6 replies to this topic

[OllieMelb14]

EDIT: I'm in Melbourne, Australia.

Hey, so i'm super new to keeping, in practice. Watched many videos over the past 4-5 years but just never had the... initial kick to get into it.
I caught my first little black queen at work in a water bottle, and quickly ordered a test tube, then went a bit nuts and ordered a bunch of AC stuff, and some other stuff from a local store.

I know this is a seriously crap photo, but between my camera not focusing perfectly and the glass being a bit foggy on the test tube.
Any clue exactly what species it is?

My main question pertains to a common thing I see talked about in ant keeping, and that's about having a nest that is too large at the start.
ie. ants piling their rubbish in part of it and you having to move them out soon enough anyway.

So I wonder, would it not work that if you just filled the majority of a large nest with sand or other substrate. eg. within the red line marked here.

and just let them dig it out as they require more space, would that not be viable? or does it generally fail?
Just never see anyone talk about that as an option.

Edited by OllieMelb14, April 2 2023 - 12:13 AM.

[rptraut]

I have written about filling nests with wood shavings or sand in previous posts, mostly in the Formicaria and Outworlds section, I apologize for not knowing how to link you to them.  You will also find some info in my Camponotus journal too.  I filled a Camponotus nest with wood shavings the second year the colony was in the nest and found that the ants kept a cleaner nest than they had the year before in a completely empty nest.  I also had a lot of shavings to clean out of the garbage and outworld.   The ants did use the shavings to make walls, block off air inlets and tubes and that was also interesting to watch. 

 

There was a similar situation for a  Lasius colony where I made the cavities with sand to originally form them in grout and let the ants make their own tunnels.  The photo shows the result as they begin the second year of living in this formicarium.  They don't always tunnel near the glass and the queen has got a nice hole where she hides, never to be seen again.  I don't know if they are keeping a cleaner nest, it's kind of hard to tell, but moving sand around does keep them busy and the colony seems to be thriving.  

 

 

 

 

 

I would have to say that overall the experience with wood shavings in the Camponotus nests has been positive, despite some increasing cleanup required on my part.  The sand on the other hand has created enough interference with visibility of the brood, that if seeing them and the queen is important to you, it may not be the best option.  In the nest that you have it looks like it might be easiest to block off sections with plasticine or use something that the ants can eventually chew through when crowded to gain additional space.  Maybe something like cardboard.  I would recommend that you try to block off a small section for them to use initially and then open additional sections at the beginning of each new season.  Try and estimate the amount of nest required each year and open up the formicarium and unblock new sections during diapause when the ants are calmer.

RPT

 

 

[ANTdrew]

Given you are in Australia, I’d say that is an Iridomyrmex queen. My advice would be to keep them in a test tube placed in an escape proofed container. When they need more room, just give them a second tube. When they fill up both tubes, then they’ll be ready for the AC nest. Patience is required for all aspects of ant keeping!

[PurdueEntomology]

Given you are in Australia, I’d say that is an Iridomyrmex queen. My advice would be to keep them in a test tube placed in an escape proofed container. When they need more room, just give them a second tube. When they fill up both tubes, then they’ll be ready for the AC nest. Patience is required for all aspects of ant keeping!

I concur with ANTdrew ( ) as to the Iridomyrmex identification. Ants of this genus can attain large colony size.   For optimal brood production ensure warmth.  I would suggest any of the species care https://www.formicul...relius-mccooki/ for this Forelius species.  The ant you have is in the same subfamily, Dolichoderinae, and is a more heat loving species to my knowledge hence the closest care guide would be this Forelius species since it is also a heat loving Dolichoderid. 

[OllieMelb14]

Thanks for the info guys ^_^

I might just use that partition method you mentioned rptraut.

And yep, I work too much to sit here stressing over my ant progress, it made me happy just coming home and checking my queen after a couple of weeks and seeing she laid brood. I just hope it's fertile, hehe.

[rptraut]

Good Luck!

[antsriondel]

Oh wow! That Iridomyrmex Queen looks like a Liometopum luctuosum Queen in the flesh! Hope your Queen can start a colony! 

Edited by antsriondel, April 3 2023 - 7:45 AM.