7 replies to this topic

[William. T]

Good news!

 

I have converted my cousin in China to antkeeping! However, he sucks at anting. In fact, he had once thought a bee was an alate! It seems that in our province there are nothing but fire ants, and anting with him is going to be a diaster.Either way, he is so excited, and is bombarding me with questions. I directed him to this forum, in the hopes he will find real experts. Since it is his birthday. I have this in mind for him.

 

http://item.taobao.c...55-d405b6418674

 

This Camponotus  seems to multiply quickly for it's genus, so his impatience will be withheld. Plus, the castes will look cool, and they are sluggish enough, for he is squemish about touching ants, whoch sorta troubles me. But he seems excited and I know he is diligents, and am think about this ytong nest:

 

http://item.taobao.c...0r.1.0.0.IYTKD0

 

Any thoughts? While I know that many of you will yell at me about buying ants, C. Japonicus is native to his area, and I told him to freeze them if they were troublesome. Still, I am not fully on the boat, and I want your opionions first.

[LC3]

Goodluck. 

China has a large diversity in ant species.

[Ants4fun]

Those who yell at you for doing something completely legal is pretty dumb. I know everyone has their opinion, but I hope that one would not be so rude as to bring it out in a personal thread. Anyways, Camponotus is a great beginner sp. They are large, so they can observe everything, and they are pretty prolific.

[William. T]

Yeah, and C. Japonicus seems to be recommended by German ant keepers for those into exotics.

[Herdo]

 However, he sucks at anting. In fact, he had once thought a bee was an alate!

 

Is that really so uncommon?  I did that yesterday... 

 

http://www.formicult...hoenix-arizona/

 

Other than the antennas, I still can't really tell the difference to be honest.

 

Maybe I should just give up now, haha.

[LC3]

 

 However, he sucks at anting. In fact, he had once thought a bee was an alate!

 

Is that really so uncommon?  I did that yesterday... 

 

http://www.formicult...hoenix-arizona/

 

Other than the antennas, I still can't really tell the difference to be honest.

 

Maybe I should just give up now, haha.

 

Best way to know what an ant is, is to observe ants. Look at pictures of ant photos and observe them  first hand gets you to realize what's an ant and what's not.

[Herdo]

 

 

 However, he sucks at anting. In fact, he had once thought a bee was an alate!

 

Is that really so uncommon?  I did that yesterday... 

 

http://www.formicult...hoenix-arizona/

 

Other than the antennas, I still can't really tell the difference to be honest.

 

Maybe I should just give up now, haha.

 

Best way to know what an ant is, is to observe ants. Look at pictures of ant photos and observe them  first hand gets you to realize what's an ant and what's not.

 

 

Yea, I just caught my first (real) ant queen yesterday, so I have very limited up close experience.  I just figured this is a very common mistake for beginners.

[William. T]

In the end, I decided to give him the C. Japonicus. He had kept scorps before, and he will be feeding the ants juice and mealworms, along with any field plankton. He is planning to buy the formicarium himself.