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Post by Wood~Ant on Oct 3, 2016 7:46:30 GMT
Having had a total of 12 die in my Camponotus substitutus colony, and seeing a decline in worker number (and sometimes queens too) in a few other ant colonies I keep, or have kept, it does make you worry about if a particular colony will decline so much it will die out? Occasionally you can discover the cause, but more often it is a complete mystery as to why what seemed to be a healthy and thriving colony suddenly drop in number; and can be quite a frightening and disturbing event. I keep all my tropical and semi-tropical ants mostly in acrylic nests with good humidity and warmth. So why do most of them thrive while others decline? Maybe we need to pool our ideas and see if we can come up with a few solutions to this problem? After all, this forum has some of the best ant keepers in the world as members, so together we make a strong team of like minded collective minds who can help each other and those who follow us in later generations of ant keepers.
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Post by jeoff82 on Oct 3, 2016 9:28:47 GMT
One thing that would put me off about keeping ants from outside Europe is that they are not adapted for the pathogens exposed to them here. Easily passed on by food,environment,soil and maybe just from the atmosphere. So can become victim to illness and mystery deaths.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Oct 3, 2016 11:45:26 GMT
One thing that would put me off about keeping ants from outside Europe is that they are not adapted for the pathogens exposed to them here. Easily passed on by food,environment,soil and maybe just from the atmosphere. So can become victim to illness and mystery deaths. Normally I would agree, as it seems to affect my South American species and some European ants too; but never seems to happen with Camponotus species from Asia which I keep, as most of these are thriving and expanding rapidly. Perhaps some ants are tougher than others and thrive better in captivity?
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shane
Ant Photographer
Ant Species Image Gatherer
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Post by shane on Oct 3, 2016 16:25:19 GMT
I think it can be the food some times, Mostly in fussy ants that don't drink anything.
Testing some on different foods like some honey brands can kill workers I found out which I don't know why till I found out some do have bees are harvesting on pesticide flowers even the organic ones which puts me off getting honey as most other country's ban pesticide it in there products like Germany. Anyhow I cut down a lot to even switching them on just sugar water to be safe.
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Post by jeoff82 on Oct 3, 2016 19:37:25 GMT
The humid and warm conditions whilst needing ventilation make it a haven for germs. I have heard of Formica rufa walking over tree sap as an anti bacteria before entering their nests. Ants have their ways of managing germs and its hard to reconstruct their needs in acrylic nests and outworlds. Was gonna ask you Wood, do you keep all your colonies in darkness or are they in a lit room?
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Post by Wood~Ant on Oct 4, 2016 7:08:41 GMT
All my ant colonies are kept covered and in darkness except when I am watching them, or adding water to the nest, in which case they are in the light but away from direct sunlight. Some species are kept in soil nests, but most are in acrylic. All my ants kept in acrylic are doing well,with only the C. substitutus having lost workers at an alarming rate. Dead food prey left in the nest may be a possible cause, as decaying bodies will have bacteria and fungi growing on them.
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