ANTSTORE World of Ants

[hypervelocity]

i have just received a colony of camponotus ligniperda and need more infomation on how to keep these ants. can anny one help?

p.s
this is my first post and im not to sure how to use this forum, so forgive me if im slow.

[Phaidole]

Hello,

Camponotus ligniperda is completely simple to hold…
in www.ameisenhaltung.de (unfortunately only on German) can I you times the text translate and here purely posts.

C. ligniperda is the largest Central European ant. This kind forms different box, with which substantial size differences arise: Minor, Media and major female workers, whereby there are also combinations between the box. The kind preferably nistet in wood at edges of forest, which is because of the soil. Preferably sunny places. The ants need much protein due to their size and have long development times. C. ligniperda is the largest Central European ant. This kind forms different box, with which substantial size differences arise: Minor, Media and major female workers, whereby there are also combinations between the box. The kind preferably nistet in wood at edges of forest, which is because of the soil. Preferably sunny places. The ants need much protein due to their size and have long development times. Unterfamilie: Formicinae (shed ants) kind: Camponotus Untergattung: Camponotus food: Zoophag, trophobiose habitat: Central Europe; Sunny places in leaves or mixed woodlands, drying and half drying lawns with Buschwerk, also Feldraine in the culture landscape to find also in wood queens: Monogyn, rarely also Oligogyn winter peace: October until March Schwärmzeit: Of at the beginning of of May to at the end of of June, 300-150 min before sunset, with 21 to 27 °C (body) size: Queens: approx. 16-18 mm of female workers: approx. 6-14 mm of males: approx. 8-12 mm appearance/colouring: Body quite shining, head and predominant part of the abdomen black; Thorax, legs, segment and front part of the abdomen red-brown colored other one data: The males help with the breeding care.

One should a large Ytong - stone or a gypsum nest for the kind of ant builds (ready place). But at the beginning rather in a test tube to the queen a colony is. So then into a large aquarium (without water:)), something sand, a water watering place and naturally a nest. Otherwise: The queen does not need fodder to it a small colony is successful. off then always feed sugar water/honey water and insects each 2-3 day. Michael Herker

If finalguilty I is somewhat incomprehensible me, because I work with one translation program.

[hypervelocity]

thanks phaidole, that info helps alot. but there is one other question that i need an awnser to... do C. Ligniperda need wood for there nests?

[mpir]

Lots of people keep them in ytong nest and they do just fine. In nature however they live mostly in dead wood.

Make an experiment. Keep one colony in ytong and one in wood. You'll see which one is doing better.

[hypervelocity]

cool, i'll give it a try and see what happens.
thanks mpir

[The_Paranoid]

I wouldn't recommend keeping ants in wood. You need to keep the nest moist enough. This isn't so easy with wood and it can start to molder. Keeping YTong moist is very easy.

[JimmyVe]

You can try that if you like but i stick with the Y-tong nest. I just prefer them because they are easy to moist and easy to handle (making your one chambers) and they are light to (comparing to a sand nest).

[hypervelocity]

good point the_paranoid, but C.ligniperda are carpenter ants and have evolved to live in dead wood or in trees.

[The_Paranoid]

Camponotus are carpenter ants. But in nature C. ligniperda also lives in the ground not only in dead wood.

[hypervelocity]

Oh... i'll have to look into that, thanks for the extra info.

[Psychosimian]

Hello all! My ants are pretty much out of hibernation now, and i'm looking to get some food for them... They are Camp.Ligniperda and before hibernation i was just giving them some honey as they were a really small colony (arrived about a month or two before hibernation period began) but now id like to get them to expand so i was thinking of maybe Protein Jelly and something solid like dried flies...

Does anyone know if this would be appropriate for Camp.Ligniperda?

[JimmyVe]

You can give them al kind of insects. Try some cockroaches, flour maggots, caterpillars, mosquitos, spiders, etc....
they are going to like them to (better then dried flies)

[Psychosimian]

Okay, at the moment i'm just giving them honey, sugar and ham until i find a store selling insects....

Anyway, two questions: They have a load of eggs in the test-tube - and quite a few larvae, but nothing has hatched for a few weeks now. some of the larvae have a black tip at one end, i dont know if this means they are dead? What conditions do they need to create laying eggs and hatching?

The arena is generally about 20C and I heat it up with a heat lamp to 30 for about 30mins a few times a day usually, and ive got another test tube full of water (with a cotton wool bung) to keep the moisture levels up.

Second Question: I have a fornicarium full of sand/loam mix for them, but they arent moving in. Is this due to the colony still being quite small, or due to them not liking sand/loam?

[Kale^^]

If you want the larve to grow and hatch you have to give them protein, dip piece of cotton in a chicken egg and when it is full give it to the ants, they should drink it and receive protein & give it to the larvae

[JimmyVe]

You need to start giving them bugs, the larva need them. The black tip at the end means they are going to hatch soon. (not that they are going bad)

The probably like sand/loam mix but if the colony is small or if they are feeling just fine in the tube they are not going to move. Don't panic, just let them in the tube, they will move eventually.