ANTSTORE World of Ants

[heeksy]

hello, im new to keeping ants, i have not orderd any yet as im not sure about the set up i want to use. Iv been looking at using a gypsum or ytong nest (does the 6 chamber gypsum nest in antstore have a hole to connect to an arena?) and using an ant island to feed and stuff.

In the summer i caught 3 Lasius niger queens, i put one in a gel ant farm that it seems to hate, the other is in a tub with soil and is hibernating i think. The last one i built an ant island from looking at pictures from the internet, and it drowed.

My question is if i made an ant island, but made the edges that meet the water with small stones or something in sort of a slope, would the ants then not slip in and drown? Or do they tend to try and go swimming to escape?

Im looking to buy a new colonie, is there any type of ant that are not suitable with a ant island? Im just trying to get around using the parafin round the top edge of a basin to prevent escape.

hope some one can help, cheers.

[JimmyVe]

Hi Heeksy and welcome to the forum,

I don't think the gypsum nest from antstore has a connection for an out world.

Gel farm are not made to keep a colony (or queen) in. They more are toys for children.

Most ants are not fund of water so they are not going to try swimming to escape.
If you like to make a island make sure they cant drop in the water, they probably drown.

If you like to keep some ants, first look at the needs for the species your are going to keep and then build a farm for them.

Greating

[Sced]

Hello heeksy.
Gypsum and y-tong nest are very good for keeping and observing ants in, so if you want to see them in the nest then i'd make one of these. I am not sure wether the antstore gypsum nest has an connection. If you wish to use an anit island , then i think it would be best to use ptfe and line it down the edges rather than water so none of yourants will drown.