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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2010 14:24:51 GMT 1
Hey, I'm new I'm sorry to be lazy, but I posted this thread over at "The ant farm and myrmecology forum" and was a bit taken aback by the grammar nazism, and this seems a much nicer place
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Post by Myrm on Dec 12, 2010 15:02:37 GMT 1
Hey, I'm new I'm sorry to be lazy, but I posted this thread over at "The ant farm and myrmecology forum" and was a bit taken aback by the grammar nazism, and this seems a much nicer place Hi leepee, and a very warm welcome to my forum. I am very pleased you decided to join us. Thank you also for your comment; we do try to make this forum as relaxed as possible without too many rules. Staff members do occasionally correct spelling mistakes and bad grammar in posts but we tend to do it quite inconspicuously and not to make a song-and-dance over it. I used to be quite harsh on it but then I realised that doing so would only turn people away. We also get a lot of bin lids on here and I can't expect them to have perfect grammatical skills. Anyway, onto your questions: 1. Gel based is bad? I have to admit that I am not a fan of these things as the idea of the ants living in the very thing they eat really puts me off. If you are keeping a small colony of worker ants only, then yes, they are a good "gimmick", but I would strongly advise against their use in colonies with queens and/or brood. The gel, as far as I am aware, whilst adequate for adult ants, is not suitably nourishing for growing larvae and, possibly, queen(s). Another negative factor (and again this is just my humble opinion) is that when the ants die in it the gel can go mouldy. The main difference between having/not having a queen is that without one the colony will not grow as the queen is the one who lays all the eggs. I also found that colonies without queens became very lethargic and inactive. It was almost as if the ants were thinking, "no queen or brood to take care of, what's the point?" If you plan of purchasing a colony then no, there is no need to wait until spring. If you plan to capture a colony from the wild, then yes, I would recommend waiting for spring, as exposing ants to sudden freezing temperatures could be harmful to them. Wood ants can produce vast colonies. Formica rufa (the red wood ant found in pine forests in southern England) for example can have hundreds of queens in each colony with up to 300,000 workers. The life span of a colony really depends on species and number of queens. Lasius niger (a -usually- strictly single-queen species) can last for up to 15 years or more. Other species that have multiple queens can, in theory at least, last indefinitely. I hope this is of some help to you
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2010 15:32:19 GMT 1
Thanks a load for the reply. I plan to have a simple gel based colony for now, then capture my own come spring and start proper I wanted it to be a little electronics project too, and have it lit. I dunno, maybe this is awful to proper enthusiasts. The wood ants I think we have here are black? When I get home tonight I'll research some more into them. I think a small lasius niger colony to start me off, then experiment with a larger, more interesting species. Thanks!
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Post by Myrm on Dec 12, 2010 15:36:28 GMT 1
Yes, Lasius niger are a great species to start off with. They are easy to keep and extremely active (though very naughty at times )
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2010 16:06:33 GMT 1
Hey..
I started off by buying a gel ant farm thinkin the same that it would be a good idea... and yes it is nice to have the blue light in your room and to be able to observe anything the ants are doin.. however ants dont seem to act well within the gel and since then i have read that ants actually dont like gel ant farms and dont like light within there nests!!!
Since then I have bought Myrmica rubra ants and bought a new set up... extra to that I scraped the gel outta the ant farm which I bought and connected a tube to it.. I am much more happy with my set up and I feel it is more satisfying actually feeding the ants and watching them in their day to day activities!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2010 16:39:10 GMT 1
Good Luck with it
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Post by Myrm on Dec 12, 2010 16:42:55 GMT 1
Good Luck with it Yes I would be interested in hearing if anybody either has successfully raised a growing, queened colony in a gel ant farm, or if they know of/heard of such.
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Post by animal123 on Dec 12, 2010 18:38:01 GMT 1
Hello,
Well on a forum there was a member keeping a succesful colony of Messor barbarus in but he had it connected to an outworld (small plastic tub) with seeds and they would carry the seeds to their gel nest.
He had the colony in the gel nest from 5 workers until it got to 35 - 40 workers.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2010 19:14:39 GMT 1
I guess if the gel were just used as a nesting box with an outworld basin attached then it might work... There's still the problem of stressing the queen out with light, mould, and lack of tunnel material (once all the gel has been eaten).
They always seemed gimmiky and alittle barbaric to me. Like shutting a dog in a greenhouse in mid summer. It probably won't kill it, but it's not very pleasant for them either.
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