New to Ant keeping

[Moonlight7wolf]

Hey I'm pretty new to Ant keeping. I started by getting a small ant tower from AntsCanada and caught some back yard worker ants to just see how I liked it. I really did enjoy watching them and caring for them so I decided to make the leap and get a queen. I'm actually getting two queens because one of them doesn't have any hatched workers yet so the GAN farmer is giving me her for free and I'm buying one that has a couple workers hatched so far.

So the queen I have that doesn't have any hatched workers is a lasius neoniger and the queen that has 4 workers the GAN farmer thinks is a Camponotus nearcticus. I'm picking them both up tomorrow and I'm very excited.

The thing that I wanted to ask, is I bought a small and a large ant tower from AntsCanada, but I've also seen a lot of people will have those ant nests that are just plastic in tunnel shapes so the ants don't dig their own tunnels their tunnels are just kind of already there. Which do the ants tend to prefer. I personally like watching the ants carry grains of sand up to make their own tunnels but I wasn't sure if the ants themselves had a preference or if people in general find one easier to keep than the other.

Also: I know that the Lasius Neoniger is a smaller ant breed. When my queen's workers hopefully hatch and I (eventually) move them out of the test tube is there any chance of them escaping the large Ant tower. I saw that there were reports of ants escaping the large ant tower if they were smaller breeds such as fire or pavement ants but I don't know if Lasius is included in this. If they could escape would using silicone to glue some fine mesh over the holes be sufficient to keep them contained? Or would that interfere with proper ventilation in any way?

Any tips anyone can give me as a newbie?

[SolenopsisKeeper]

Hey I'm pretty new to Ant keeping. I started by getting a small ant tower from AntsCanada and caught some back yard worker ants to just see how I liked it. I really did enjoy watching them and caring for them so I decided to make the leap and get a queen. I'm actually getting two queens because one of them doesn't have any hatched workers yet so the GAN farmer is giving me her for free and I'm buying one that has a couple workers hatched so far.

So the queen I have that doesn't have any hatched workers is a lasius neoniger and the queen that has 4 workers the GAN farmer thinks is a Camponotus nearcticus. I'm picking them both up tomorrow and I'm very excited.

The thing that I wanted to ask, is I bought a small and a large ant tower from AntsCanada, but I've also seen a lot of people will have those ant nests that are just plastic in tunnel shapes so the ants don't dig their own tunnels their tunnels are just kind of already there. Which do the ants tend to prefer. I personally like watching the ants carry grains of sand up to make their own tunnels but I wasn't sure if the ants themselves had a preference or if people in general find one easier to keep than the other.

Also: I know that the Lasius Neoniger is a smaller ant breed. When my queen's workers hopefully hatch and I (eventually) move them out of the test tube is there any chance of them escaping the large Ant tower. I saw that there were reports of ants escaping the large ant tower if they were smaller breeds such as fire or pavement ants but I don't know if Lasius is included in this. If they could escape would using silicone to glue some fine mesh over the holes be sufficient to keep them contained? Or would that interfere with proper ventilation in any way?

Any tips anyone can give me as a newbie?

To start, I would say research the Camponotus. If they are wood boring, you could create tunnels in wood, and fill them with wood shavings so you could still see them dig. I would also recommend to check for any slits in the ant towers, as some people have reported their ants moving under the cup in the middle. I do also know that most Camponotus hate humidity, so try to keep that low.

Some ants can chew through silicone, particularly Camponotus, so I recommend to use fine mesh. Fine mesh would not get close to messing with ventilation as it is more ventilated than the micro holes in the top that don’t allow humidity to escape.

Happy Anting!