ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Alby]

I was thinking about the nest of my queens...now I'm building a ytong nest for messor, and pheidule in free sand in an old acquarium...
Is it a right choice??how many rooms they need??

[miszt]

Yes thats fine, both have fairly large mature colonies, so as big as you like really

If these are your first ants, you've certainly given yourself a challange, Pheidole are excellent escape artists and messor queens can be hard to raise

[Alby]

It's my first experience with ytong, I've seen on youtube a lot of messor colonies in ytong and I like it so much!The cork that I've made today is 32X25 and the arena is 30X20..

The acquarium has a well closed glass but without lid, so if I use vasellina or Teflon they will be able to escape??

[miszt]

people have diffrent experiences with them, they will often cover whatever protection you try to use, personally I would recomend a farm with a tight lid, like they sell on here, and a basin also with a tight lid

[KiamCameron]

Also watch out messor barbarus are known to chew through ytong...

[Alby]

pheidula are very small, so they can escape from a little hole in the structure, but if I use large chemical limits like teflon is very difficult, and also I can cover it with some plexiglass...I've a starter set but I want to keep it for my lasius niger...

[Alby]

eheheh...I spent all night to think about escaping of pheidole, searching informtion by forum, blog, all the web...so I can use two boxes, one bigger than the other, and put all around of this water like island..I think that they cannot swim, is it wrong??

[miszt]

Pheidole and water are a bad combination, I think JimmyVe will be able to give you some info on how he keeps his in, maybe check his experience thread

[Alby]

the two boxes are made of plastic, so don't feel wet...then is the last limit because I want to use vaseline, closed it and around a bit of water..It Isn't too simple to pass
Ok...I'll waiting for JimmyVe!!!

[SteveUK28]

Hi Alby i wouldnt recommend an island myself i lost about 20 of my workers when i had mine in an island setup i now have a ytong in a tank that is sealed and has PTFE all around the edges if also used bungs in the holes and sealed them with aquatic sealant. So far ive had NO escapes at all.

[Alby]

Hi Steve!Do you have pheidule?..this can be a problem because I'll keep them in my room..I wouldn't jump on my bed in the middle of the night pricked by pheidole!

P.S.we have to recalled them the Alcatraz Fleeing Ants!

[SteveUK28]

Yes i do have Pheidole abby.. and yes they should be renamed lol

[JimmyVe]

Don't use a island for Pheidole pallidual they are not only masters in escaping but also in drowning. I use PTFE for my colony and so for they don't escape much (if they do i know it is time to refresh my PTFE) Also don't use Y-tong for this species, they chew trough it (like Messor species).