7 replies to this topic

[rubberbandgirl]

I have a very young messor barbarus colony (queen plus 12 workers), and when I checked on my ants just now I discovered, to my horror, that one had been caught by a spider!!!  (I have fluon on the foraging box walls which has been working well enough for me to leave the foraging box lid open.)  So the spider was having from the 'lid' of the wall with the poor ant. I flicked the ant away from the spider and removed the spider, but the poor ant is now lying on the floor of the foraging box visibly trying to unentangle itself from the spider's thread.   So I've got 2 questions, please.  Firstly, do I try and help it to entangle itself, or would that just make it worse or would I be likely to accidentally crush or hurt it?  And secondly, how do you keep spiders out of the formicarium while allowing for ventilation?  I am going to be moving my nest inside an unused aquarium once I have that read, which does have a plastic lid on the top - it does have a few small air gaps however - they wouldn't be enough for a spider to drop down into the tank but would presumably be enough for a small spider to crawl inside.  Should I get a large sheet of mesh for the top?  Or perhaps I could get a piece of mesh just to cover the hole opening area?  Thanks in advance for any advice!

[drtrmiller]

Unless your home is infested with spiders to the extent they are constantly crawling on you, this should not be a common enough problem to warrant any type of special remedy.  Just deal with the situation as it arises and move on.

[rubberbandgirl]

Thanks for the reply drtrmiller.  We do have quite a lot of spiders - rural Ireland in a very old house, and our garden is very foresty - so we just live with lots of spiders around the place.  I think I'll probably just see what happens using the normal aquarium lid.

[drtrmiller]

I have an abundance of Pholcidae sp. in my house, and if one accidentally made its way into a formicarium and ate an ant, I wouldn't be worried that more would follow.

The thing about spiders is that most that build webs to catch prey are opportunists, not active predators.  They construct their traps in places away from disturbances, and wait for insects to wander into them.  So it's highly unlikely they are actively hunting your ants.  It was just a matter of one ending up in there on accident.

[rubberbandgirl]

Okay, that's reassuring, thanks drtmiller.  I was kind of worried that now ALL the spiders would 'know' about the ants, but I guess they're not social creatures like ants so wouldn't communicate amongst each other much.  And it did occur to me afterwards that I had a cardboard box next to the formicarium, with one of it's open lids dangling over the open foraging box - I guess the spider probably randomly came across the ants when moving around on the box.  I do have fluon on the outer walls of the foraging box as well, which might make it difficult for spiders to climb up, hopefully.

[AntsBC]

I actually find that spiders make great food for ants. If there are some hanging/"webbing" close to your outworld I would just freeze them and use them as food. That way you can slim down the chance of one getting in your ant's setup while getting a food source out of it at the same time.

[GeorgeK]

A piece of A4 paper over outworld would be enough to make sure spider can't come in. If outworld is bigger than a4 format, just duct tape few papers together until you get proper lid

[rubberbandgirl]

I actually find that spiders make great food for ants. If there are some hanging/"webbing" close to your outworld I would just freeze them and use them as food. That way you can slim down the chance of one getting in your ant's setup while getting a food source out of it at the same time.

Very good idea!  I might just do that.

A piece of A4 paper over outworld would be enough to make sure spider can't come in. If outworld is bigger than a4 format, just duct tape few papers together until you get proper lid

Thanks GeorgeK - I've put a piece of paper over the outworld for now - excellent idea!