ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Ashton McStansfieldio]

Do like the Oecophylla smaragdina colonies at antstore though wish there was a little more info about them on the english forums. I`d imagine you`d need a very large basin for them...?

[Necturus]

Oi there,
Oecophylla produce quite huge colonies in nature. You can start out with a single plant, but you will need some kind of protection...either a cage, a basin, or a tank. With the colony growing, you will need to find a way to connect another plant, which does get tricky... i tend to suggest sticking to those ants that are less complicated to keep. Wait till your Pheidologeton grow, they'll fill your room in 2 years if things go well:)
Im curious for further news on your colony!
Greetings,
Necturus

[Martin S.]

Oecophylla is easy (temperature, food and humidity) to keep, but you need a big place for the plant/tree.
For exsample: http://www.antstore.net/viewtopic.php?t=6596
In the Forum you will find lot's of keeper which keep the Oecophylla on a tree with the island.
but you need a distance to the ground with minimum of 40cm.
Pheidologeton are sensitive. You can read lot's of threads from other user, that the colonie died very fast.
For exsample: http://www.antstore.net/viewtopic.php?t=3002&start=30

greetings
Martin

[JimmyVe]

Pheidologeton are in deed very sensitive, but still nice ants. (but hard to keep)

I like Oecophylla to, but i do not have the space to keep them, if you could keep them in a setup like the picture (1ste) Martin S. give you that would be nice.

[Ashton McStansfieldio]

Them Oecophylla set-ups look great, doubt my girl friend would put up with them though unless I put them in a shed:)

We`re moving soon, first baby due December but if I can somehow find the time somewhere between it all I`d love to build myself a big Insulated tropical rainforest shed to chill out in with running water, plants and some nice ant colonies:p

I would love one Pheidologeton diversus, one Oecophylla, one Acromyrmex and one of either Myrmecia pavida or Camponotus gigas....
But first things first... I will endevour to stop my ph. d. from perishing again!

[Ashton McStansfieldio]

@ Necturus, I`ve taken more pictures lately but nothing really good to post yet. Think I may leave them undisturbed for a week and hopefully there will be significant change to report on:)
They still haven`t moved to the damper nest, think maybe the first one was moist enough after all. worker deaths are still high but the colony seems stable at around 100 ants I would guess. Feeding 1 cricket a day plus seeds and a little honey.

[Necturus]

Hey there,
hows the response on the honey? They never took any when i offered it, but produced a huge effort in filling it up with sand...
Dont rush with the pictures, they won't be running away, and every day that passes, there will be more to photograph Try working out the best settings for your camera on a dummy (ie a walnut;) ) ,that seriously improved the quality of my pictures.
Gonna add some more pictures of todays feeding tomorrow.
Greetings and hope things will stay fine,
Necturus

[Daztroyer25]

Hello All
I have just Signed up and was wondering What Pheidologeton keepers give there colony for food, or which them seem to enjoy most?
I have given mine everything from woodlice, earwigs, spiders, but mine especially seem to enjoy flies, and maggots.
At the moment i have been feeding them mealworms but they seem to get bored after about 6 or 7, maybe they have been overfed lol
I brought some pinkys ( which are just maggots ) from ant store not long ago, and when them transforms into flys, my ants went mad for them.
so much indeed that the sand had turned from a sandy color to a freakly black and yellow.......with lots of flys heads..........SICK..........

Could everyone else who keeps these wonderfull ants tell me what they feed?

[Necturus]

Hey Daz,
do offer some grain - tiny shivels of hazelnut for example, or other opend seeds. Not too much though,as it will decay if theres any left overs.
As for insects, ive been getting good results with a combination of flies and crickets. Crickets need to be cut open since only soldiers can chew their way through the chitin hull.
Greetings,
Necturus

[Daztroyer25]

Hey Necturus.
I will try crushed hazelnut.

Necturus where do you shop for your ant food?

[Necturus]

Hey there,
theres a bunch of pet stores around where you can buy different insects. I could give you a name, but i doubt they have the same stores in the UK Flies i usualy dont buy, but grab em as they come;)
i strongly suggest pouring boiling water of them to reduce chances of introducing parasites into your basin.
Greetings,
Necturus

[4mykids]

Hello all,

I agree, maggots are the choice of many. A great & easy way to catch the maggots is to simple leave a bowl of cat food out side (were cats can't get to it) and soon you have have hundreds of maggots collected in the bowl.

Edit Antstore

post from 16:47 pm

Oh, sorry, it should be the wet cat food -

[darradar]

hello daz, i feed mine cut up adult locust, but on accasion i also use meal worms or wax worms, that i let turn into the moths, as the ants love to activly kill these like they would in the wild i guess

p.s, meal worms, wax worms, maggots etc come in high quantities that the ants cannot eat, so heres a tip, freeze them, and take out the required amount as you need them this way they dont go to waste...

[Ashton McStansfieldio]

Wow, we have more ph. d. enthusiasts then I realised greetings Daz and Darradar:)

I put a small amount of honey on cotton wool into my nest and there did seem to be a little interest from the ants but they may have just been checking it out rather than eating the stuff i`m not too sure. When I put the honey in the nest in a drop a few ants got stuck so I removed it.

I was concerned the ants might not be getting enough (any) sugar in their diet and was admittedly hoping the honey might reduce my worker death rate...

I`m feeding mostly crickets at the moment but have also offered them woodlice, spiders, mealworms, centipedes, maggots all of which have gone down well. I am yet to see the ants loose interest in any type of food apart from the seeds of which they have a large amount stored in their nest. maybe I am underfeeding...

[darradar]

lol hello thier Ashton, yikes i also forgot to say i offer suger/honey water, but to be honest my colony seem to prefer protiens to sweets.