ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Snottlebocket]

Hey guys, I'm thinking about trying my hand at keeping an ant colony for the first time. I'd love to get some feedback on some of the thoughts expressed below.

- After carefully examining the available ant species, I've decided on Myrmica Rubra. The bigger ants are cool but let's not get ahead of myself. People on this forum also seem to be saying Mirmica Rubra will move out of their testtube and into the farm much quicker than Lasius Niger, which would be nice.

- What are the pro's and con's of the vertical farms vs the Y-tongs? I rather like the clean look of those glass vertical farms, but y-tongs seem easier to maintain and observe. How do you control humidity in the vertical standing antfarms, won't ants swarm out at the top if you take the lid of once the colony has been constructed inside?

- Any opinions on the starter sets? ( http://antstore.net/shop/product_info.p ... 78cebb14e4 ) the supplied basin seems to be smaller than even the minimum recommended size for the small ant species.

- Will the colony stand a better chance at surviving their rocky beginnings if I buy more workers with the queen when ordering my colony? Getting a queen with a 100 ant workforce sounds like a much better way to get started than getting a queen with 3 workers and hoping they'll pull through.

- The most convenient place for me to put the colony is my wide window sil. This means plenty of direct sunlight for anything I leave uncovered. Will this cause any problems or is simply covering it up against direct sunlight enough?

[damondeionno]

Hi

Go horizontal. Myrmica rubra will do better in a horizontal nest because in their natural environment they often nest under stones and bits of wood. Also it will be much better for you to see them if it is horizontal.

Ants will swarm out of anything if you take a lid off. That's why you need to plan in advance. Your setup needs to be totally secure while allowing you to add moisture and food. Think about 'outbreak protection'.

With ants like Myrmica rubra, you don't really need to invest in a bigger colony. They should do fine and there is a lot of satisfaction in seeing a colony grow from small beginnings.

You absolutely must NOT put your farm in direct sunlight. Not even for a few minutes. There is far far too much energy in direct sunlight and a glass or plastic farm will act just like a greenhouse. It will heat up rapidly and cook your ants. I wouldn't even consider doing it with the farm covered.

Any other questions, just ask.

[Snottlebocket]

Thank you for the reply. I was looking at the y-tong enviroments available in the antstore and they seem rather small. Although I must admit I have a bit of difficulty getting my mind around the amount of space ants need. You could get a lot of ants into those y-tong rooms, I'm just wondering if they require things like personal space, rooms for dedicated purposes and so on.

The larger of the two y-tong nests has 6 rooms, some kind of, what I assume is, foraging area and some sort of uncovered opening at the back. (is this intended for water to humidify the nest?) The whole thing is only 22 by 9.5 centimeters though which sounds positively tiny. Especially if you accept that about a third of it is some kind of foraging area. ( http://antstore.net/shop/product_info.p ... 9be7279e74 )

I'd probably hook a glass foraging area up to this because I'd like to see them forage around a larger area instead of just making a beeline for the food. But how serviceable is the nest area in this y-tong? Also, would it be a good idea for instance to buy several of these 6 room y-tongs, replace the glass lid with several smaller glass lids and block of the last 2 rooms in the y-tong. That way you can connect the inaccessable area's to more y-tongs as the colony grows.

One last question about avoiding heating up the ants too much. During the summer my appartment heats up quite a bit. During july and august this place usually bakes around 30 degrees celcius day and night easily. Can the ants take that if provided with shade?

[damondeionno]

You can get a lot of ants in a very small space. They like to be close together.

I agree that the antstore ytongs are small. I think you will be ok with 1 to start with and then hopefully as the colony expands you can have a try at building and designing your own.

Hook up your own areas as you see fit.

30 degrees is a lot. Put them in the shade. Low down when it's really hot. If you let water evaporate from the ytong, that will cool them a bit.

[Snottlebocket]

You can get a lot of ants in a very small space. They like to be close together.

I agree that the antstore ytongs are small. I think you will be ok with 1 to start with and then hopefully as the colony expands you can have a try at building and designing your own.

Hook up your own areas as you see fit.

30 degrees is a lot. Put them in the shade. Low down when it's really hot. If you let water evaporate from the ytong, that will cool them a bit.

If I look at the ant store y-tong's, I notice that at the back is an opening or room without a cover. Am I right in thinking these are a water sink for letting water absorb into the nest?

[damondeionno]

Yep - exactly right.

[Snottlebocket]

Alright, I think that answers my questions, thanks a lot. Could you give my shopping list a quick glance to see if I'm missing anything? I think I have everything covered except sand for the basin, what do you guys recommend and if I have options, what is the best color for observing mirmica rubra on? (I was thinking something light colored)

Glass Basin
http://antstore.net/shop/product_info.p ... 8807be7d43

Glass lid
http://antstore.net/shop/product_info.p ... 8807be7d43

Rubber plugs
http://antstore.net/shop/product_info.p ... 8807be7d43

Tubing
http://antstore.net/shop/product_info.p ... 8807be7d43

Tube connectors
http://antstore.net/shop/product_info.p ... 8807be7d43

Y-tong
http://antstore.net/shop/product_info.p ... 8807be7d43

PTFE
http://antstore.net/shop/product_info.p ... a0ab922534

[damondeionno]

Yeah - looks good. I'm not 100% that the tube connectors are for the tube you have there. Looks like they are for a slightly bigger tube.