Search found 38 matches

by Helianthus
Fri Sep 20, 2019 12:59 pm
Forum: Ant Care and Ant Keeping
Topic: Hibernation? (North American Pavement Ants)
Replies: 1
Views: 1862

Re: Hibernation? (North American Pavement Ants)

Welcome to ant keeping! My best piece of advice is this: join formiculture.com It is a WAY more active forum, and you'll get a lot more help there. Great choice of ants for your first species. Keep them between 82-85 degrees F and feed them lots of insect protein, and they will grow really fast! The...
by Helianthus
Fri Jun 07, 2019 7:43 am
Forum: Ant Care and Ant Keeping
Topic: Should I set my colony free?
Replies: 13
Views: 7040

Re: Should I set my colony free?

I respectfully disagree that releasing this colony has NO potential for causing harm. Tetramorium are naturalized, but they still displace nesting habitat for native ants and compete for limited resources. This colony is in decline, so releasing it would probably just mean their death anyway, and th...
by Helianthus
Fri May 31, 2019 12:26 pm
Forum: Ant Care and Ant Keeping
Topic: Founding advice?
Replies: 4
Views: 2571

Re: Founding advice?

Watch the old AntsCanada tutorials on making a test tube set up and founding queens. Keep the queens warm, dark, and undisturbed and they should do fine.
by Helianthus
Fri May 31, 2019 12:23 pm
Forum: Ant Care and Ant Keeping
Topic: Camponotus Queen just laid eggs!!!
Replies: 14
Views: 6954

Re: Camponotus Queen just laid eggs!!!

I think she is fine in that tube for the founding period. Definitely don't try to move tubes until she has a few workers. She will calm down a lot once her workers arrive.
by Helianthus
Fri May 31, 2019 8:56 am
Forum: Ant Care and Ant Keeping
Topic: Crematogaster question
Replies: 6
Views: 3214

Re: Crematogaster question

BTW, I'm not really following your question. Crematogaster is a genus with a worldwide distribution. Different species within that overall genus will obviously have different care needs, but North American Crematogaster are all pretty similar in terms of requirements. One main difference is that som...
by Helianthus
Fri May 31, 2019 8:53 am
Forum: Ant Care and Ant Keeping
Topic: Crematogaster question
Replies: 6
Views: 3214

Re: Crematogaster question

In the northern US you would either be dealing with Crematogaster cerasi or C. lineolata. Both are so similar that one needs a microscope to ID them to the species level. Their care is very simple other than the fact that they are master level escape artists. I have two first year colonies that are ...
by Helianthus
Fri May 24, 2019 1:53 pm
Forum: Ant Care and Ant Keeping
Topic: Should I set my colony free?
Replies: 13
Views: 7040

Re: Should I set my colony free?

That's very odd behavior that I haven't seen in any of my Tetramorium colonies. I would say that if it continues, you should freeze the colony and start over with a new queen since they are so easy to find. No matter what, DO NOT release an invasive ant species back into the wild.
by Helianthus
Fri May 24, 2019 1:49 pm
Forum: Nuptial Flight Schedules and Sightings
Topic: Nuptial flights in kuwait
Replies: 4
Views: 2916

Re: Nuptial flights in kuwait

I would try to learn about what native ants you have there in Kuwait. Many desert areas have a rich diversity of ant species, and I bet Kuwait could be very diverse as well. I would also bet that nuptial flights would be tied to the start or end of the rainy/monsoon seasons. As for feeding the ants,...
by Helianthus
Thu Apr 25, 2019 9:02 am
Forum: Ant Journals, Videos, and Blogs
Topic: My two Crematogaster colonies journal
Replies: 12
Views: 10640

Re: My two Crematogaster colonies journal

All three of my queens have workers now. The one I disturbed the least has about 30 workers and several full size workers. The queen I forcibly moved before she had workers ended up eating all her first batch of eggs but later laid more, and she finally got her first two workers. Good luck with your...
by Helianthus
Fri Apr 12, 2019 1:07 pm
Forum: Formicariums and Ant Setups
Topic: Prevent lasius niger escaping
Replies: 7
Views: 4266

Re: Prevent lasius niger escaping

Order some fluon or PTFE online. byFormica brand is the best. Carefully follow the instructions for applying it, and you should be good to go.