Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2012 10:56:22 GMT 1
Hi
I'm brand new to keeping ants..two days new in fact.
I am a vet nurse and hand rearing a swift and housemartin. On Friday I was foraging for insects when I happened on a huge ants nest under a slab. I gathered a small amount of eggs thinking they would make great food for my babies.
Later in the day one of my colleagues suggested I 'farm' them as he used for his fish as a child. I went back to the slab and carefully gathered some live ants, popped them in the tub with the eggs and wet back to work.
The next day I checked on them and noticed the busy little workers had dug a tunnel and deposited their precious eggs in it. I could see some of them fussing around them carefully and cleaning them. I was fascinated.....that was it, there was no way I was feeding these amazing little creatures to the birds!
I proceeded to the nearest computer to educate myself and here I am two days later having built my first nest and having generated lots of questions!! If anyone has the time to try to answer some of them I'd be really grateful. And sorry for such a long post!!!!
I now feel guilty about kidnapping the ants! Should I/can I return them? I have since discovered they'll die without a Queen.
I've made a formicarium out of a picture frame with a plastic box, stuck to the back. I'd cut the box so it gets slimmer at the bottom and allows a wider foraging area at the top. I filled it with children's play sand, poured water over it (not too much). I made two holes in the top of plastic box, into which I forced clear plastic pipes in and bunged them with wet cotton wool. The idea is to connect the longer one to a foraging box and the other for drinking, adding food and moisture. I stood the whole thing up against the wall in landscape position.
What do you think? They are in there now, have started digging and have moved all the eggs into the shorter pipe!
I'd really like a colony with a Queen, will I have to wait for the nest to send some out for a nuptual flight? If so, how often do they do this. I did notice some of them in the nest had wings.
I'm brand new to keeping ants..two days new in fact.
I am a vet nurse and hand rearing a swift and housemartin. On Friday I was foraging for insects when I happened on a huge ants nest under a slab. I gathered a small amount of eggs thinking they would make great food for my babies.
Later in the day one of my colleagues suggested I 'farm' them as he used for his fish as a child. I went back to the slab and carefully gathered some live ants, popped them in the tub with the eggs and wet back to work.
The next day I checked on them and noticed the busy little workers had dug a tunnel and deposited their precious eggs in it. I could see some of them fussing around them carefully and cleaning them. I was fascinated.....that was it, there was no way I was feeding these amazing little creatures to the birds!
I proceeded to the nearest computer to educate myself and here I am two days later having built my first nest and having generated lots of questions!! If anyone has the time to try to answer some of them I'd be really grateful. And sorry for such a long post!!!!
I now feel guilty about kidnapping the ants! Should I/can I return them? I have since discovered they'll die without a Queen.
I've made a formicarium out of a picture frame with a plastic box, stuck to the back. I'd cut the box so it gets slimmer at the bottom and allows a wider foraging area at the top. I filled it with children's play sand, poured water over it (not too much). I made two holes in the top of plastic box, into which I forced clear plastic pipes in and bunged them with wet cotton wool. The idea is to connect the longer one to a foraging box and the other for drinking, adding food and moisture. I stood the whole thing up against the wall in landscape position.
What do you think? They are in there now, have started digging and have moved all the eggs into the shorter pipe!
I'd really like a colony with a Queen, will I have to wait for the nest to send some out for a nuptual flight? If so, how often do they do this. I did notice some of them in the nest had wings.