Ants Arrived and Home set up

[catelee2u]

I posted before about getting some Lasius Niger. They have arrived!!!! ;D I ordered a Queen and 11-20 workers. When they came we still had to finish putting together the tubing into the tank and adding perspex to the ytong so they didn't get to move in right away.
From reading I sort of expected once I put them in that they'd stay in the test tube pretty much for ages but they have shot straight out like greased lightning and are roaming about. They found the honey in about 30 minutes and have had a go up the side of the tank. Unfortunately I thought I'd ordered PTFE but must have forgot so had to use vaseline. I'm not sure I put enough on because one of them seemed to be walking on it with no troubles. I've put in a blob of honey, a drop of water and a small blob of protein jelly.
I would really like to get a good webcam of some sort but with a very high quality image and I know most of them are pretty rubbish and wondered if anyone can recommend anything good please??

My Husband Andy helped a lot with building the ytong and he suggested using the aquarium sealant to make rubbery feet for the base of the ytong. He put about 20 blobs of about an inch in height on the bottom and it has worked great. It makes it really shock/vibration resistant and keep it off the surface of the table so I thought I'd mention it in case anyone would like to try it.

Some pics:

I put crystals which were washed in the tank

[Wood~Ant]

At first glance I thought you had a white mouse in the tank Cate, but now I see it appears to be a stone? ;D What is the liquid in the small bottle?
Nice set up by the way

[Wood~Ant]

Apr 20, 2012 16:57:59 GMT catelee2u said:

I would really like to get a good webcam of some sort but with a very high quality image and I know most of them are pretty rubbish and wondered if anyone can recommend anything good please??

If you can afford it, buy a good HD camcorder as this will give far better results than a webcam. Panasonic or Sony are probably the best.

[Remson]

wow that looks like a really nice set up

[catelee2u]

Thanks very much and for the recommendation. The bottle has acacia honey in it. You're right they are crystals. My Mum sells gemstone carvings and jewellery so in the tank is an agate skull a piece of quartz and a citrine dragon carving.

[jameslovell]

Hi,

I can see you have made a nice nest for your ants. I hope the Ytong was washed with water beforehand to remove any dust etc, it looks like it was.

To stop them from getting out you could use talcum powder instead of vaseline.

If you mix a little talcum powder (non pefumed variety preferably) with some water to form a thick but slightly runny mix you can paint it on to the sides using a brush. When it dries the talc remains and most ants won't want to pass over it. The vaseline would have to be removed first though so theres no rush in doing this procedure.

Try and keep the nest covered to help them move in. I see you have the red sheet but you could also use some black paper or a cloth etc to completely block out any light then remove it once they have all moved in.

Good luck with them

James

[catelee2u]

Thanks James! Great advice.

They have walled themselves into the tube with loam and seem happy enough. We looked in today and have been feeding them bugs and they have starting building some sort of loam mound behind the quartz crystal. I actually thought they'd got out because I couldn't see any but Andy found them in the mound.

It stinks to high heaven in the tank though.....is that normal??

Left the lid off a while to air it out. There is ventilation though.

[jameslovell]

Hi,

It might smell a bit if its not getting enough ventilation or if the honey water/food needs changing etc.
You can remove the honey water mix so its not always in there. Also when you feed them honey water or any dead insects I recommend you feed them by placing it on some sort of feeding dish, even if its just a bottle top. This way it will not come into contact with any substrate so helps prevent any mold etc. You might already have some feeding dish but I could not see one from the picture.

Also at some point when the ants are no longer in there you can dampen the sand/loam mix so it will go rock hard although this is not needed its just an option.

All the best

James