73 replies to this topic

[EmberMyAnts]

Great!

[EmberMyAnts]

AHHH! My Outworld! Let me quickly explain: I set up my Outworld so I could easily place my ants in it when they were ready, but, I used some of the soil from the wormfarm. Guess what I found today? IT'S. GROWING. MOLD. What should I do? I mean, I'm going to dump the soil, but, what do you guys use? Grout? Stone? Sand? 

[ANTdrew]

A little mold on your soil won’t kill the ants; you could easily stetilize it in an oven. It should be bone dry anyway, so the mold should just die on its own. Soil could be problematic only because the ants are liable to abandon their tube and nest in it. That’s fine, but you will miss out on a lot. I recommend putting a thin layer of dry sand. My Tetras LOVE moving sand around. It’s literally 95% of what they do.

[EmberMyAnts]

Hahaha. Also, I’m trying to set up a good meal worm farm, but I can’t find a bran for the soil

[kounelus]

You can use ground up/chopped up chicken feed as a substrate for them. Just make sure if you go that route that you don't get any with pesticides or diatomaceous earth in it, as both will kill them. You can usually find it in local stores like Tractor Supply or the like.

 

I was trying to track down where I had learned about using the chicken feed/layer pellets and I believe it was these two links - http://mealwormbreeding.blogspot.com/ & https://youtu.be/LczqEONN1Ho?t=4m20s

Edited by kounelus, May 5 2019 - 6:54 PM.

[Acutus]

You can use ground up/chopped up chicken feed as a substrate for them. Just make sure if you go that route that you don't get any with pesticides or diatomaceous earth in it, as both will kill them. You can usually find it in local stores like Tractor Supply or the like.

 

Did not know this! Will keep in mind. thanks!

[EmberMyAnts]

Thanks a lot! Also, less exciting news..... I HAVE ESCAPEES! So, I they tunneled through the cotton ball,and I found one on the outside. I did the appropriate thing I think by flipping the cotton ball around to put the ant back in, and then put a second cotton ball in. I counted them ten times, and there were only 8 of them! Arghh....

[ANTdrew]

Did you buy any fluon yet? If not, definitely invest in some. Put a two-inch band around the top of your out world and that will contain them. My Tetras cannot climb on fluon  at all.

[Rstheant]

Did you buy any fluon yet? If not, definitely invest in some. Put a two-inch band around the top of your out world and that will contain them. My Tetras cannot climb on fluon  at all.

#TetraMaster

[ANTdrew]

[EmberMyAnts]

Sorry, haven’t been checking this lately. No I don’t have any fluon, but, I have Vaseline! Also, I fed my ants half of a roly-poly! I was horrible though; I stabbed them to death with tweezers. Next time I’m just going to cut their head clean off to keep them from suffering as much.

[ANTdrew]

Freezing feeders is the most humane way to kill them in my opinion.
Definitely get fluon if you can; it’s worth it.

[Rstheant]

Sir ANTdrew of tetra, what care would you recommend for my tetras for this year?

[ANTdrew]

Did you get a new colony, or do you plan to?

I had great success with Tetras using just simple tubs and tubes setups with sand at the bottom; they love sand! I kept mine very warm at 81 degrees and up using just natural heat in my poorly insulated home. They love darkness, so I kept their tubes covered at all times with half cardboard rolls. I really didn't check on them in the tubes much either. I fed them a lot of wild caught and feeder insects and I supplemented with cooked meats and egg yolks from time to time. Mine don't care much for seeds, but they did like hemp seeds. I definitely recommend hibernating them from November to March mainly as a way of slowing their growth and getting a break because they are non-stop.

[Rstheant]

Thank you, sir ANTdrew of Tetra, I plan on catching some queens this year, and I was asking because mine all died due to neglect ion on my part. I want to do better this year. Thank you #TetraMaster

[TennesseeAnts]

@AntDrew, now you have your own apprentice.

[ANTdrew]

Tetramorium have a reputation as an easy almost “trash” ant, but most journals I read on here don’t end well. I’m always shocked to hear about year old colonies with like 20 workers. With good care, they’re one of the best species to keep.

[Rstheant]

@AntDrew, now you have your own apprentice.

[TennesseeAnts]

Tetramorium have a reputation as an easy almost “trash” ant, but most journals I read on here don’t end well. I’m always shocked to hear about year old colonies with like 20 workers. With good care, they’re one of the best species to keep.

I suck at raising Tetramorium. I always try to hard. I'm used to super hard species.

[EmberMyAnts]

The reason there has been NO NEWS is because my ants have done literally nothing...until today! So, they were dying because I couldn’t figure out what to feed them I think. They were always lethargic and at the cotton ball until I peeled a helicopter seed (I peel things sometimes and saw that I could get to the seed) and gave it to them. The next day, I find an ant at the seed, really reactive ants and little wads of green helicopter seed! I’m so happy!