What's new
By:
TerraForums - Carnivorous Plant Community

Welcome to TerraForums — a long-running carnivorous plant community established in 2001. Register for free to join the conversation, ask questions, and connect with growers from around the world.

NASC Auction will END in...

Review the rules :)
NASC auction is OPEN!!

Ant farm ideas??

Share this page

O

ozzi1264

Ok, so after contemplating for a couple of days on wether i should start an ant colony or get a mantid, i've decided to go for the ants. Now i just have to figure out where i can get a proper enviornment for them. I've done a bit of googlin, but it mostly shows the "kiddy farms". Most likely i'm leaning towards something like this-

http://www.disktek.net/

But WAAAY bigger. If i have to i will resort to building one myself, but all i could find was plans for ones that looks like these..

http://www.antcam.com/antfarm/howtobuild/

Not as clean as the other one. I thought it was just as simple as putting 2 big pieces of glass/acrylic on some wood and BAM! Any suggestions on a good terrarium that doesnt cost 200 bucks? Or plans to build one?
 
Nepenthes_AK can help you, he's really into ants.

I think a billion ants is scarier than one mantis :-(


I like nice sleek modern stuff, no wood bedposts for me thanks! This one looks reasonable cool. http://www.hailesaquariums.com.au/store.asp?page=prodincat&ID=41

I guess you could just get a species that can't climb glass and put them in an aquarium. I think a 20 gallon aquarium is only 30 bucks or so.
 
That one is just the style im looking for. I wouldnt want to buy a 20 gallon tank mainly because im really looking for a thin look jus like the one that you found.

I think a billion ants is scarier than one mantis
Click to expand...

Just hope the thing doesn't tip over
 
There are many ideas to try, you could make a plaster farm, and wood farm, or even a tank. If you are really want to have ant farm look here, this is where ant hobbist go to talk about there colonies, Nep.-AK and me are members. http://p211.ezboard.com/bantfarm A billion ants does not exist in an ant farm not matter how well you care for them, start from a new queen so you don't have to distroy a colony trying to find a queen that could be 5 feet below the ground, Tetramorium caespitum (the feeding ants in Nep.-AK's thread) is most likly your best bet to keep as they are quick to grow into a colony and get very good numbers, don't try to touch them as they can sting. Ants are my favorite living thing, including people and all plants. P.S. I hate people, we cause so much damage through are stupidity.
 
How does one go about finding a newly mated queen? I've browsed several ant-rearing guides and the only real way of getting queens that I've heard of is to dig up a colony, which isn't a very appealing idea to me. I'd rather go through the trouble of starting a new colony than disrupt an established one.
~Joe
 
Uhmmm wait for mating flights, it can get gross from time to time, but it takes allot of patience and learning what times to look. And what species to look for, And Find out about what time of year the mating flights are.

I really suggest an easy ant, like Tetramorium they are fool proof and have a decent size, eat any thing and can be cute! My siggy.

PICT0101.jpg

PICT0094.jpg

PICT0095.jpg

PICT0096.jpg


Are some ant Farms i made, preaty simple to do, just PM me i might be able to make you one just let me know... Maybe we could do some kinda plant trade cause my whole deal, i am personaly starting over.

Seedjar if you have any more questions about when to find female alates (mated queens), let me know! It does also depend on where you live!
 
Seedjar, tetramorium usuall fly in late June or July. Never grab the queens when they have wings as they are virgin queens, grab them when they pull their wings off. If you are un pacient flip a few rocks after the queen has laid a few eggs and try to find 8 or so pupea (pall color of an ant that doesn't move) of the ants species and give them to your queen but, usually let her start on her own time, it really is only a short time, giving pupea just lets you get a good colony quickly.
 
Ant not true, i have had a 5/7 percentage rating with queens that had wings two of them weren't mated, the other five? they were! I had collected 4 Tetramorium queens and 3 of them didn't have their wings on, the other 1 did, they all started colonies. But you are right, its a sure fire way to tell if they are mated or not.
 
Are there any species of ants not suitable for a slimmed style terrarium? I'm thinking about just buying acrylic and filling it up with sand/dirt
 
Purely luck of the draw Nep.:lac: besides, how many of the fertile ones removed there wings? You just grad them when they just finished. The ones with out wings are your best bet, and ones away form the colony might have just finished mating, and then the once in awhile queen that can't get 1 or 2 wings off. Usually they do get them off so just go with the wingless queens. I just say general things to use as a rule, and didn't the wings rot in the tube? If so then just catch the wingless queens.
 
it really is better to start youre ants out in test tubes

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/alaskaheadbanger/Ants/abe6bc1e.jpg

Until you have a good established colony (about 100 or so ants), and its nice for observing, and you can quickly check on how your ants are doing. I tried doing that with a Camponotus colony and they died cause i couldn't tell how they were doing or if they were eating.

Wings didn't rot, they moved them away from where they were, to the entrance of the test tube, and I simply removed them from the tubes I'm just saying their still is a chance to get a fertile queen if she has wings.

One way to attract queens is lay a piece of wood or a larger brick some place in the yard near under a tree, and you might be able to find queens removing their wing, or starting a colony their.
 
Slim farms can house ants but, usually I would make one because it can be out grown and wasting your money on that might not be the best idea. Also you might not be able to get the greatest look at them. Nep.'s farms make an easy to see home for them and you can easly see how they are doing like in the testtube.
 
So in the test tube setup, Its one ant per tube?? Thats gonna mean alot of tubes. Nepenthes, those farms you made, are they made using plaster? Because i've read on alot of places that it really isnt the best thing to use. Have you built any of entire wood?
 
It all comes down to preference, For test tubes no its not one ant, thats a queen in the test tube. (Formica Sp's) the ants will fill up the test tube as needed. Plaster is good to use i have had no problems with it. A little mold in the foraging area, but you cant escape mold. Wood set ups will have the same problem. I am working on one using balsa wood, and glass, its an experiemnt for small species with small colony numbers, but can be used for small species with large numbers (Pheidole for example)
 
Have you ever built one that needed any medium? I really wanted to fill the terrarium up with something as opposed to having it premade as in the plaster setup. Idk, I always thought one of the best parts of having an ant farm was seeing them dig and make and expand their chambers and such, but then again it also runs the risk of collapsing on itself. But then again, plaster setups allow you to see them more better, correct? Ugh... so many factors to consider... maybe i shoulda' gone with the mantid ??? If it isnt a bother to ask, does anyone make these? I"m looking for a clean looking terrarium- a reasonably large one. I dont have any plants to trade, but i am willing to trade some $$
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top