mtrein
Nurse Ant
Posts: 93
Likes: 1
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Post by mtrein on Oct 5, 2011 18:51:16 GMT
Hi there I've only just started, so please excuse me if this is not a correct place to post. I would like to believe I am almost finished building my first ant nest, and I am looking for advice on it. Please keep in mind I still could not get hold of a queen, and so I don't know which ants I will be able to put there yet. The picture quality is not that good, please excuse me as I do not own a good camera. This is the link to the blog I have just created: marcelosants.blogspot.com/Any comments are highly appreciated. What I am looking for is how to offer water. I don't think I can put it there as the plaster absorbs water really quickly and it will make the ants very prone to fungal infections. I really don't want that, so I am thinking I will add a second plastic container which is flat and I'll put the food and water there. What else needs to be added? I have a sylicon gun and lots of transparent hoses. I can also get tupperware of just about any size, so extra living space and expansions can be done without much effort (although I'd prefer to keep it as small as possible at first). Also I am looking for advice on the size of the chambers and passages. What colonies would be good to put there? Gosh I hope I can get a queen soon
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Post by Jenny on Oct 5, 2011 19:20:24 GMT
Of course as you may know, fluid for the ants must be soaked into cotton wool to prevent drowning. Members have used a WICK system in the past to send moisture to parts of a nest they want to be more humid. Also an external foraging area as you are suggesting is a good idea This gives you the freedom to feed and change honey water as needed. Always make it so that you can have quick easy access, and you can withdraw quick without losing half of your colony once they detect your movements Ventilation is also needed at times, so the Tupperware boxes need tiny pin pricks in them, small enough for some air but not big enough for the ants to escape. It is surprising how much squeezability they have
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Quah
Ant Photographer
Outstanding Ant Photographer
Posts: 226
Country: Malaysia
Likes: 10
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Post by Quah on Oct 6, 2011 5:42:38 GMT
Hi mtrein,
Nice to have another ant enthusiast from another continent here at Ant Hill World. Look forward to see the development of your ants and your blog. I also blog about ants from my location in South Asia.
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mtrein
Nurse Ant
Posts: 93
Likes: 1
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Post by mtrein on Oct 6, 2011 13:27:21 GMT
Hi Jen and Quah Thank you for the tips and words of support. I believe the ant nest will be populated very soon I plan to add two more tupperware pots, one for food and one for garbage. Any thoughts on that? also, does anyone have tips as to what species would be suited to this ant nest in particular?
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Post by Wood~Ant on Oct 6, 2011 14:34:01 GMT
also, does anyone have tips as to what species would be suited to this ant nest in particular? If you're using a plaster nest set up, I find that Myrmicine ant species do better than Formicines; but of course it depends on the size of the queen(s) and workers as to what will fit comfortably into the the tunnels and chambers, as they need enough room to turn around and not get stuck
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mtrein
Nurse Ant
Posts: 93
Likes: 1
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Post by mtrein on Oct 6, 2011 16:09:28 GMT
Thanks wood. The passageways have about 10 mm in diameter but are half a circle (so 10 mm diameter and 5 mm diameter in the middle at 90º). Chambers vary; the smallest I would say is about 15 mm high by 40 mm accross and the biggest is 30 mm high to 50 mm accross.
What I am also worried about is getting fungus in the plaster nest. I think I will leave the food and water sources in another tupperware pot connected by a small transparent hose. It is very humid here and a friend has had a Camponotus festinatus colony in a plaster nest not unlike this one I made almost completely die out because of fungus infection. I don't want that happening here.
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mtrein
Nurse Ant
Posts: 93
Likes: 1
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Post by mtrein on Oct 7, 2011 13:51:12 GMT
Hi all A friend sent me a queen and two workers of Camponotus ligniperda. It arrived much earlier than I had anticipated (yesterday evening) and so I have rushed to finish the ant nest, then opened the tube and put her in there. You can see what I did and pictures in my blog at marcelosants.blogspot.comNow I have quite a few questions. 1. She still has not left the tube. Is this normal? 2. Both workers went to inspect the opening right after I opened the tube, and one of the workers touched the plaster floor with an antennae and got kind of scared - it ran back towards the queen and the other worker at the back of the test tube and kind of made them "jumpy" too. What could have happened? 3. Is it possible that the plaster is toxic to them? It is CaSO4 ½ H2O. 4. I put water and some food for them in the foraging pot, is it too far or would I have to put the water closer at first? 5. From what I have been told and read, Camponotus ligniperda usually hybernates in Europe in one or two weeks until early february, more or less (winter in the northern hemisphere). Since I live in Brazil and I am in the south hemisphere, it would be summer here with temperatures of about 30ºC. Will they still need to hybernate? 6. If so, can I put them in my fridge where the temperature is of about 5ºC? 7. What would happen if I left them at room temperature during this hybernation period? 8. I currently have not made holes to air the nest. I am afraid a very small kind of ant will get in through those holes and eat them (we call them ghost ants - Tapinoma melanocephalum, they measure about 1 mm and are very common in the summer). Any ideas on how to manage this? 9. I think the passageways will be a tight fit for the queen, should I widen them up a bit? Also, are the chamber sizes big enough? Thank you all for your help.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Oct 8, 2011 7:33:39 GMT
Being a very small colony it will be difficult to get them to move, and as it is a European species they will need keeping cool with Summer approaching down under the equator. Camponotus have big queens and workers, so give them a lot of space; and they often make a nest in damp rotting tree stumps, or even soft wood, so you might find they dig into plaster if it is damp enough. With only 2 workers they won't forage well, so place food as close as possible for them to find. When you reach December and January it will be hot in Brazil, so placing them in the fridge to hibernate will do them no harm, as this may help the queen to lay eggs once she warms up again after hibernating for 10 weeks or so. For now try to feed them up with dead insects and a drop of honey or sugar water
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Post by TenebrousNova on Oct 8, 2011 19:51:38 GMT
Hello, please accept my late welcome to you. It is perfectly natural for first workers to be quite jumpy and nervous. When the worker ran back to the others and made them jumpy, it is because she communicated to them what she found and they reacted similarly. For example, if there is an attack on a nest in the wild, the queen will quickly know and she'll react appropriately- often by retreating to the deeper parts of the nest until the disruption passes. The worker didn't know what to make of her surroundings so she alerted the others. I probably made that explanation a bit longer than I needed. As Wood said, the first workers will stay close to the queen and brood and will only forage in a short range, so food should be placed quite close to them so they're more likely to come across it. I've found with my Lasius niger colonies that workers are not willing to travel far until there's at 10 or more at first. I don't have personal experience with Camponotus, but they are quite large and need plenty of space.
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mtrein
Nurse Ant
Posts: 93
Likes: 1
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Post by mtrein on Oct 9, 2011 13:18:00 GMT
Thanks for the tips, lads.
They have not left the tube, so I moved it to the forage pot and put a spider, a small fly and a very small bug right on the tube mouth then left them well alone. That was yesterday morning. I will check back in a few hours, hopefully they will have eaten them.
Timenova, thank you for the welcome ;-D
One more doubt: I have read in some places that Camponotus ligniperdus like it a bit more wet and in other places that they like it a bit more dry. Any thoughts on that.
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