113 replies to this topic

[AntaholicAnonymous]

Imma hook you up with a tutorial.
I gonna make a video when I make the next one.
Don't know if it's gonna look good yet but I gonna make something unique

[Monarch]

That would be awesome!

 

So far what i've learned from this experience is:

 

1) If you intend for an outworld, don't use so much substrate to where the ants will nest there!

2) For a natural setup, use enough substrate! Its hard to add more.

3) if you intend you use live plants, plant them first before adding the ants and even try to have them well established (rooted) prior to adding ants.

4) All and all, make sure the terrarium is very much ready before adding the ants.

[AntaholicAnonymous]

Very true.
And very important is a clean up crew like springtails and isopods.
Things can get moldy and stinky real quick so you wanna have some help with the cleaning.
To avoid overwatering you can also do a drainage layer and I also have a layer of active carbon above the drainage to filter the water. The ants also use the active carbon pebbles and put it in and around the nest. Seems like they know what it's for

[ANTdrew]

#5. Never underestimate how quickly a thriving ant colony can totally fill up a “huge” terrarium.

#6. There’s no such thing as too much escape proofing.

Edited by ANTdrew, October 31 2019 - 4:51 PM.

[AntaholicAnonymous]

Yea a good way of preventing them from attempting an escape is to always give them plenty of resources.
That's why the I have such a large tank and the floating island available for them cause I know they need a lot of space. And that's why I had to get rid of my lasius colony there was no way for me to keep them comtained they were many thousands.
Ants are opportunists and don't care too much about the boundaries we try to set for them. lol

[AntsDakota]

ants are burying crickets for some reason, must be religous.  They dug out the top left sandy corner for...whatever reason (trying to appease me, their god?) And have started building a mound in the center.  

They may be trying to protect it, or are finished and are hiding it from predators who might steal it, or it may draw attention to their nest.

[AntaholicAnonymous]

ants are burying crickets for some reason, must be religous. They dug out the top left sandy corner for...whatever reason (trying to appease me, their god?) And have started building a mound in the center.

They may be trying to protect it, or are finished and are hiding it from predators who might steal it, or it may draw attention to their nest.

Mine are burying them in the drainage layer I'm glad I have a ton of springtails down there eating everything up or id have a mold outbreak very fast

ants are burying crickets for some reason, must be religous. They dug out the top left sandy corner for...whatever reason (trying to appease me, their god?) And have started building a mound in the center.

They may be trying to protect it, or are finished and are hiding it from predators who might steal it, or it may draw attention to their nest.

Mine are burying them in the drainage layer I'm glad I have a ton of springtails down there eating everything up or id have a mold outbreak very fast

[Monarch]

I added some pill bugs but these ants are great hunters!  And they literally chase after them!  I've seen that once one ants finds a pill bug, they bite at it, the pill bug flees, then magically surrounding ants will join the first ant in chasing them.  Its like suddenly a pheromone is detected to join the ant! vivid!

 

I fed them a full cricket and some honey and counted the ants and did a speed count and counted at least 100 ants!  Populations are booming!  Also they have 2 nest points now (ant mounds)

 

I also saw some spring tails in the dirt

[Monarch]

I added some dead leaves, isopods, ear wigs (which SOMEHOW, had babies), and a twin flagged jumping spider, Anasaitis canosa.  Apparently this spider specializes in hunting ants!  I have watched it stalk an ant, do some side steps before killing one!  I'm proud of this formicarium so far!  Still looking to add more dirt steadily.  I also see many springtails running around!

No idea how many ants i have but everyday the ants pile about 50 larvae in a stack near the nest entrance (on the right).

 

Any thoughts?

 

 

 

Edited by Monarch, November 30 2019 - 6:48 PM.

[P0rcelain]

it looks beautiful, i can say that much

if those plants thrive it can only get better

[OhNoNotAgain]

I would actually recommend not baking the soil if you want to go a bioactive route. Just make sure you're not digging up any unwanted things like a rival ant colony, so just shift through it a bit. Diversity in the soil micro-biome is a good thing in the long run. Adding in springtails would be better than isopods, too. My Tetras just killed and ate all the isopods in their tank (along with every other living thing). Somehow, they coexist with the springtails, though.

 

Whoa, what kind of isopods? You may have just given me the solution to isopod overpopulation. My Tetras.... And here I thought I might have to start breeding dubias....

[OhNoNotAgain]

 

I added some dead leaves, isopods, ear wigs (which SOMEHOW, had babies), and a twin flagged jumping spider, Anasaitis canosa.  Apparently this spider specializes in hunting ants!  I have watched it stalk an ant, do some side steps before killing one!  I'm proud of this formicarium so far!  

 

 

 

That's awesome! I've been thinking of keeping a jumping spider recently but just couldn't justify the annoyance of raising bunches of little bugs for them to eat (esp. as my ants mostly treat fruit flies as trash, not food). I realize most other jumping spiders probably won't be really into ants, though. Still, what an interesting little world you've got there.

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, December 4 2019 - 1:55 PM.

[Roy3]

If you have the money, check out the Rubber Ducky isopods. So damn cute.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[AntaholicAnonymous]

If you wanna jump start a springtail and isopods colony you can add oats or rice grains.
I do that so when the waste increases I already have the cleanup crew to handle that.

[Monarch]

Nice!  my ear wigs had babies so that was pretty awesome.  My jumping spider keeps escaping so I'm trying to modify.  i think its desperate to create a nest higher up so i either need to figure out how to make a him for it to nest higher or set it free.

[Monarch]

Soooo i know i hadn't posted in awhile but i think my Ant terrarium has failed.  Everything was looking great but for people looking to do a natural setup, heed what I'm about to post.

 

So i kept up my regular watering and feeding but noticed that during winter, while my ants slowed down, my pill bugs kept working......and breeding....and advancing.  By February, i saw at many many many pill bugs walking around, even during the daytime (which they normally hide).  When i fed my ants their protein, such as crickets and worms, i noticed the pill bugs swarm the food and even bullying the ants away.  

 

 

What I'm trying to say, natural setups are great and having other creatures in the terrarium along with the ants are fun, but if the ant numbers are not prepared to defend their terf, they may struggle to get food and other resources.  Next time, i will allow my ants to grow in number before adding pillbugs or other creatures.  

[Monarch]

 

 

 

So this is what it looked like February 16

[justanotheramy]

It's pretty!
I'm looking for more things to safely cohabit with my chaos ants — they're loving their natural setup, but I don't see much of them.
And they bury any slow growing plants.

[Monarch]

It's pretty!
I'm looking for more things to safely cohabit with my chaos ants — they're loving their natural setup, but I don't see much of them.
And they bury any slow growing plants.

  Yea they tend to do that!  The only thing i don't like about the natural setup is its difficult to determine what's happening with them.

Edited by Monarch, March 5 2020 - 8:20 PM.

[ANTdrew]

Dang, man. Sorry to hear this. Is your colony still alive? Can you try to remove them for now, so they can recover?

In the future, I'd advise growing the colony much larger (at least 1,000 workers) before trying this. There's not a decomposer alive that would bully a full fledged RIFA colony.