ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Lewis]

thats good
ok thanks yeah the colonie is about 100 workers strong.
today i watched a meal worm walk down the tube into their nest and all hell broke loose they swarmed over it first the workers found it but then they told the soldiers and it went crazy and ended up walking straight into theor main chamber! but all the brood and the queen and most of the workers/soldiers was under the sand as their is sand in the chambers. and they startd pulling out loads of these big larvea but these larvea where huge they seem to be bigger than some of the soldiers! but the are probobley just next generation soldiers

[Lewis]

they have got piles of larvea which are quite small but also huge larvea which are almoust as big as the queen! are they just soliers as they could not possibley be queens as the colony is too small??

[JimmyVe]

Mine had new queens very soon to. The major larvea are only a bit bigger than the minor ones. If they really are that big i probably are queens.

[Lewis]

yay!
as the smallest have started pupating and they are smaller than some other larvea which i think are soldiers and there are only a couple of larvea which are huge

[Lewis]

i now have many fresh workers appering

and why is no body replying to these posts

[JimmyVe]

If you are just telling that your ants are doing fine there is not much that we can say about that.

[Lewis]

ok fair enough

[abz uk ants]

how are they now???

[Lewis]

good they are in a sant based nest now and are doing really good

[abz-uk-ants]

Any pictures

[Lewis]

i'll try but yes i have many pics and soon i will get round to it

[amrik singh]

I am really in favor of using gypsum . All the best results I have had by far are in gypsum (plaster) nests .
but at two conditions : 1) The plaster must not contain any toxic additives (against mold for example ) so dentistry plaster, modeling plaster ,... is a must .Ordinary plaster buy from a "do it yourself store" do probably contain toxic substances.
2) It must be entirely enclosed in an ant proof arena , box or bassin because many ants like Pheidole ,
Tetramorium , ... can tunnel in the plaster without any difficulty .
The plaster nest permit the easy observation wile procuring ideal conditions for ground living ant colony's.
The only drawback is that a nest occupy for one year or so have to be replaced and the ants relocated .The old nest have often to be throw away or at best thoroughly cleaned and disinfected , but any way any nest can become dirty with time.
Using sand-loam mix and a plaster plaster nest are not mutually exclusive .

[Lewis]

thanks very much, in the end I did have to move them and they are now thriving in a sand-loam nest
100-150 workers
50 soldiers
an some larvae and the queen

[Lewis]

these ants are now in a slim line sand ant farm attached to a basin and are still doing great

lewis

[AntsEng]

I have a small gypsum nest that I was hoping to keep some Pheidole's in? Is this ok, or should I go for another .spec that will not chew through, surely they wouldent chew through the gypsum, Just make it there home.
If this is a BIG problem, could anyone please tell me a small .spec with soliders that can stay at room temp (uk) like the Pheidole's

Thanks

Edward