22 replies to this topic

[1tsm3jack]

I'm sure you are all familiar with Antscanda's 1,000 gallon rainforest vivarium with animals and ants all coming from the ecosystem found in his backyard, I have been thinking of doing the same thing recently but on a much smaller scale ( in a 75 gallon aquarium tank ) I was looking to see if anybody had any input on this? Things like where I could get a soil that is safe for the ants but good for growing plants, how to stimulate moss growth in the terrarium, what other small animals I could put in with them? ( thinking frogs or skinks, or maybe some cool arthropods like jumping spiders or millipedes or something) It would be a multi colony setup hopefully, the colonies I was thinking about were a M. Minimum colony, an A. Rudis colony, and then possibly a Camponotus species or preferably a Crematogaster if I could find one ( something that won't take territory area from the Monomorium and the Aphaenogaster hopefully ) but I just wanna see if anyone has any input that could possibly help me with this, thanks for any help! 

 

Edit: how would i go about collecting native plants and quarantining them so there are no mites or anything, or would it just be easier to see where to buy native plants? The goal is for it to hopefully look like the forest floor of our forests here in Central Virginia

Edited by 1tsm3jack, September 26 2024 - 3:15 AM.

[Ants_Dakota]

I'm sure you are all familiar with Antscanda's 1,000 gallon rainforest vivarium with animals and ants all coming from the ecosystem found in his backyard, I have been thinking of doing the same thing recently but on a much smaller scale ( in a 75 gallon aquarium tank ) I was looking to see if anybody had any input on this? Things like where I could get a soil that is safe for the ants but good for growing plants, how to stimulate moss growth in the terrarium, what other small animals I could put in with them? ( thinking frogs or skinks, or maybe some cool arthropods like jumping spiders or millipedes or something) It would be a multi colony setup hopefully, the colonies I was thinking about were a M. Minimum colony, an A. Rudis colony, and then possibly a Camponotus species or preferably a Crematogaster if I could find one ( something that won't take territory area from the Monomorium and the Aphaenogaster hopefully ) but I just wanna see if anyone has any input that could possibly help me with this, thanks for any help! 

 

Edit: how would i go about collecting native plants and quarantining them so there are no mites or anything, or would it just be easier to see where to buy native plants? The goal is for it to hopefully look like the forest floor of our forests here in Central Virginia

I believe your first order of operations, before you even put brainpower into designing or the logistics behind a vivarium, it to have raised the colonies you want to put into the vivarium to at least 100 workers, or preferably more for good survival chances. Do you currently own the colonies you want? If not, look to purchase or find them immediately and start taking good care of them. How long have you kept ants? Raising the colony to those many workers will probably take a year and a half, so this will get more good time and experience under your belt, as well as time to plan and brainstorm the vivarium once the colonies show that they are nearing the size you need.

Edited by Ants_Dakota, September 26 2024 - 5:33 AM.

[1tsm3jack]

 

I'm sure you are all familiar with Antscanda's 1,000 gallon rainforest vivarium with animals and ants all coming from the ecosystem found in his backyard, I have been thinking of doing the same thing recently but on a much smaller scale ( in a 75 gallon aquarium tank ) I was looking to see if anybody had any input on this? Things like where I could get a soil that is safe for the ants but good for growing plants, how to stimulate moss growth in the terrarium, what other small animals I could put in with them? ( thinking frogs or skinks, or maybe some cool arthropods like jumping spiders or millipedes or something) It would be a multi colony setup hopefully, the colonies I was thinking about were a M. Minimum colony, an A. Rudis colony, and then possibly a Camponotus species or preferably a Crematogaster if I could find one ( something that won't take territory area from the Monomorium and the Aphaenogaster hopefully ) but I just wanna see if anyone has any input that could possibly help me with this, thanks for any help! 

 

Edit: how would i go about collecting native plants and quarantining them so there are no mites or anything, or would it just be easier to see where to buy native plants? The goal is for it to hopefully look like the forest floor of our forests here in Central Virginia

I believe your first order of operations, before you even put brainpower into designing or the logistics behind a vivarium, it to have raised the colonies you want to put into the vivarium to at least 100 workers, or preferably more for good survival chances. Do you currently own the colonies you want? If not, look to purchase or find them immediately and start taking good care of them. How long have you kept ants? Raising the colony to those many workers will probably take a year and a half, so this will get more good time and experience under your belt, as well as time to plan and brainstorm the vivarium once the colonies show that they are nearing the size you need.

 

I have the Monomorium and the Aphaenogaster, Monomorium is at probably about 45 and Aphaenogaster is at about 30 probably, I have a few Camponotus colonies that have just recently gotten nanitics, being a C. Nearcticus and a C. pennsylvanicus, Although I would prefer to have a Crematogaster colony instead, although I don't currently have one. I have kept ants for about 8 months now. 

Edited by 1tsm3jack, September 26 2024 - 6:30 AM.

[Ants_Dakota]

 

 

I'm sure you are all familiar with Antscanda's 1,000 gallon rainforest vivarium with animals and ants all coming from the ecosystem found in his backyard, I have been thinking of doing the same thing recently but on a much smaller scale ( in a 75 gallon aquarium tank ) I was looking to see if anybody had any input on this? Things like where I could get a soil that is safe for the ants but good for growing plants, how to stimulate moss growth in the terrarium, what other small animals I could put in with them? ( thinking frogs or skinks, or maybe some cool arthropods like jumping spiders or millipedes or something) It would be a multi colony setup hopefully, the colonies I was thinking about were a M. Minimum colony, an A. Rudis colony, and then possibly a Camponotus species or preferably a Crematogaster if I could find one ( something that won't take territory area from the Monomorium and the Aphaenogaster hopefully ) but I just wanna see if anyone has any input that could possibly help me with this, thanks for any help! 

 

Edit: how would i go about collecting native plants and quarantining them so there are no mites or anything, or would it just be easier to see where to buy native plants? The goal is for it to hopefully look like the forest floor of our forests here in Central Virginia

I believe your first order of operations, before you even put brainpower into designing or the logistics behind a vivarium, it to have raised the colonies you want to put into the vivarium to at least 100 workers, or preferably more for good survival chances. Do you currently own the colonies you want? If not, look to purchase or find them immediately and start taking good care of them. How long have you kept ants? Raising the colony to those many workers will probably take a year and a half, so this will get more good time and experience under your belt, as well as time to plan and brainstorm the vivarium once the colonies show that they are nearing the size you need.

 

I have the Monomorium and the Aphaenogaster, Monomorium is at probably about 45 and Aphaenogaster is at about 30 probably, I have a few Camponotus colonies that have just recently gotten nanitics, being a C. Nearcticus and a C. pennsylvanicus, Although I would prefer to have a Crematogaster colony instead, although I don't currently have one. I have kept ants for about 8 months now. 

 

Than it sounds like you are well on your way.

[1tsm3jack]

 

 

 

I'm sure you are all familiar with Antscanda's 1,000 gallon rainforest vivarium with animals and ants all coming from the ecosystem found in his backyard, I have been thinking of doing the same thing recently but on a much smaller scale ( in a 75 gallon aquarium tank ) I was looking to see if anybody had any input on this? Things like where I could get a soil that is safe for the ants but good for growing plants, how to stimulate moss growth in the terrarium, what other small animals I could put in with them? ( thinking frogs or skinks, or maybe some cool arthropods like jumping spiders or millipedes or something) It would be a multi colony setup hopefully, the colonies I was thinking about were a M. Minimum colony, an A. Rudis colony, and then possibly a Camponotus species or preferably a Crematogaster if I could find one ( something that won't take territory area from the Monomorium and the Aphaenogaster hopefully ) but I just wanna see if anyone has any input that could possibly help me with this, thanks for any help! 

 

Edit: how would i go about collecting native plants and quarantining them so there are no mites or anything, or would it just be easier to see where to buy native plants? The goal is for it to hopefully look like the forest floor of our forests here in Central Virginia

I believe your first order of operations, before you even put brainpower into designing or the logistics behind a vivarium, it to have raised the colonies you want to put into the vivarium to at least 100 workers, or preferably more for good survival chances. Do you currently own the colonies you want? If not, look to purchase or find them immediately and start taking good care of them. How long have you kept ants? Raising the colony to those many workers will probably take a year and a half, so this will get more good time and experience under your belt, as well as time to plan and brainstorm the vivarium once the colonies show that they are nearing the size you need.

 

I have the Monomorium and the Aphaenogaster, Monomorium is at probably about 45 and Aphaenogaster is at about 30 probably, I have a few Camponotus colonies that have just recently gotten nanitics, being a C. Nearcticus and a C. pennsylvanicus, Although I would prefer to have a Crematogaster colony instead, although I don't currently have one. I have kept ants for about 8 months now. 

 

Than it sounds like you are well on your way.

 

Yeah I think so. Do you have any clue about the soil or plants or what else I could put in with them? I want to start looking into it so the terrarium can have time to culture soil insects and all that, as well as let the plants grow out for a bit.

[Ants_Dakota]

 

 

 

 

I'm sure you are all familiar with Antscanda's 1,000 gallon rainforest vivarium with animals and ants all coming from the ecosystem found in his backyard, I have been thinking of doing the same thing recently but on a much smaller scale ( in a 75 gallon aquarium tank ) I was looking to see if anybody had any input on this? Things like where I could get a soil that is safe for the ants but good for growing plants, how to stimulate moss growth in the terrarium, what other small animals I could put in with them? ( thinking frogs or skinks, or maybe some cool arthropods like jumping spiders or millipedes or something) It would be a multi colony setup hopefully, the colonies I was thinking about were a M. Minimum colony, an A. Rudis colony, and then possibly a Camponotus species or preferably a Crematogaster if I could find one ( something that won't take territory area from the Monomorium and the Aphaenogaster hopefully ) but I just wanna see if anyone has any input that could possibly help me with this, thanks for any help! 

 

Edit: how would i go about collecting native plants and quarantining them so there are no mites or anything, or would it just be easier to see where to buy native plants? The goal is for it to hopefully look like the forest floor of our forests here in Central Virginia

I believe your first order of operations, before you even put brainpower into designing or the logistics behind a vivarium, it to have raised the colonies you want to put into the vivarium to at least 100 workers, or preferably more for good survival chances. Do you currently own the colonies you want? If not, look to purchase or find them immediately and start taking good care of them. How long have you kept ants? Raising the colony to those many workers will probably take a year and a half, so this will get more good time and experience under your belt, as well as time to plan and brainstorm the vivarium once the colonies show that they are nearing the size you need.

 

I have the Monomorium and the Aphaenogaster, Monomorium is at probably about 45 and Aphaenogaster is at about 30 probably, I have a few Camponotus colonies that have just recently gotten nanitics, being a C. Nearcticus and a C. pennsylvanicus, Although I would prefer to have a Crematogaster colony instead, although I don't currently have one. I have kept ants for about 8 months now. 

 

Than it sounds like you are well on your way.

 

Yeah I think so. Do you have any clue about the soil or plants or what else I could put in with them? I want to start looking into it so the terrarium can have time to culture soil insects and all that, as well as let the plants grow out for a bit.

 

I would go to youtube for this. There are many more terrarium setup guides there than people who keep ants in terrariums here. Ants will live with about anything in a terrarium as long as you feed them. One thing to note, you may need to either custom create a lid for your formicarium or look into large quantities of Fluon to keep ants from escaping. If you wish to have the terrarium designed around ants, you can research native plants that can host aphids, and let the ants farm them.

[1tsm3jack]

How would I go about finding aphids to let the ants farm? also how do I attempt to keep them from fighting over the aphids?

[Ants_Dakota]

How would I go about finding aphids to let the ants farm? also how do I attempt to keep them from fighting over the aphids?

Native plants often carry them. I do not believe they can be purchased without a ton of USDA oversight, as they are plant pests. I find many aphids on milkweed plants around my house, which ants tend. If you are placing multiple colonies into a terrarium, fighting may be inevitable. Usually around my house, though, certain species will either coexist on one aphid plant or drive the other species away with no lethality. In such a closed environment, however, they may not act like this. 

[1tsm3jack]

 

How would I go about finding aphids to let the ants farm? also how do I attempt to keep them from fighting over the aphids?

Native plants often carry them. I do not believe they can be purchased without a ton of USDA oversight, as they are plant pests. I find many aphids on milkweed plants around my house, which ants tend. If you are placing multiple colonies into a terrarium, fighting may be inevitable. Usually around my house, though, certain species will either coexist on one aphid plant or drive the other species away with no lethality. In such a closed environment, however, they may not act like this. 

 

Gotcha, so basically i just have to grab a plant and hope it has aphids and that i'm not taking a wild colonies food source. I guess I could put aphids near each colonies nest. What about ant safe but good for plant soil though what should I do for that?

[Ants_Dakota]

 

 

How would I go about finding aphids to let the ants farm? also how do I attempt to keep them from fighting over the aphids?

Native plants often carry them. I do not believe they can be purchased without a ton of USDA oversight, as they are plant pests. I find many aphids on milkweed plants around my house, which ants tend. If you are placing multiple colonies into a terrarium, fighting may be inevitable. Usually around my house, though, certain species will either coexist on one aphid plant or drive the other species away with no lethality. In such a closed environment, however, they may not act like this. 

 

Gotcha, so basically i just have to grab a plant and hope it has aphids and that i'm not taking a wild colonies food source. I guess I could put aphids near each colonies nest. What about ant safe but good for plant soil though what should I do for that?

 

You can look on plants, aphids are visible to the naked eye. For example, a milkweed plant would look like this. Any soil would work for that. Ants live in the wild, so they can adapt to anything. I might include vermiculite or perlite in my mix to make moisture control easier, as well as helping the ants structure your tunnel. Beyond that, I am sure a youtube video discusses different soil properties.

[1tsm3jack]

Alright thanks.

[Ants_Dakota]

Alright thanks.

Anytime!

[bmb1bee]

I'd recommend a mixture of sand, clay and some kind of organic substrate for the soil. The sand and clay will hold up the chambers for ant nests, while the organic substrate like potting soil or compost will be useful for the soil insects and plants. Basically, I'd try to replicate the natural conditions of the soil in your local forest as much as possible.

[ANTdrew]

Simulating a Virginia forest in an indoor tank is a lot harder than simulating a tropical environment. Most native plants need lots of sun and a winter dormancy period. You should watch SerpaDesign on YouTube for ideas on how to set up big vivariums. You’ll notice he uses all tropical plants for them, and that is due to the reasons I listed above.

Edited by ANTdrew, September 26 2024 - 12:13 PM.

[1tsm3jack]

Simulating a Virginia forest in an indoor tank is a lot harder than simulating a tropical environment. Most native plants need lots of sun and a winter dormancy period. You should watch SerpaDesign on YouTube for ideas on how to set up big vivariums. You’ll notice he uses all tropical plants for them, and that is due to the reasons I listed above.

I have seen serpa design. So you are saying i should just screw the native plants and go with tropical plants if I want to make it work? 

[ANTdrew]

Yes. Native plants like milkweed will not survive indoors in a vivarium.

[1tsm3jack]

Yes. Native plants like milkweed will not survive indoors in a vivarium.

Ok so I should just go with tropical plants. How do I prevent mites or anything?

[ANTdrew]

Sterilize the substrate beforehand. Grow a large population of springtails to outcompete them.

[1tsm3jack]

How would I sterilize the substrate?

[mbullock42086]

IMO it would be better to make the main 'terrarium' more like a gigantic outworld with the main colonies given entry via tubing, rather than letting them actually nest inside the terrarium itself.

 a good plant for aphids is sowthistle, which can be grown indoors.  6500k bulbs best, but 5000k will work too.  note sowthistle is a host for powdery mildew, so make sure not to splash water when watering.

boiling the substrate is easiest and fastest.