Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2012 14:38:55 GMT 1
Hello everyone
I am new to this hobby and have never kept ants properly before (I had some workers as a kid in one of those instant ant farm type products, they did not last long )
This time I have done my research but there are a couple of questions I am struggling to find answers to, if anyone could help I would be very gratefull.
1) Sound - I intend to keep my set up in my bedroom, I like to play music in my bedroom, would this disturb the ants in any way?
I am not talking about blasting thrash metal at an ungodly volume, its just my speakers are located about 1 metre from where I want to have my ants and I am worried about vibrations etc.
2) Is there anything that I should definitely not put in the outworld?. Anything that is toxic to ants?. So far I have gathered some twigs and rocks which I am planning to boil in order to remove any parasites etc. I would also like to add a feature and am thinking about using aquarium stuff ( little castles etc) and fake plants.
3) I know that I should place the test tube in the outworld and let them make there own way to the nest tank, my question is should I cover the test tube so it is dark or leave it uncovered and light. My thoughts were that it should be uncovered so as to encourage them to move out but as it is winter and they would normally be in hibernation (Lasius Niger) will they be active enough to move?. They seem fairly sluggish at the moment and are still in the tube they came in.
4) Finally, I have the Alpha Ants starter set C, the instructions (as found on the AntsUK website) instruct you to place a tube at the bottom of the nesting box covered with a layer of clay granules, the idea is that you add water to this tube to create a reservoir under the nest, my question is how much water should I add? the instructions are quite vague. Do I want there to be a layer of water in the tube? or do I just add enough to soak into the clay granules and by extension the sand/loam mixture.
Apologies for the wall of text, also I hope this is in the right section.
Last of all a really big thankyou in advance for any replys.
I am new to this hobby and have never kept ants properly before (I had some workers as a kid in one of those instant ant farm type products, they did not last long )
This time I have done my research but there are a couple of questions I am struggling to find answers to, if anyone could help I would be very gratefull.
1) Sound - I intend to keep my set up in my bedroom, I like to play music in my bedroom, would this disturb the ants in any way?
I am not talking about blasting thrash metal at an ungodly volume, its just my speakers are located about 1 metre from where I want to have my ants and I am worried about vibrations etc.
2) Is there anything that I should definitely not put in the outworld?. Anything that is toxic to ants?. So far I have gathered some twigs and rocks which I am planning to boil in order to remove any parasites etc. I would also like to add a feature and am thinking about using aquarium stuff ( little castles etc) and fake plants.
3) I know that I should place the test tube in the outworld and let them make there own way to the nest tank, my question is should I cover the test tube so it is dark or leave it uncovered and light. My thoughts were that it should be uncovered so as to encourage them to move out but as it is winter and they would normally be in hibernation (Lasius Niger) will they be active enough to move?. They seem fairly sluggish at the moment and are still in the tube they came in.
4) Finally, I have the Alpha Ants starter set C, the instructions (as found on the AntsUK website) instruct you to place a tube at the bottom of the nesting box covered with a layer of clay granules, the idea is that you add water to this tube to create a reservoir under the nest, my question is how much water should I add? the instructions are quite vague. Do I want there to be a layer of water in the tube? or do I just add enough to soak into the clay granules and by extension the sand/loam mixture.
Apologies for the wall of text, also I hope this is in the right section.
Last of all a really big thankyou in advance for any replys.