New to antkeeping - Lasius Niger soil

[Baldin]

Hi there,

So I am new to antkeeping and wil get my first Lasius Niger queen this week. It will be a queen with brood and some workers. It will take a while before I can put them into the AntTower. There is one question I have though and my google skills seem to fail me.

What do I get for the digging soil for in the tower? Soil from the garden would be what they live in and might have the beneficial critters in there as well. I fear however that I might get harmful creatures in there aswell.

So tldr: Where do I get my digging soil?

Kind regards
Baldin

[AM1C39]

You can buy some somewhere or just get some from your yard or a beach. If you are worried about there being bad stuff in the sand/dirt you can boil it.

[Jager89]

You can buy some somewhere or just get some from your yard or a beach. If you are worried about there being bad stuff in the sand/dirt you can boil it.

i thought it was supposed to be baked not boiled? wouldn't it just turn to mud if boiled well until all the water evaporated?

[Baldin]

Thanks the the rely.

After some extra google fu I found that most people advice baking the dirt in an oven at 200 C for 30 mins. I definitely try that!