ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Magicalsushi]

Hi all,

I've been reading round this forum over the last few weeks, and am hoping to grab a queen and start a formicarium when the ants in my town do their mating flight later this year (I think they'll be myrmica rubra in my area). Obviously I'd prefer to make as few mistakes as possible, since I'll be dealing with living creatures, so could you please read my plans and let me know if it sounds like I'm going to be doing anything wrong.


I've bought some plastic test tubes from eBay; more than I'm going to need (I'm planning to grab maybe three queens, and return all but one to the wild once I'm certain the colonies are going to survive). Am I right to assume I won't really need anything bigger than just a test tube (one per starter colony, that is) for the first nine months or so? The plan is to fill it with boiling water to sterilise it, let the water cool, tip two thirds of it out and block the rest in with cotton wool. Once I've got a queen in there, I'll plug the front with cotton wool and find somewhere to rest the tube on its side in some sort of dip so that it doesn't twist or roll. I'll remove the cotton wool plug periodically with tweezers so I can add some food, which will be a drop or two of sugar/honey water, and a crushed (and sterilised) insect or spider now and then. I'll try to keep the tubes covered by a red filter to avoid stressing the ants. I plan to get hold of a small fridge in which I can leave the test tubes for a few months over winter in the first year. Next year, I'll set up a proper formicarium and try to get the strongest colony to move in (I'll return the others to the wild, assuming they survived too). This will have one unit for the nest, and one for a foraging ground, connected by tubing.

Does all of the above sound sensible? I'm really not sure I've got the right idea about how to use the test tubes. Have I made any glaring errors in my plans? Any other tips that might help?

[Brawl]

Hi all,

I've been reading round this forum over the last few weeks, and am hoping to grab a queen and start a formicarium when the ants in my town do their mating flight later this year (I think they'll be myrmica rubra in my area). Obviously I'd prefer to make as few mistakes as possible, since I'll be dealing with living creatures, so could you please read my plans and let me know if it sounds like I'm going to be doing anything wrong.


I've bought some plastic test tubes from eBay; more than I'm going to need (I'm planning to grab maybe three queens, and return all but one to the wild once I'm certain the colonies are going to survive). Am I right to assume I won't really need anything bigger than just a test tube (one per starter colony, that is) for the first nine months or so? The plan is to fill it with boiling water to sterilise it, let the water cool, tip two thirds of it out and block the rest in with cotton wool. Once I've got a queen in there, I'll plug the front with cotton wool and find somewhere to rest the tube on its side in some sort of dip so that it doesn't twist or roll. I'll remove the cotton wool plug periodically with tweezers so I can add some food, which will be a drop or two of sugar/honey water, and a crushed (and sterilised) insect or spider now and then. I'll try to keep the tubes covered by a red filter to avoid stressing the ants. I plan to get hold of a small fridge in which I can leave the test tubes for a few months over winter in the first year. Next year, I'll set up a proper formicarium and try to get the strongest colony to move in (I'll return the others to the wild, assuming they survived too). This will have one unit for the nest, and one for a foraging ground, connected by tubing.

Does all of the above sound sensible? I'm really not sure I've got the right idea about how to use the test tubes. Have I made any glaring errors in my plans? Any other tips that might help?

Hey there, it all does look all good to me! You won't really need anything bigger for starters, no. Nope, none errors that flaw out to my eye, and there's not much to give you a tip. You're all set for growing them now, good luck getting the ants.

[Jamcom]

and if it is myrmica rubra or ruginodis you get, you might aswell keep all 3 queens together, a faster growing colony, an its cool having more than one queen , and probably better than gonig through the fuss of 3 different test tubes and feeding etc,

[Magicalsushi]

Ooh, good point! I hadn't realised they're polygynous. If I did put several queens into one test tube, how long do you expect it'd be before they outgrew that home?

Thanks both for your words of reassurance.

[Brawl]

Ooh, good point! I hadn't realised they're polygynous. If I did put several queens into one test tube, how long do you expect it'd be before they outgrew that home?

Thanks both for your words of reassurance.

Depends on the size of the tube, but they could stay in it for a very very long time still. I think they still would stay there about the sime time as they would with one queen, it's not that massive difference actually, but let me say around.. The first year maybe?

[Magicalsushi]

If that's the case, the multiple queen idea sounds like fun, so I think I'll do that! The tubes are 20ml, 160x16mm, so not huge, but hopefully big enough. As long as I don't need to rehouse the colony prior to overwintering, I'm happy.

That reminds me: in the long term, presumably these colonies can get pretty big. Is there a humane way to limit how large they grow, perhaps by controlling the food supply? Also, will polygynous ants kept domestically eventually start producing (and fertilising) new queens? I expect I can cope with a colony with two or three queens, but any more than that and it sounds like I'd eventually need a lot more space than I can spare!

[Brawl]

If that's the case, the multiple queen idea sounds like fun, so I think I'll do that! The tubes are 20ml, 160x16mm, so not huge, but hopefully big enough. As long as I don't need to rehouse the colony prior to overwintering, I'm happy.

That reminds me: in the long term, presumably these colonies can get pretty big. Is there a humane way to limit how large they grow, perhaps by controlling the food supply? Also, will polygynous ants kept domestically eventually start producing (and fertilising) new queens? I expect I can cope with a colony with two or three queens, but any more than that and it sounds like I'd eventually need a lot more space than I can spare!

Hello, I actually had a Myrmica rubra colony for two years. And let me tell you, there's no real humane way to limit the growth, controlling food supply, no no. Yes they will produce new queens, but they won't be fertilised. My old Myrmica Rubra colony had started to produce new queens. They just will be killed or then the workers cut their wings off and they become normal workers. So, no new egg making machines inside the nest while they are captive. Two or three queens make it much more faster to produce workers though.

[SteveUK28]

Hello Magicalsushi and to the forum..

righty, so far you have the right idea.. a few queens in one test tube will be fine for a good year.. and you can always add a second test tube if needed.

I keep these ants myself and i have around 6 queens.. the first year they boomed and had lots of ants.. but during winter a fair few died off.. and now the colony are building back up nicely.. however this year they have produced a lot of queens and males.. which im sure the males will just die off and the queens will become large workers.
You can keep them in a ytong setup which you should be able to keep a colony for at least another 2 years before needing to expand again. Also you CAN control them via food by offering less.. it will slow them down but of course they will just keep getting bigger.

Best of luck

[Cordovan]

Additionally having more than one queen is a nice "backup" for the colony, if one queen would die all over sudden, as this normally means the end of the whole colony...

[Magicalsushi]

I caught a queen this evening (presumably Lasius Niger, although I'm not convinced I'd recognise anything else). She's wingless so I assume she must already be fertilised. She was NOT happy about going into the test tube; took me about five minutes to get her in there. Once inside, she made a beeline for the damp cotton wool and has stayed by it since then. Not sure what she's up to; at one point, it looked like she was cleaning herself or something, kind of like you see flies doing. I hope all the aggro of coaxing her into the test tube didn't stress her out too much.

Speaking of stress, how effective are red filters at cutting out light? I've laid a red filter over the test tube - a bit of light will get into the tube from underneath, but not much. Can I shine a torch at the filter, or will that be strong enough that she'll be bothered by the light despite the filter? For subsequent colonies (I still want some Myrmica Rubra!), I'll wrap the test tube with the filter acetate, rather than just laying it over top.

Do I need to feed her immediately, or do I have to wait? Till workers arrive, should I be feeding with insects only, or also honey-water?

I get the feeling she's not going to last long with me looking after her.

[SteveUK28]

Your best bet is too stick her somewhere dark and leave her alone for a few weeks... maybe taking a peek once a week to make sure she is ok.. apart from that she will be fine.. she has enough food stores to keep her going untill first workers arrive so you do not "Need" to feed her. Anyways.. good luck and hopefully she will make you a nice colony

[Magicalsushi]

Okay, I've laid a couple of old socks on top of the tube; they should keep all the light out. Once the workers arrive, however, I'll want to keep it uncovered. There's some red acetate laid over top of it (currently under the socks), and that'll stay, but some light will still hit the tube from the sides. Should I move her to one of the tubes I've wrapped properly with the acetate, or does it not matter? If I should move her, should I do it immediately so she can be left in complete peace afterwards, or should I wait till she's had a chance to calm down from her recent ordeal before upsetting her again?

[antjordan]

Hi all,

I've been reading round this forum over the last few weeks, and am hoping to grab a queen and start a formicarium when the ants in my town do their mating flight later this year (I think they'll be myrmica rubra in my area). Obviously I'd prefer to make as few mistakes as possible, since I'll be dealing with living creatures, so could you please read my plans and let me know if it sounds like I'm going to be doing anything wrong.


I've bought some plastic test tubes from eBay; more than I'm going to need (I'm planning to grab maybe three queens, and return all but one to the wild once I'm certain the colonies are going to survive). Am I right to assume I won't really need anything bigger than just a test tube (one per starter colony, that is) for the first nine months or so? The plan is to fill it with boiling water to sterilise it, let the water cool, tip two thirds of it out and block the rest in with cotton wool. Once I've got a queen in there, I'll plug the front with cotton wool and find somewhere to rest the tube on its side in some sort of dip so that it doesn't twist or roll. I'll remove the cotton wool plug periodically with tweezers so I can add some food, which will be a drop or two of sugar/honey water, and a crushed (and sterilised) insect or spider now and then. I'll try to keep the tubes covered by a red filter to avoid stressing the ants. I plan to get hold of a small fridge in which I can leave the test tubes for a few months over winter in the first year. Next year, I'll set up a proper formicarium and try to get the strongest colony to move in (I'll return the others to the wild, assuming they survived too). This will have one unit for the nest, and one for a foraging ground, connected by tubing.

Does all of the above sound sensible? I'm really not sure I've got the right idea about how to use the test tubes. Have I made any glaring errors in my plans? Any other tips that might help?

Hey Magicsushi that sounds really cool. I just have one question about the feeding though. Don't you think it would be difficult to remove the cotton ball, put in the food then seal it again without having ants escape?

Do you think it would be easier to place the tube holding the ants into another larger container, unplug the tube and just put the food in the container to allow the workers to find it? I think this method would be a bit better since it's easier to add/remove the food and also doesn't disturb the ant's nest so much.

What do you guys think? would this be a good idea?

[Magicalsushi]

That does sound easier. I was wondering about how to prevent escapes when feeding. I'd better have a think about finding some sort of container.

[SteveUK28]

Well once workers do come along.. stick the test tube into an empty icecream tub.. thats what i use for all my queens.. works a treat