95 replies to this topic

[ponerinecat]

Wonder if the original poster still needs/wants help.

[TechAnt]

It makes me smile a bit that we used our sense of community and common sense to settle this. This is one of the reasons I love the forum, because we act as a community.

Edited by TechAnt, July 29 2020 - 7:22 PM.

[Vendayn]

Well hopefully the poster got the help they wanted early on. 

 

South Carolina should have Solenopsis invicta, so they could just start with that because the antscanada formicarium they got would be too big for most other ants. As long as they don't release them, don't really see a problem with keeping S. invicta. But I dunno...a 10 year old with Solenopsis invicta doesn't sound very safe.

 

I mean...AC nests do seem to be best with the invasives that grow super fast, or the rare native that also grows super fast (I dunno what carolina natives would fit this). Otherwise most ants grow too slow or stay too small too long to take advantage of the AC formicariums.

Edited by Vendayn, July 29 2020 - 7:26 PM.

[TechAnt]

Well hopefully the poster got the help they wanted early on. 
 
South Carolina should have Solenopsis invicta, so they could just start with that because the antscanada formicarium they got would be too big for most other ants. As long as they don't release them, don't really see a problem with keeping S. invicta. But I dunno...a 10 year old with Solenopsis invicta doesn't sound very safe.
 
I mean...AC nests do seem to be best with the invasives that grow super fast, or the rare native that also grows super fast (I dunno what carolina natives would fit this). Otherwise most ants grow too slow or stay too small too long to take advantage of the AC formicariums.

Yes true, even AC said fire ants should not be handled by children / people with pets like dogs, cats, etc.

[Vendayn]

 

Well hopefully the poster got the help they wanted early on. 
 
South Carolina should have Solenopsis invicta, so they could just start with that because the antscanada formicarium they got would be too big for most other ants. As long as they don't release them, don't really see a problem with keeping S. invicta. But I dunno...a 10 year old with Solenopsis invicta doesn't sound very safe.
 
I mean...AC nests do seem to be best with the invasives that grow super fast, or the rare native that also grows super fast (I dunno what carolina natives would fit this). Otherwise most ants grow too slow or stay too small too long to take advantage of the AC formicariums.

Yes true, even AC said fire ants should not be handled by children / people with pets like dogs, cats, etc.

 

Yeah I remember him saying that at one point. And I was in my early teens when I kept a colony of S. invicta (wasn't in a quarantine area at the time luckily but I didn't know about that stuff), and for a young teen it was just WAY too much to handle. After a huge disaster of them somehow chewing through the plastic they were in, they ended up in the freezer. I mean they were the biggest colony I ever had in the fastest time, but that isn't a good thing really. Most adults couldn't handle such fast growth, a kid would be worse off. Plus again the dangers of them being a problem is pretty high, in regards to actual health.

 

is there Tapinoma sessile in south carolina? They can be hard, but they grow fast and are harmless if they get out. Success is hit/miss with this species, but they'd be a species I'd imagine would do well in an AC setup. They don't sting either. And especially considering they pretty much nest anywhere.

[TechAnt]

Well hopefully the poster got the help they wanted early on. 
 
South Carolina should have Solenopsis invicta, so they could just start with that because the antscanada formicarium they got would be too big for most other ants. As long as they don't release them, don't really see a problem with keeping S. invicta. But I dunno...a 10 year old with Solenopsis invicta doesn't sound very safe.
 
I mean...AC nests do seem to be best with the invasives that grow super fast, or the rare native that also grows super fast (I dunno what carolina natives would fit this). Otherwise most ants grow too slow or stay too small too long to take advantage of the AC formicariums.

Yes true, even AC said fire ants should not be handled by children / people with pets like dogs, cats, etc.

Yeah I remember him saying that at one point. And I was in my early teens when I kept a colony of S. invicta (wasn't in a quarantine area at the time luckily but I didn't know about that stuff), and for a young teen it was just WAY too much to handle. After a huge disaster of them somehow chewing through the plastic they were in, they ended up in the freezer. I mean they were the biggest colony I ever had in the fastest time, but that isn't a good thing really. Most adults couldn't handle such fast growth, a kid would be worse off. Plus again the dangers of them being a problem is pretty high, in regards to actual health.
 
is there Tapinoma sessile in south carolina? They can be hard, but they grow fast and are harmless if they get out. Success is hit/miss with this species, but they'd be a species I'd imagine would do well in an AC setup. They don't sting either. And especially considering they pretty much nest anywhere.

I’m not sure, but I think they would probably be a ideal beginner species that could be a good replacement for black crazy ants.

[Serafine]

We are in Columbia, SC.  We bought our Nephew, who is 10, the starter set ($80 one).  He needs to get ants and is interested in Black Crazy ants.  If he can't get these what should he get and how should he get them?

 

Which starter set do you have - can you provide a link? (prices differ in other countries and AC has quite a few equipment packs labeled as "starter set", not all of which are actually proper starter sets)

For the beginning all you need is basically cotton, 2-3 test tubes and some sort of box (acrylics boxes do fine) - and possibly a barrier (the important thing is that the box has a proper lid so the ants can't just walk out, the barrier is required later when the colony gets bigger).

You can switch to a nest when the ants have filled the entire tube (or you can just add more tubes), in fact you probably won't need a nest too soon. A proper "outworld" box (the area for the ants to walk around, where you can place food and sugary sweets) is much more important (the AC portals work fine for this while the colony is still small). If you have small fast-growing ants you'll probably need a small outworld within 1-2 months (feeding in the tube won't be viable for long), if you have slow-growing ants like Camponotus it's more like 3-4 months.

Most queens don't need food until they have their first workers so during that time you really don't need anything more than a test tube.

 

 

As others have said before Black Crazy Ants aren't really an option as they are invasive and most likely can't be found in your area anyway. There's lots of "typical ants" that make good pets, like most ants of the genuses Lasius, Tetramorium and Myrmica. I'd avoid super small ants (smaller than around 3mm) as those are very hard to contain. Large ants like Camponotus look impressive but initially they grow veeeeeery slowly (2-3 months from egg to worker with the first batches only being 4-8 eggs) and are mostly nocturnal while young so they're probably not suitable for normal children with the expectation of active ants.

 

This guide may help you, it has goes into more detail on most on the stuff I just mentioned plus more:

https://www.reddit.c...ping/wiki/index

 

 

 

You can see what people think of antscanada here, even manitobant made a thread about him and suddenly says "bash AC circle jerk". The people here are just trying to placate you because you are new, when they've always hated antscanada.
 
https://www.formicul...-hit-a-new-low/
 
Manito is trying too hard, but was caught with their pants down in a lie when he made the exact same "bash AC" thread he is complaining about.

Actually he wasn't complaining about a stupid or terrible thing Mikey did regarding his ants, his "sunk to a new low" complaint was about Mikey posting a clickbait teaser for the wrong video on Twatter.

Because that's the biggest problem surrounding Mikey and his channel...

Edited by Serafine, July 29 2020 - 11:23 PM.

[Antkid12]

 

 

 

Well hopefully the poster got the help they wanted early on. 
 
South Carolina should have Solenopsis invicta, so they could just start with that because the antscanada formicarium they got would be too big for most other ants. As long as they don't release them, don't really see a problem with keeping S. invicta. But I dunno...a 10 year old with Solenopsis invicta doesn't sound very safe.
 
I mean...AC nests do seem to be best with the invasives that grow super fast, or the rare native that also grows super fast (I dunno what carolina natives would fit this). Otherwise most ants grow too slow or stay too small too long to take advantage of the AC formicariums.

Yes true, even AC said fire ants should not be handled by children / people with pets like dogs, cats, etc.

Yeah I remember him saying that at one point. And I was in my early teens when I kept a colony of S. invicta (wasn't in a quarantine area at the time luckily but I didn't know about that stuff), and for a young teen it was just WAY too much to handle. After a huge disaster of them somehow chewing through the plastic they were in, they ended up in the freezer. I mean they were the biggest colony I ever had in the fastest time, but that isn't a good thing really. Most adults couldn't handle such fast growth, a kid would be worse off. Plus again the dangers of them being a problem is pretty high, in regards to actual health.
 
is there Tapinoma sessile in south carolina? They can be hard, but they grow fast and are harmless if they get out. Success is hit/miss with this species, but they'd be a species I'd imagine would do well in an AC setup. They don't sting either. And especially considering they pretty much nest anywhere.

I’m not sure, but I think they would probably be a ideal beginner species that could be a good replacement for black crazy ants.

 

Ferox_Formicae  sells them.

 

 

 

 

[DDD101DDD]

Wonder if the original poster still needs/wants help.

They haven't been active since they first made the post.

[TechAnt]

Wonder if the original poster still needs/wants help.

They haven't been active since they first made the post.

Thank goodness for that. Hopefully / I don’t hope they will look at this thread. (Want them to look at the good advise, don’t want them to look at the drama)

Edited by TechAnt, July 30 2020 - 8:31 AM.

[RushmoreAnts]

 

 

Wonder if the original poster still needs/wants help.

They haven't been active since they first made the post.

Thank goodness for that. Hopefully and / I don’t hope they will look at this thread.

 

If they do look I hope they look at the first page first instead of reading all this first.

[TechAnt]

Wonder if the original poster still needs/wants help.

They haven't been active since they first made the post.

Thank goodness for that. Hopefully and / I don’t hope they will look at this thread.

If they do look I hope they look at the first page first instead of reading all this first.

Yup.

[Antkid12]

Yeah.

[BitT]

 

 

 

Wonder if the original poster still needs/wants help.

They haven't been active since they first made the post.

Thank goodness for that. Hopefully and / I don’t hope they will look at this thread.

 

If they do look I hope they look at the first page first instead of reading all this first.

 

To be fair if my first post asking for help turned out like this I wouldn't have stuck around either. They came here asking for help but instead they got told they made a bad purchase (in what I think was a rather rude way as if people were questioning their intelligence), people attacking the integrity of a YouTuber that they and/or their nephew probably watch, and the forum's members arguing/debating on a thread the original poster made that was supposed to be helping them. On top of that the original posters name has "Karen" in it and the members here start using the name "Karen" in a rather derogatory way. Personally, as a new member of this little community, I feel thoroughly embarrassed for us all.

 

With that said, Karen, if you by some miracle do come back here and read this I would happily help you and we can talk in a less crowded way. You can privately message me and we can either talk there or we can set up a voice chat somewhere. I'm still pretty new to the hobby myself but I'm sure I could help you and your nephew get started. Plus I have no bias toward YouTubers so you don't have to worry about praise nor slander one way or the other from me.

[DDD101DDD]

 

 

 

 

Wonder if the original poster still needs/wants help.

They haven't been active since they first made the post.

Thank goodness for that. Hopefully and / I don’t hope they will look at this thread.

 

If they do look I hope they look at the first page first instead of reading all this first.

 

To be fair if my first post asking for help turned out like this I wouldn't have stuck around either. They came here asking for help but instead they got told they made a bad purchase (in what I think was a rather rude way as if people were questioning their intelligence), people attacking the integrity of a YouTuber that they and/or their nephew probably watch, and the forum's members arguing/debating on a thread the original poster made that was supposed to be helping them. On top of that the original posters name has "Karen" in it and the members here start using the name "Karen" in a rather derogatory way. Personally, as a new member of this little community, I feel thoroughly embarrassed for us all.

 

With that said, Karen, if you by some miracle do come back here and read this I would happily help you and we can talk in a less crowded way. You can privately message me and we can either talk there or we can set up a voice chat somewhere. I'm still pretty new to the hobby myself but I'm sure I could help you and your nephew get started. Plus I have no bias toward YouTubers so you don't have to worry about praise nor slander one way or the other from me.

 

Actually it's more like they've never checked the post since they posted it. At least not on the account they posted on.

[BitT]

Actually it's more like they've never checked the post since they posted it. At least not on the account they posted on.

 

 

I check the forum more often not signed in than I do signed in and I have yet to login on my phone. I hate typing on my phone. I only sign in when I plan on posting or if it's already signed in from a previous session. Otherwise I just peek in without even touching my account. So I don't really see someone not having signed in meaning they haven't been around. If it was me that was a first time poster that saw this I wouldn't have bothered logging in after seeing this mess.