ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Sam]

I replaced the sand/loam in the arena for some larger grain sand today, calci-sand from Hudders T-Rex stuff £11.99 for 4.5Kg. I've obviously got bit left for future setups.
Some pics. Its good to have a white surface in the arena again.

[JimmyVe]

Looks nice Sam. (are you not afraid they will dig themselves in to the sand ?)

[Sam]

Thanks Jimmy.

Do you mean dig into the white sand (mound in the corner)? They have already moved into the display part, which is kept moist & dark , whereas the foraging area with the new calci-sand is now kept bone dry & light, so I would hope they prefer the display. Fingers crossed.
Do you think the sand hill might look quite tempting for them?

[Azzer]

No, you'll be fine - they can't dig in to it at all, as when it's that dry it just does not maintain any structure, so you should be quite safe!

[Sam]

This is true Azzer. Plus its anti-bacterial, discourages fungus & mould growth, all sorts of benefits according to the packaging.
Good recommendation this calci-sand Azzer, well found.

[JimmyVe]

hmm... i would not be so sure about that Azzer. I have some experience with this sand and ants moving into it. (sorry i forgot witch species you have in here Sam) But smaller species like Lasius niger are capable of digging a part of there colony in to this.

But i would do anything about it yet, it is not a guaranty they would try to move into it, if they are fine in there nest they will probably stay there.

[Sam]

Yeah I will leave them alone for now and see how they get on. I kind of wish they were still in the test tube so I could see how the queen and new workers are getting on (LN). Patience is a virtue I guess.
Jimmy when your ants moved into this type of sand which species were they, do they prefer a dryer medium/ground?

[JimmyVe]

It was a Lasius niger colony, a small colony from about 30 workers. eventually they moved back out, the sand was to dry and the nest was to small for them after all.

[Sam]

At least they moved back out in the end Jimmy.

I know ants don't need a lot of air, but I have used Vaseline around the top of my display (can just see it in rubbish pic, setup1.jpg) and it's created quite a good seal, poss. too good.
Will the ants (LN) be OK for air if I remove the lid say once a week, or would it be best to remove the Vaseline altogether? Also how critical is airflow in / around the nest?

[JimmyVe]

Depends a little on which species you keep for Lasius niger it is not a big a deal (the airflow in/around the nest). If you can remove the lid 1 ore 2 times a week to let some fresh air in the nest. Why the Vaseline ? you use it as a glide material ? If it works you can leave the lid off the nest for about 30 min. a day.

[Dr.House]

If you use a lamp or a heat stone or something there will be quite a good circulation ... opening once a week should be fine. Even if you haven't ... it should be fine too ... . Just have an eye on moist or old feeding ... bakteria produce quite a lot CO2 which floats on the ground ... that wouldn't be good.

[Azzer]

Can you not get some PTFE? As long as you follow the PTFE instructions elsewhere (and on my ytong guide, plug plug ) - which involves a razor blade to remove all excess silicone from the inside corners of the basin before applying the PTFE etc... then it's really a fantastic material that will block almost all species. I've watched my Myrmica Rubra try and try again at all different sides to climb up the insides of the basin - and always they fail the moment the touch the PTFE, you can actually see their leg "scrabbling" for a purchase on the PTFE before they give in and head back down.

The only thing I do do, is loosely cover the top of the basin with a fine gauze each night - this is not to prevent ants getting out, it's to prevent things like spiders getting in... spiders wander around in the night and the last thing I want is a Tegenaria gigantea (the largest and common house spiders we get in the UK - those big nasty fast running brown-black ones!) running in the basin, as it would be seriously damaging to the ants... I get some real whoppers of those in my house! I'm sure my colony is big enough at around 80 strong to ultimately handle it, but I don't want them to have to just yet.

Edit:
On the point of airflow, I did actually experiment a little with two lasius niger colonies - on one I had the colony covered most of the week, taking it off for perhaps 30 minutes three times a week... the other colony I had the basin always open with PTFE around the top. While of course there are always other factors - including simply the nature of the queen/workers etc... it did seem that the lasius niger colony that didn't have "constant airflow" was incredibly under-developed than the one with constant airflow. After a year of this, the colony which I kept covered up most of the time had only around 25 workers. The other colony had around 110.

For my Myrmica Rubra YTong, I have the basin permanently open (apart from the fine gauze at night to stop other insects coming in), but I also have a second tube inserted in to one side of the YTong nest (attached just like the tube that leads to the basin) - this splits in to three (via two T-junctions), and at each end is attached an "air-stone" (any aquarium sells these, Ant Store do too) - it's a blue stone but air can get in to it. This means that there is always a little fresh air getting inside the YTong too, helping circulation and preventing mould/bacteria build up inside the YTong.

[Sam]

Thanks for all the rapid replies.

@Jimmy, yeah I used the Vaseline as glide material to prevent outbreak, but good point do I really need both (lid & Vaseline)

@Dr.House I use an angle poised lamp with 12W energy saving light bulb, aimed at the arena, mainly, I could probably shield the display a bit better though. Old food I remove daily / 2 days.

@Azzer would this do trick?
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Good going with that experiment, I think that has made the decision for me. I shall have a rummage through my girlfriends knicker draw tonight for a pair of tights, remove the lid from the display & stretch them over top, if tights are suitable? until I get hold of some PTFE gel.
I used to keep fish so I might buy a small air-stone to fit my & pump put it into the display.

Cheers guys.

p.s. apologies to anybody who typed 'knicker draw' into Google and was brought to Antstore's forum

[Azzer]

No more "knicker draw" searches for me!

And yup that stuff will do just fine, any form of "liquid PTFE" is good, it's all the same - as long as you apply it thinly as directed (I do recommend reading the section on PTFE on my stickied "y-tong guide" if you've never applied PTFE before!), it will dry out/turn solid at room temperature, and you get the lovely non-friction surface. Tights should be fine as a temporary measure, depending on the type ofc (fishnets won't be much use!), just check for any ladders/holes or any gaps where the ants could get through, and for the sake of the ants, make sure they are clean!

[Sam]

I won't use the reinforced gusset part of the tights, just in case
I'll probably pick some PTFE Gel tomorrow (I'm thinking gel instead of liquid coz ants already in) but I'll be sure to read your y-tong guide before applying. Cheers.