Beginner questions..

[priestking]

Hello Everyone.. I'm new to this forum (and ant keeping in general) and have some ant and formicarium questions.

1. Some people build ant farms out of plaster but I have read that these farms suffer from mold problems. How common is this problem and is there an alternative type of plaster that can be used? Also has anyone ever tried using mold resistant tile grout instead of plaster?

2. I have seen formicarium made using ytong blocks but ytong is not easily available here in the UK. Is there an alternative that is similar to ytong that can be used instead?

3. I'm planning to catch some Lasius niger queens this summer and keep them in the shed in test tubes but I'm not sure if they will survive sub-zero temperatures during the winter. When ants hibernate, can they withstand very low temperatures during winter?

4. Whilst I was on holiday in south Asia, I noticed some large red ants that live in mango trees and create nests or chambers of a nest by gluing the leaves together. They also have a painful bite (as I found out!). Can someone ID them?

Answers as well as tips and starting an ant colony would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

Rob

[Zarbi]

Hi Rob, the red weaver ants were probably these
www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/inverts/weaver_ants.htm

Lasius queens should survive the winter in your shed as they do so in the ground, but to be on the safe side try wrapping some old newspaper or an old towel around the tubes to keep the frost out

Can't help with the other questions, sorry.

[Kyle]

I have used plaster nests quite abit and I've never have any major problem with mould, only if a bit of old food is not taken out then it might grow a bit of mould, but normally the ants in the nest should be able to keep it clean and stop mould growing.

As for Ytong being hard to get in the UK (I'm guessing you've gone into a shop and asked for Ytong, as I have and got a funny look ), we have something call aerated concrete (I think there are more names but none spring to mind) which as far as I can tell is no different really, you and get a brick for B&Q for £0.99

[Jenny]

Apr 13, 2010 15:17:48 GMT priestking said:

Hello Everyone.. I'm new to this forum (and ant keeping in general) and have some ant and formicarium questions.
I'm planning to catch some Lasius niger queens this summer and keep them in the shed in test tubes but I'm not sure if they will survive sub-zero temperatures during the winter. When ants hibernate, can they withstand very low temperatures during winter?
Rob

Hi Rob, & welcome to AHW.
L.nigers will survive the winter temperatures as long as you wrap them up well!!

Whether in a tank, a test tube or an upright formicarium, they will freeze in a shed if not protected. You can use carpet, bubble wrap, cardboard, polystyrene etc to insulate the glass/nest from the outside elements. Thick wrapping will do the trick The way the wild ants survive is, they go deep down away from the zero temps of the surface.

[Quah]

Hi Rob,

Which part of South Asia were you holidaying in. I am in Kuala Lumpur, Malasysia where the Oecophylla smaragdina is very commonly found. Those found in Australia are green that is why the smaragdina name is tagged to this species even though the one here is red.

I have attached a photo just to verify the ant you saw. In Africa there is another species of this genus.

I was intending to put up a page for this interesting species in my termitesandants.blogspot.com site but haven't got the time to hunt down the alates yet.

Apr 13, 2010 15:17:48 GMT priestking said:

Hello Everyone.. I'm new to this forum (and ant keeping in general) and have some ant and formicarium questions.

1. Some people build ant farms out of plaster but I have read that these farms suffer from mold problems. How common is this problem and is there an alternative type of plaster that can be used? Also has anyone ever tried using mold resistant tile grout instead of plaster?

2. I have seen formicarium made using ytong blocks but ytong is not easily available here in the UK. Is there an alternative that is similar to ytong that can be used instead?

3. I'm planning to catch some Lasius niger queens this summer and keep them in the shed in test tubes but I'm not sure if they will survive sub-zero temperatures during the winter. When ants hibernate, can they withstand very low temperatures during winter?

4. Whilst I was on holiday in south Asia, I noticed some large red ants that live in mango trees and create nests or chambers of a nest by gluing the leaves together. They also have a painful bite (as I found out!). Can someone ID them?

Answers as well as tips and starting an ant colony would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

Rob

Attachments:

[Wood~Ant]

It looks like all the questions have been answered, bar 1; and that was, "Has anyone tried using mould resistant grout?"
Well this video topic made by Mikey from AntsCanada shows a nest made from grout housing a Myrmica rubra colony, and from the looks of it they are doing fantastically well in this kind of nest environment
queenant.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=movie&thread=3471&page=1#15818

[priestking]

Apr 13, 2010 16:46:44 GMT Kyle said:

I have used plaster nests quite abit and I've never have any major problem with mould, only if a bit of old food is not taken out then it might grow a bit of mould, but normally the ants in the nest should be able to keep it clean and stop mould growing.

As for Ytong being hard to get in the UK (I'm guessing you've gone into a shop and asked for Ytong, as I have and got a funny look ), we have something call aerated concrete (I think there are more names but none spring to mind) which as far as I can tell is no different really, you and get a brick for B&Q for £0.99

Thanks for the reply Kyle.. I havnt got to the stage of going out and actually trying to buy ytong yet but did a bit of research on the web and looks like it isnt readily available in the UK but you can get it in other European countries.

For my first nest.. I was thinking about making a plaster nest since its easier to make but then started reading about mold problems other people were having, this has put me off slightly. So I started to consider the ytong option but I might reconsider the plaster option. Any advice on what sort of plaster to use that is readily available in the UK? I have read that some people use a plaster called hydrostone? Also what is the ideal size for a formacarium that will last me a few years if I was to go for an upright set up.

Also going back to part of my original question, what about tile grout as an alternative to plaster? not sure if it will absorb water the same way as plaster does and am wondering if anyone has experimented with it when it comes to building formicariums.

Edit: oops.. seems someone has already answered this question whilst I was doing my reply


Thanks for the ID Quah and Zarbi. Yes, the weaver ants are exactly what I saw and I was in Bangladesh when I spotted them. They had made a nest out of leafs in a mango tree and there were a few of them.

Thanks everyone for all your help and comments and apologies for asking too many questions (and theres more to come)

Rob

[bowser]

I was about to update my other thread to ask about nests but priestkings's questions have been very useful to me also so I'll continue here instead.

I've been searching the net for pictures of nests to try and decide what I want, the main purpose is to study the ants so I want to see as much of them as possible so not sand/soil nests where they burrow out of sight but at the same time want it to be as natural as possible for them.

I work in the housing industry and can tell you you'll have a hard time finding y tong here in the UK but as Kyle has correctly pointed out we use aerated concrete "breeze blocks" for the same purposes so they must be very similar. Despite this there doesn't seem to be many examples of people in the UK using these despite y tong being so popular elsewhere. I saw this thread at lunchtime and picked up an aerated block from site on the way home see pic below. I will have a go at carving out a nest this weekend and see how it goes.



I've decided to make a few prototypes using different materials and post them here for advice on what will work. I am willing to spend a lot of time and when it comes to the final design money making a really good one. I really like Antscanada’s habitat nests but want the challenge of creating my own. Although I am going to try a few designs at the end of the day I think it will come down to 1 of 2 for me either a concrete block carved out with some sand and gravel in there with glass over the top, or a larger design of this neat little set up. www.fourmis.fr/fourmis-fourmilieres/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=320 The advantage of the aerated block will be that its easier to make but the second more presentable and taking up less space both of which might encourage my girlfriend to allow it in the house.

Here is a pic of my first test with a plaster nest done yesterday.



I used things from around the house so cost me nothing to make. I used a plastic tub, glass from an old picture frame, play dough I made from flour and salt for the tunnel moulds and some old plaster. When I took the play dough out the plaster there was still porous so I was able to add sand and stone to the tunnels before it completely set. I was pleased how it came out although the watering strip does virtually nothing to hydrate the nest and I see it mentioned above that plaster can go mouldy so not sure if this will ever be useful?

[Wood~Ant]

Good to see how using a bit of ingenuity can pay off when making a home made set up Bowser.
Please open up a new thread in the Formicariums board and post pics of your ant homes, as it will be great to see the finished products, especially when you get some ants living in them

The entrance holes in your plaster nest can have tubing attached for ants to go to foraging areas, and you could put some damp cotton wool in the end of one of those holes. You can also plug up a hole with a bit of cloth and make a wick system by having the other end of the cloth wick dipped into a pot of water, or even inside a small attached pot via some plastic tubing if the water reservoir isn't any use