In search of a mentor!

[ChristinaandAtticus]

Hello,
I am trying to help my son with his Grade 8 project that he is to work on for the school year and to present in May. He wants to study ants and start ant keeping. Not sure if this type of request is allowed in this forum. A requirement for the project is that he has a mentor who is an expert in the field who spends a minimum of 2-3 hours with him to get some guidance and direction. Currently he has been doing his own research and we just inquired about adopting a colony of Camponotus novaeboracensis from a local GAN farmer. We are happy to compensate the mentor for their time.
Hope someone out there can help us! Thanks!
Christina

[Antlover41157]

I'll gladly do it. Doe he use discord?

[AntsLuxembourg]

Hello,
I am trying to help my son with his Grade 8 project that he is to work on for the school year and to present in May. He wants to study ants and start ant keeping. Not sure if this type of request is allowed in this forum. A requirement for the project is that he has a mentor who is an expert in the field who spends a minimum of 2-3 hours with him to get some guidance and direction. Currently he has been doing his own research and we just inquired about adopting a colony of Camponotus novaeboracensis from a local GAN farmer. We are happy to compensate the mentor for their time.
Hope someone out there can help us! Thanks!
Christina

Hello Christina,

Should be no issue to ask all you need to know. Of course we won't do the project for you/your son, but most people will be glad to assist you with your questions.
You can start by making a list of questions and we can start to answer them one by one.
Discord would be a help for someone who has the time to assist for a few hours but keep in mind, posting it on a public forum might be a bad idea. So consider sending a PM instead.

[antperson24]

Hello,
I am trying to help my son with his Grade 8 project that he is to work on for the school year and to present in May. He wants to study ants and start ant keeping. Not sure if this type of request is allowed in this forum. A requirement for the project is that he has a mentor who is an expert in the field who spends a minimum of 2-3 hours with him to get some guidance and direction. Currently he has been doing his own research and we just inquired about adopting a colony of Camponotus novaeboracensis from a local GAN farmer. We are happy to compensate the mentor for their time.
Hope someone out there can help us! Thanks!
Christina

It would not work for me to be his mentor. But Camponotus novaeboracensis is a great beginner species! Even though I can't be his mentor, I would gladly answer any of his questions to the best of my abilities.

[ChristinaandAtticus]

Thanks for your reply! We need all the help we can get! Also, after speaking with my son's teacher last night, she said not to be stressed out about a mentor and it doesn't have to take a lot of the person's time. Just a few hours to give him some direction. Anyway, still waiting for the GAN farmer to reply, but the colony we are interested in apparently is already in a mini formicarium. Was wondering what other supplies we may need? I guess we need to figure out some sort of outworld. Any ideas on what would be good for this? Don't know if we need a heating cable. We want to make sure this colony thrives and lasts as many years as this species lasts, long after his project his completed! TIA for any insights!
Best regards,
Christina

[antperson24]

Thanks for your reply! We need all the help we can get! Also, after speaking with my son's teacher last night, she said not to be stressed out about a mentor and it doesn't have to take a lot of the person's time. Just a few hours to give him some direction. Anyway, still waiting for the GAN farmer to reply, but the colony we are interested in apparently is already in a mini formicarium. Was wondering what other supplies we may need? I guess we need to figure out some sort of outworld. Any ideas on what would be good for this? Don't know if we need a heating cable. We want to make sure this colony thrives and lasts as many years as this species lasts, long after his project his completed! TIA for any insights!
Best regards,
Christina

You will need a test tube, for drinking water. A heating cable would also be beneficial. You will need an outworld depending on what type of nest they are in, do you know what it is called? Because some nests have outworlds attached to them. I would recommend AntsCanada's test tubes, and his heating cable (if you decide to get one). However I would not recommend his out worlds, as they are REALLY expensive. You can make your own just fine out of an acrylic box, if you want to know how to make one let me know!

[ChristinaandAtticus]

So, about the test tube for drinking water, does that mean a tube filled part with water plugged with cotton placed in the outworld? Right now still waiting for the GAN farmer to reply to us. May have some further questions afterwards like how to make a homemade outworld! So grateful for your help! Thank you!
Christina

[Antlover41157]

If it's a normal outworld, yes but if it has testube ports put the testube in the ports.

[antperson24]

So, about the test tube for drinking water, does that mean a tube filled part with water plugged with cotton placed in the outworld? Right now still waiting for the GAN farmer to reply to us. May have some further questions afterwards like how to make a homemade outworld! So grateful for your help! Thank you!
Christina

Ya, I would say a full test tube.

[ChristinaandAtticus]

So, we picked up a small colony of Camponotus pennsylvanicus in a test tube that has 20-30+ (hard to see exactly) workers and a bunch of larvae. The colony is getting ready for hibernation and the GAN farmer we got it from said they are no longer eating. We have it at 18 deg C right now and are planning to eventually put it in a fridge for hibernation. Not sure how slowly I need to bring the temperature down and if 5 deg is a good temp to bring them down to.
Once we bring the colony out of hibernation, we want to introduce it into a formicarium. Is the 8" X 8" formicarium from AntsCanada too big? We plan to use the time while the ants are hibernating to research and construct an outworld and formicarium for the colony. Any help and/or tips on this would be greatly appreciated. TIA
Christina and Atticus