tall farm would take about 5 years to fill with ants lol in the first year - 2 years you will only need a small farm, maybe 40cmx30cmx1cm, its better to do start with a small farm for a few reasons...

needs to be 1cm wide, or less for lasius niger, or you will ahve no hope of seeing the tunnels

Lasius Niger like to setup Satalite colonys, so adding more farms later with tubing will stimulate their colony growth more natrually

theres lots of diffrent options tho, you dont have to have a farm, ytong for example is a nice way to keep ants, espcially when combined with a tank for a nice natural foraging area, and a good setup for the nest


search is your friend

[mzfckr]

maybe he wants to buy very much workers...

[Jokke]

maybe he wants to buy very much workers...

No, I only want to start with one queen. Who wants to buy 100 workers then you already have a working colony, and lost all the fun with it.

a 100cm tall farm would take about 5 years to fill with ants

i assume as you are new to ant keeping your gonna go for Lasius niger, i highly recomend you do!

Yes I am new to ant keeping and want to start with something fairly easy because I don't want to loose all the money I spent, if you know what I mean. But i don't want to start with Lasius niger because I can catch those in the wild here...not much fun and exitement there.

I was thinking something more in the Messor family, like Messor spec, Messor barbarus or even Atta cephalotes (most unlikely), and im very intressted in obtaining a Eciton burchelli, but I have noticed you don't have that specific south american ant. Camponotus vagus looks intresting too.

And for the measurings for the formicarium, yeah I exaggerated quite a bit. But I think my point got through; I want a big one. Think I can do it?

And about the Y-tong im not supporting the use of Y-tong because I want the ants to dig the tunnels themselves. Mentioned that in my first post. That also eliminates the fun in watching the colony grow. and I guess 60cm will do the magic for the height of the formicarium but I want the with to be a little wider than 60cm.

Lets say im going to buy a Messor barbarus or Messor spec. queen what would the perfect formicarium be that meets my requirements?


By the way when do the Nuptial Flight occur? Is it the same for all species?
I'm thinking about Lasius niger...if im going to catch one in the wild, my best bet would be june. right?

(ps. I heard that the princess ants are the male ants is that true? I thought the princess ants were a "virgin queen")

/Jokke

[mzfckr]

but sometimes to catch a mated quuen isnt so easy.i think you want the ytong because i have a farm for sum time but already has mould.

[Jokke]

but sometimes to catch a mated quuen isnt so easy.i think you want the ytong because i have a farm for sum time but already has mould.

Well you need to keep the farm ventilated, remove uneaten food after 48h (insects needs to be boiled first if it used to be live prey to prevent disease) and before adding the sand to the formicarium or wherever you keep your ants the sand needs to be in the oven at 200C in about 30 minutes

[miszt]

Jokke, its not just about loosing money...you need experience before you try the ants you suggested, am sure you know the expression 'running before you can walk'...

Atta in particular are very difficult to look after, and are extremly expensive to keep (colonys easily reach 10million ants, and require ALLOT of food, heating and humidification)...also you cant keep them in a farm


Lasius Niger queens fly during the summer, any time between june and september, depending on the weather, a hot day with rain predicted in the early evening, or a good shower during the afternoon is a good bet to watch out for


as for the size of the formicarium, well yes it doesnt matter, but as you want to watch them behave natrually, having smaller farms connected will create a more natrual way for the colony to exapnd, (and will also keep your intial outlay of €down, in the event that the colony dies, its not as hard as you might think to whipe out a colony) even in open land, where they can create just one massive nest underground, they create smaller satalites (lasius niger)

[mpir]

I think Messor barbarus is a good choice. If you are new to ant keeping buy a small colony i.e. queen and 5-10 workers. Queens alone can be problematic sometimes and it is good to have a few workers who will take care of her.
Keep the colony in the glass tube conected to some kind of arena untill it grows to about 100 workers. In my experience this should happen from spring till autumn. Then introduce them to the new farm. They are quite easy ants too keep and quite interesting as they are polymorph and have majors and submajors.

[mzfckr]

but sometimes to catch a mated quuen isnt so easy.i think you want the ytong because i have a farm for sum time but already has mould.

Well you need to keep the farm ventilated, remove uneaten food after 48h (insects needs to be boiled first if it used to be live prey to prevent disease) and before adding the sand to the formicarium or wherever you keep your ants the sand needs to be in the oven at 200C in about 30 minutes

i know all that.but it think the mizst ir right you need experience to keep something like atta ants.

[Jokke]

i know all that.but it think the mizst ir right you need experience to keep something like atta ants.

Yeah i know, im not gonna try Atta cephalotes. Gonna stick with Lasius niger or Messor barbarus possibly Messor spec.

But i think i solved my problem, you can always attatch a large aquarium to the formicarium for a forage area, although its not as realistic as my idea, it works