62 replies to this topic

[MrLunk]

Hello fellow Formicarians

So I got interested in Ants, watched a hundred youtube tutorials and read a lot of articles...
After that I ordered what I think I need the 1st year or more...

The package will probably arrive somewhere after next weekend...
A good time to start a Journal to keep track of all things happening.

So what did I order that's being delivered somewhere next week ?

For starters I ordered a Ant colony of Lasius Niger with 12-20 (nanitics) worker ants.

 

- Honeydew surrogate
- cottonwool

- extra tubes 1 meter 10mm

- exta endcaps

- a very small 1st nest with only 2 chambers + sponge

- a few water drippers

- some protein jelly cups

- 1 feedig 'fountain'

- insect tweezer set

- brushes

- Fluon

- 10 extra tubes to catch the same species when they fly end of lujy here in the netherlands.

- some tube splitters y and x and T shapes

- tube connection parts

 

The nest:

 

The Lasius Niger Ants:

 

Perhaps I over did it since the ants won't need much more then a tube or two the 1st few months.
But better to have stuff in stock when sarting this new hobby seriously

Any tips and tricks on stuff I missing out on are welcome !

See you in the next post when the order is in

Greetz,
Peter Lunk
Velsen, Netherlands


...

Edited by MrLunk, June 17 2023 - 12:16 AM.

[antsriondel]

Nice! Do you have a plastic container to use as an outworld, or did I miss something in your post? 

[MrLunk]

Nice! Do you have a plastic container to use as an outworld, or did I miss something in your post? 

Nope, I have a pile of Acrylics to build that myself, I have a lot of experience building aquariums and terrariums so I think I can manage that
Later I want to use airconcrete to ppor my own (hexagonal) nests when needed...

I allso have an Ultimaker 2+ 3D printer to print more couplings and stands for tubes and feeder inserts etc...

Edited by MrLunk, June 15 2023 - 12:13 PM.

[Ernteameise]

Good luck with those girls!

I see you have ordered from Anthouse.

They are a good company and they make good products.

I have two of their acrylic nests and 2 outworlds from them myself, and my main Messor barbarus colony is so fond of their acrylic nest, they prefer it to the fancy Antcube!

As for food, this looks good.

My Lasius niger like those jellies, these also keep a while in the fridge. Honeydew / sugar water in a feeder is also a success. Mine also take chicken meat and all kinds of insects.

So you are all set!

I hope you enjoy this amazing hobby!

[MrLunk]

Good luck with those girls!

I see you have ordered from Anthouse.

They are a good company and they make good products.

Thanks for the luckwishes!
And yes it's a Anthouse.es product bought from dutch rseller mierennederland.nl

I do intend to make my own outworlds an more nestspace when needed...
Plenty of aquarium building expierence

P.s. Antcube products are astonomically expensive.

PL.

Edited by MrLunk, June 17 2023 - 12:18 AM.

[MrLunk]

Small update... while waiting in anticipation for the order to arrive.

Today I cast the 1st block of gypsum to create a nest extension...
(It's about 10x 15 x 4 cm)

Once it's dry I'll sand the top surface flat with rough sandpaper on a piece of flat glass.
Then I'll outline the top shape on a piece of acrylic and saw it out with jigsaw.
The acrylic will be fit on the top with screws on all corners.

I'll carve out 3 or four compartments and drill 10mm entrance and exits to fit tubes later

Edited by MrLunk, June 17 2023 - 5:08 AM.

[MrLunk]

Almost forgot...

I'm publishing my journal posts on blogger too: https://formicarilunk.blogspot.com/

Yes I'll put a better looking design around that blog soon

PL
 

Edited by MrLunk, June 17 2023 - 5:20 AM.

[Full_Frontal_Yeti]

Ant noob too. Been keeping a colony of Pogonomyrmex Occidentalis for a few days shy of 6 months now.

While every ant has their own behavior norms. Based on what all i read of others and experience of my own.
We will only get to see the ants more natural wild behavior, if we can provide a setup, where from their POV, they can ID a distinct difference between "in nest" and "outside."

Most ants navigate a lot by smell. And in the tiny low air circulation outworlds, the difference between outside and inside might be largely indistinguishable form their perspective.

Once i had enough outworld space included, their behavior towards the various outworld spaces also noticeably changed.
I have three outworlds, small, med and large basically. Once i added the large outworld on, that space is clearly "outside" from their POV.
Most notable is that for this ant, which is not polymorphic, age determines who goes outside to forage. Only a small % of the ants ever go to the large outworld, and any younger ones that accidentally go out. Within no more than maybe one inch of walking into the large outworld they freak out and panic scramble to get back into the tube so fast they often miss it the first couple tires.

These ants also very politely keep all  their trash as far from their nest as they can get it. When i added more outworld on they moved the trash pile to be as far as they can get it from their nest.
While your ants will be their own in  these regards, i would say you can't find out about that unless you give them enough outworld to get them to believe in it.

I keep expanding the outworld as much as i can and am glad i have.
Here is the image showing, small outworld far left and on top of the nest(tarheelants mini-hearth in the back ground a bit), med outworld front middle, and large outworld right side was just attached(a few months ago now). The trash pile is still there in the med outworld, and first effort for them was to move it all the way to the far right side of the setup where it remains today. But importantly, a much smaller number of ants was willing to move trash out there,  than was moving it form the nest to the med outworld previously.


I say give 'em lots of outworld if you can.

 

Edited by Full_Frontal_Yeti, June 17 2023 - 10:27 AM.

[MrLunk]

Ant noob too. Been keeping a colony of Pogonomyrmex Occidentalis for a few days shy of 6 months now.
... ... ...
I say give 'em lots of outworld if you can.

 

Hi

When my ants arrive the colony will only be between 11-20 ants...
I will keep them in a multi-tube setup until the colony gets to about 40 ants, by then I will have made the 1st outworld for them.

p.

[Full_Frontal_Yeti]

 

Ant noob too. Been keeping a colony of Pogonomyrmex Occidentalis for a few days shy of 6 months now.
... ... ...
I say give 'em lots of outworld if you can.

 

Hi

When my ants arrive the colony will only be between 11-20 ants...
I will keep them in a multi-tube setup until the colony gets to about 40 ants, by then I will have made the 1st outworld for them.

p.

 

yeah my colony was about 20 + 20 brood items when it arrived. It has been part of what's made the extra outworld space interesting is their general behavior towards the extra space changes as they grow in numbers.
Such as how willing they are or are not to engage foraging bugs/fish flakes that take time to break up first vs. seeds they can just grab and go.

[MrLunk]

 Mini update...

Forget the previously posted gypsum casting
I got my hands on a 60x20x5cm block of Ytong...
Should be enough to last my 1 Queen with 12 worker starter colony for a year at least....
I'll make several nest extentions when they are needed

Edited by MrLunk, June 18 2023 - 1:01 PM.

[MrLunk]

 

 

Ant noob too. Been keeping a colony of Pogonomyrmex Occidentalis for a few days shy of 6 months now.
... ... ...
I say give 'em lots of outworld if you can.

 

Hi

When my ants arrive the colony will only be between 11-20 ants...
I will keep them in a multi-tube setup until the colony gets to about 40 ants, by then I will have made the 1st outworld for them.

p.

 

yeah my colony was about 20 + 20 brood items when it arrived. It has been part of what's made the extra outworld space interesting is their general behavior towards the extra space changes as they grow in numbers.
Such as how willing they are or are not to engage foraging bugs/fish flakes that take time to break up first vs. seeds they can just grab and go.

 

With your advice on behavioural advantages I will be starting on my DIY outworld this week
If they arrive in the coming week they can live for a few weeks with only an extra little nest, the one i bought (see 1st post of this Topic).
Plenty of time to make something good

Greetz,
PL

[MrLunk]

After advice from Full_Frontal_Yeti on the formiculture.com Forums...

I was 1st planning on keeping the new Lasius Niger colony in a small multi tube in a container nest until the 1st hybernation period.
But as he advised he Ants will show much more interesting and natural behaviour when they have a outworld with plenty (not too much) space.

So I bought a small food container to make a simple 1st outworld...
(4.5 Euro at Blokker in the Netherlands)
Bigger and later outworlds will be 100% DIY

The food storage container for the outworld:
For aeration 0.3 mm holes shall be drilled along the sides of the lid

 

Sand for bottom substrate thoroughly washed and cooked for 10 minutes to kill all fungii and parasites, now drying in the sun:
 

Edited by MrLunk, June 19 2023 - 5:46 AM.

[MrLunk]

Gathered some rocks and dead wood for decoration of the outworld, I disinfected the wood by putting it in the microwave for a minute.

Here is the result for now, when the Ants arrive (Wednesday says the post info) I will put the Lasius Niger colony tube in here once they have settled after the mail journey (a few days after arrival).

 

[MrLunk]

Nice! Do you have a plastic container to use as an outworld, or did I miss something in your post? 

Check the update above
Greetz,
PL

[Virginian_ants]

Nice outworld.

[MrLunk]

I found a great place to put my Lasius Niger Formicarium

We have a 180 liter Juwell aquarium with tropical fish, the temperature of the water is allways 26 degrees, the TL-lighting gives a little extra warmth...

On this spot on top of the back-lid the temperature is a stable 27.7 all day long.
(Test in the images below is done without ants )

Perhaps a little too hi, but if I put a layer of triplex or multiplex underneath it I bet it will be a nice 24-25 degrees celcius there.

At night the light goes off and the temperature drops just a couple of degrees.
The Aquarium and Formicarium are both in a place in the room where direct sunlight never comes.
 

[ANTdrew]

Sounds like a perfect temp to me.

[MrLunk]

Sounds like a perfect temp to me.

You mean the 27.7 Celcius...
Yah but I don't need the colony to grow at monster rate

[Serafine]

Um, no.

 

28°C is absolutely too hot for Lasius niger and will likely kill them.

In my area their workers typically stop foraging if the ground temperatures exceed 30°C.

 

Also, never heat the whole nest from the bottom.

It's okay if only a small part of a nest is bottom-heated, like 25% of it.

 

The next problem here is, your 28°C is the air temperature. The temperature at the bottom of the tub is probably 30+.

You're also likely to end up with a flooded test tube, just due to the sheer amount of evaptoration and condensation.

 

Lasius niger is a temperate ant. They like heat, but they don't need it. They can do perfectly fine at around 20°C, they just need longer to develop.

Edited by Serafine, June 20 2023 - 12:01 PM.