The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

are you having a hard time keeping your colony in?

AntMan82 wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 05, 2018 4:39 pm

Hi everybody,

I saw in one of the youtube videos that he used a tarantula web as a barrier for his ant colony.. I would like to do the same
and therefore I am asking the community, if someone has a tarantula and could send me a large enough amount of that spider web so I could attach it to the edges of my terrarium.. I really would appreciate your help

Thanks guys

Actually, AntMan82, just like any barrier, tarantula webbing has to be replenished every once in a while, and so you will need to have someone send the webbing to you repeatedly, and you will have to pay for it. But, can you tell us more about your ant situation? That would help.

AntMan82 wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 06, 2018 7:20 pm

JoeHostile1 wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 06, 2018 6:44 am

If you can laugh you can also formulate your opinion or an informative answer or maybe you should not comment on my question at all, how about that ? and why do you laugh at all, because after all this is not my idea, I saw this in a professional youtube video and it worked really good, so what is your problem ?

Take it easy, he wasn't trying to be mean.

Have you ever heard of PTFE? It's also called Fluon or Teflon and it's the liquid usually applied to non-stick frying pans (if that's the right word ). I've been using it for a couple of months now and only applied it once... never had a single problem containing my colonies.

In alternative yes, you could use a baby powder + alcohol barrier (or simply a talcum barrier), but I've never tested it, so I can't tell you if it's effective or not and how to apply it.

AntMan82 wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 07, 2018 3:39 am

OK thanks . sounds good.Can I buy this fluid on the internet ?! and are you sure he wasn't ? I wouldn't say that..

Yes you can,

I bought mine from Anthouse.es but you will definitely also find it somewhere else. It's a bit expensive if you'll go for a larger amount, but you don't have to. I personally bought the 10ml bottle and it lasted for many months (I have some of it ready for spring still from those 10ml I bought). Also you may want to buy not too much of it to see if it works well with your species (even tough it should work).

And also I'm sure he was laughing after the first reply, because without the details you added later it seemed like your colony was like a nightmare to contain for you to even require webbing. There has been only a bit of misunderstanding, nothing serious.

AntMan82 wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 06, 2018 7:20 pm

JoeHostile1 wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 06, 2018 6:44 am

If you can laugh you can also formulate your opinion or an informative answer or maybe you should not comment on my question at all, how about that ? and why do you laugh at all, because after all this is not my idea, I saw this in a professional youtube video and it worked really good, so what is your problem ?

I laughed because I found the thought of someone collecting Tarantula spider webbing and putting it in an envelope, affixing a stamp to it, and then you receiving it and trying to pull it out of the envelope and stretching it out over your formicarium funny.

However since you would prefer I formulate an informative opinion I think it’s a bad idea beacause the spider web won’t stop the ants from going past a certain point in the outworld like fluon, babypowder, Vaseline would. Since ants reach those barriers and then slip and can’t physically pass the barrier so they turn around. With a spider web the ants would get stuck in it and then struggle until they either died from exhaustion or become trapped until they die from hunger/thirst. Or with their struggling they might eventually break the webbing and they would fall free only to repeat the process all over agin.

So instead of it being a barrier it would become a death trap.

AntMan82 wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 07, 2018 5:12 am

Ok. will it also work, if Im watering the terrarium permanently, using a spraying bottle, because there is moss and living plants inside that I have to water at times

PTFE is hydrophobic: neither water nor water-containing substances will make it wet (try to avoid spraying directly on it though... I don't know if it could deteriorate faster this way).

After reading the postings here's a couple of things. Antman82 relax this is a community that is very helpful but by all means not spiteful. As he stated he was laughing about the concept of the spider web (to be honest I'v never heard of that before as a barrier for ants).

You stated that you mist the tank for the vegetation inside as ground cover? Completely understandable you wouldn't want the vegetation to die out, with that said I would stay away from the baby powder/alcohol mix all together, the concept behind that barrier is that the alcohol acts as a liquid medium for the baby powder to be applied and then the alcohol evaporates leaving a film of baby powder on the glass, if you were get it wet it would run down into tank essentially washing the power off the glass. Your best bet is the PTFE better know as "Fluon", once applied and it dries a little bit of moisture will not dissolve it and make it run like the baby powder.

I keep Solonipsos (Fire Ants) and I use both Baby powder and also Fluon as a back up, last thing I need is those little escape artists getting out of the closed environment they are living in.

I know this topic is done but I just want to add that I have heard of cooking oil barriers. since it's oil water will have no effect. I still don't know about how well it works but It is cheaper that flu-on by a long shot. It might be worthwhile to check it out.

sorry I meant oil like canola oil. You spread it on like any other barrier. If you don't speak English (since i see that you live in Germany) maybe it doesn't translate very well. If you do I'm sorry I wasn't specific enough. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ELrmXVEgSw here is the video I saw.