Just a few Questions.

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ACAdelaide
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Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2018 11:04 am
Location: Adelaide

Just a few Questions.

Post: # 39381Post ACAdelaide
Sat Jun 30, 2018 11:45 am

Hey Everyone!
Hope everyone’s doing well!
I’m very new to ant keeping and AntsCanada is the very reason why I got into this! So you may have seen or even spoke about these things before... so please be nice to me haha. Just finally worked out how I can post a new topic... I hope it saves... let alone read it... anyways, if this does work, awesome! So I’ve got a few questions. Sorry I’m advance if you’ve already talked about these...

1.Got myself camponotus nigriceps queen a while back. Now have 10 workers, yay! My wife finally came to terms with my new hobby. Found out that the mrs has been feeding them flies (by a fly swatter, now she admits that she brought it just to feed the ants) when I’ve been going to work. Now they won’t take anything else, such as, baby and tiny crickets, cockroach legs, crushed mealworms and even small bits, fruit, nuts, and occasionally honey from time to time. But when I put a fly in, they swarm it. How should I go about it? Should I continue with this, with also the risk of the flies may have pesticides? I live in Adelaide, so it’s cold at the moment,I think it’s still winter, anyways, so the flies aren’t around a lot. Should I let them stave for a bit then try other foods? Please help me!?

2. As you’ve read my wife’s into the ant keeping business now. Kinda scared actually, lol. She spends more time with them, than I do. She’s been harping at me to get some more, now as I’m still new to this, what would you guys recommend for a still beginner? I don’t mind the wait of them growing. Though I don’t think she will. Hahaha...

Lastly, interested in making my own vivarium, when my colony grows into a super colony. And was wondering where in Adelaide I could buy springtails and things like that. I have patience in the ants but not with the making of the vivarium... boy, just writing about it makes me excited. Should I wait until I know my colony has gotten bigger or will it be okay to slowly start it now?

Also, bonus question, I’d like to catch my own queen. But can’t seem to find, and most probably read a blog or a website to find out when the nuptial flights. Please, if you reply to this one, remember I’m new to this, understanding most terminology. But if you could dumb it down to my level, I’d be forever grateful.

Sorry guys for the long HELP! But I really don’t wanna screw this up... I’m freakishly enjoying this new hobby of mine...
ACAdelaide

  • 1 Camponotus Nigriceps

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antnest8
Posts: 1438
Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2018 2:11 pm
Location: Detroit, MI

Re: Just a few Questions.

Post: # 39383Post antnest8
Sat Jun 30, 2018 12:15 pm

1.do try feeding them the fly first? or the other foods. it might be that the ants are already full by the time new food comes in. if not try feeding them meat like sandwich meat or a blended recipe (there are some out their)

2. If you have ever read harry potter you might know the character mad-eye-moody. if you don't he has a phrase which is, "constant vigilance". now what i mean by this is that every day it pays of to spend 5 minuets observing and trying to find ants. walk on the side walk, flip over some rocks if you can. i find that through this time it is really easy to find queens or be ready for them (by looking for elates in the nest or just giant brood). if a storm comes in you should probably spend like 10 minuets but that's really all you need to find a queen. don't worry nuptial flights usually last about a week.

you can start on the vivarium now if you want. just it might take a couple months for them to get enough workers just to move out of the test tube.

also don't worry about screwing this up. ant keeping is about trial and error if something fails just try something else. (it might be good to keep 2-3 colonies just in case)
Some of My Informative Sheets
https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=19099
Includes :
  • Ant Care Sheets
    Queen Hunting
    How To Identify Ants
Goal is to become #2 poster on the forum

ACAdelaide
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2018 11:04 am
Location: Adelaide

Re: Just a few Questions.

Post: # 39386Post ACAdelaide
Sat Jun 30, 2018 1:00 pm

antnest8 wrote:
Sat Jun 30, 2018 12:15 pm
1.do try feeding them the fly first? or the other foods. it might be that the ants are already full by the time new food comes in. if not try feeding them meat like sandwich meat or a blended recipe (there are some out their)

2. If you have ever read harry potter you might know the character mad-eye-moody. if you don't he has a phrase which is, "constant vigilance". now what i mean by this is that every day it pays of to spend 5 minuets observing and trying to find ants. walk on the side walk, flip over some rocks if you can. i find that through this time it is really easy to find queens or be ready for them (by looking for elates in the nest or just giant brood). if a storm comes in you should probably spend like 10 minuets but that's really all you need to find a queen. don't worry nuptial flights usually last about a week.

you can start on the vivarium now if you want. just it might take a couple months for them to get enough workers just to move out of the test tube.

also don't worry about screwing this up. ant keeping is about trial and error if something fails just try something else. (it might be good to keep 2-3 colonies just in case)

Thanks mate. Yeah they say until I reach at least 20+ So then I can take them out of the test tube. I’ve been keeping them in a test tube connected to a test tube portal, if I remember correctly, v2? I put their food in there and have connected another test tube with some honey water, which I change every 2-3 weeks. Is that an okay set up?
As the person I got the queen from said that they can go in an out world... yet I haven’t seen any videos showing that it’s okay, unless I’ve missed one, as I found it difficult to put food in the one test tube without having one or two adventurous escapees. Now I have 10 workers, i haven’t had the guts to feed them in the single test tube, as I also haven’t seen a tutorial on how to do that. In your opinion,is there an easier way to feed them in a singular test tube, just for knowledge sake.

Sorry again with all the questions. Believe it or not I’ve brought the e-book online and read that over and over again, watched ant keeping videos, Read and watched most of the Q&A. And that was before I was even looking to find/ buy a queen and yet, I still have so many questions :/
ACAdelaide

  • 1 Camponotus Nigriceps

DarthNoodles
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Jul 14, 2018 11:59 am
Location: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Re: Just a few Questions.

Post: # 41177Post DarthNoodles
Sun Jul 15, 2018 6:27 am

Hi there! I'm new to springtails, too, but I seem to find them on the soil whenever I buy potted plants.

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