Keeping an ant farm

[AlexC1981]

I was in the bathroom this morning, looked up and gasped at the horrific sight of a false widow spider in the corner on the wall.

I usually put spiders outside that I find in my home, but false widows are an invasive species and they can give a nasty bite, so I always flush them away to be on the safe side. Now I have a fledgling ant colony, I can do something less wasteful with them.

I have read that freezing or boiling will kill it humanly and the boiling would be instant. I have also read that both options will kill any mites that could be present.

I suppose if I freeze it first it will stay fresher for longer once in the outworld than a cooked spider would. Would the ants prefer it cooked as it would be softer? Freezing is less hassle for me and I think it might be more humane than boiling as the cold should send it to sleep before killing it. I do have a fear that once it thaws out it will wake up and kill the ants.

Anyway, in the end I froze it for three hours, then microwaved for 10 seconds to defrost it (and to doubly make sure it was dead). Thankfully it did not explode in the microwave.

I considered a brush of sugar water, but thought it might be better to keep protein and sugar separate so not to cause any confusion.

It doesn't half look menacing next to my little ants. They are very interested in it and they seem to be nibbling it face first! This is the most active I've seen them and I could imagine them hi-fiving when they pass each other

I wonder how long I can leave the spider in there before it spoils? There must be enough food on it to last my 15 ants for weeks.

Photo in spoilers for the arachnophobics amongst us.

DSC01616 by 1891CxelA, on Flickr

By the way, I have ordered beetle jelly (protein jelly made for raising beetles) and plain brown rice protein powder, so I hope to feed them that in future as large dead insects and particularly spiders freak me out just a bit.

Edited by AlexC1981 on Saturday 22 July 14:48

[Piha]

Fascinating stuff OP!!!

Keep up the great work and keep us up to date.

[TrophyMax]

Love this thread, keep it coming.

[CoolHands]

I'm enjoying it. But will the ants ever move...

[AlexC1981]

Thanks for the encouragement, I'm glad people are enjoying it. I thought I would keep on writing it as a sort of blog to help others who are also new to this. I've also joined an ant forum which has been pretty helpful as the people on there clearly know their stuff and it was them who asked me to keep a blog on their forum. Most of what I'm writing here is going on their forum too.

http://world-of-myrmecology.freeforums.net/

On to today's ant-tastic adventure. The ants have been chewing on the spider for over a day now, without seeming to make any impact on it at all. I believe they are only nanitics (small and weak first ants from a new queen) so I thought I had better help them out.

I put my childish horror aside and with a sip of a strong cup of tea for mental strength I gingerly snipped a few spider legs off. One leg got stuck on my scissors much to my disgust. I poised myself ready for the big cut across the cephalothorax, desperately hoping no spider juice would squirt in my face. I had to stand there while one little bugger of an ant would not get out the way for ages.

My efforts were rewarded when a leg was dragged back to the queen who got her face in the open juicy end of it with apparent gusto.

Looking forward to the protein jelly pots arriving.

[amancalledrob]

AlexC1981 said:

I've also joined an ant forum which has been pretty helpful

Stick to people forums. Just because you're farming them doesn't mean you can understand what they say

[Nightmare]

I think I have an account of that forum too! Yeah Alex, also new to this......my wife is of the opinion that fk all will happen with them this year too - and she's probably right!

I have nothing to report though as I just pinched a new queen from the garden on flying ant day and she has vanished.......apparently it will be several weeks before her first batch of teeny ants is made - so doubt I'll have anything to report until then. If at all as it's entirely possible she will just die and wasn't even mated.

Couple of shoddy pics but it's a v nice glass setup.

[AlexC1981]

Nightmare said:

I think I have an account of that forum too! Yeah Alex, also new to this......my wife is of the opinion that fk all will happen with them this year too - and she's probably right!

I have nothing to report though as I just pinched a new queen from the garden on flying ant day and she has vanished.......apparently it will be several weeks before her first batch of teeny ants is made - so doubt I'll have anything to report until then. If at all as it's entirely possible she will just die and wasn't even mated.

Couple of shoddy pics but it's a v nice glass setup.

Can't see the pics? Did she have her wings on still? Queens remove their wings after they have mated, so if she's still winged, chances are she hasn't mated. According to Myrm's website you should get eggs hatching in 8-10 weeks if she decides to lay immediately, but she might wait until next spring. Perhaps it depends on if she hibernates over winter. I'm not sure if I'm going to put mine into hibernation, I guess I'll cross that bridge when it comes.

I suppose the difficulty with your setup is knowing how much moisture she needs. Most people put a new queen in a test tube initially with half the tube filled with water and blocked off with cotton wool and the opening also blocked with cotton wool. She should be fine in there with no food, living off the energy stored in her defunct wing muscles. Apparently it's best not to feed Lasius niger queens at this stage.

I haven't noticed any flying ants round my way yet, but I have to confess, I am half tempted to grab one if I see one. However, I don't want to be known as that guy with all the ants

amancalledrob said:

AlexC1981 said:

I've also joined an ant forum which has been pretty helpful

Stick to people forums. Just because you're farming them doesn't mean you can understand what they say

There probably is a way to interpret their body language and actions. I just need to stare at them a bit longer and I'll get it!

[AlexC1981]

CoolHands said:

I'm enjoying it. But will the ants ever move...

Take a look at this!

DSC01620 by 1891CxelA, on Flickr

I noticed this dirt in the tube last night, so obviously there has been some burrowing or soil movement of some kind going on.

I came home tonight and had peek in the outworld, just in time to see the queen climbing up into the tube and she's now disappeared into the formicarium.

10 minutes later the workers took all the eggs and larvae in with her. A spiders leg has also just disappeared, so presumably they've taken it with them to snack on. I hope they dump it back in the outworld when they have finished with it.

I've removed the extra red cellophane I draped over the top now, so now only one side of the formicarium is covered with cellophane. Hopefully they will dig against that side to get away from the lighter uncovered side and I will be able to see the tunnels.

[Mr GrimNasty]

I had a peculiar thing on my Blackcurrant bushes this year, not only were the ants farming the aphidsl, but they had actually carried mud up to the shoot tips and built little nests there.

Having read the newspaper articles today, I'm now wondering if I have some of these invading Argentinian ants!

[Nightmare]

AlexC1981 said:

Can't see the pics? Did she have her wings on still? Queens remove their wings after they have mated, so if she's still winged, chances are she hasn't mated. According to Myrm's website you should get eggs hatching in 8-10 weeks if she decides to lay immediately, but she might wait until next spring. Perhaps it depends on if she hibernates over winter. I'm not sure if I'm going to put mine into hibernation, I guess I'll cross that bridge when it comes.

I suppose the difficulty with your setup is knowing how much moisture she needs. Most people put a new queen in a test tube initially with half the tube filled with water and blocked off with cotton wool and the opening also blocked with cotton wool. She should be fine in there with no food, living off the energy stored in her defunct wing muscles. Apparently it's best not to feed Lasius niger queens at this stage.

I haven't noticed any flying ants round my way yet, but I have to confess, I am half tempted to grab one if I see one. However, I don't want to be known as that guy with all the ants

Hmm - reattempt of pics here!




She had shed her wings but it isn't quite that simple - ants dont have the greatest 'hit rate' in terms of successful mating - so even if she has mated it wont necessarily have worked, but im hopeful

Yeah - fair point re: humidity but I have made it fairly damp and actually think she has moved into the little closed end tube of the set-up which would probably be ideal for now. fingers crossed anyway. no food till she's made some small ants!

oh and Myrms website and the associated forum is bloody good!

[AlexC1981]

That looks like a really nice set you have there! Now mine have moved out of the starter outworld, I'm going to make them a better one this weekend.

As you can see, they have been busy. I am not sure if they are attempting to cover the sides of the tube or if this is just debris from digging, or a bit of both.

DSC01625 by 1891CxelA, on Flickr

I have only seen the occasional ant this evening when she brings out more soil. They took the remaining spiders legs into their burrow yesterday, so they are stocked up on food. I had to remove the rest of the spider today as there was some mould growing. I have replaced it with some protein jelly. I didn't add in any honey water this time.

[Nightmare]

Fantastic Alex! That's obviously all going right then seeing as they're eating and doing stuff. It does look a bit like they're trying to cover the inside of the tube doesn't it? Guess it gives em more light-free space

[Rewe]

You have inspired me! I've just set one up as well. It was going to go in my office but my daughter won't let it leave the house now

[otolith]

They have a very nice display of leafcutter ants at Cotswold Animal Park. I was in there once, and a small boy was staring transfixed at them before saying quietly to himself "That is just horrific"

[AlexC1981]

I'll have to get down to London Zoo to see the leafcutter ants there sometime. There was a massive colony at Butterfly World in St Albans a few years back, but they chewed through an electricity cable and exterminated themselves

Rewe said:

You have inspired me! I've just set one up as well. It was going to go in my office but my daughter won't let it leave the house now

Great! I hope you can get some photos up and let us know what ants you've got etc. I'd recommend getting some red acetate to block the light off rather than cellophane. It's more rigid and cuts better, so you can make it look smarter than with crinkly cellophane. This comes at a cost of being a bit harder to see through.

Mr GrimNasty said:

I had a peculiar thing on my Blackcurrant bushes this year, not only were the ants farming the aphidsl, but they had actually carried mud up to the shoot tips and built little nests there.

Having read the newspaper articles today, I'm now wondering if I have some of these invading Argentinian ants!

Get a snap, let's see if we can identify them!

My Lasius flavus have made it to the surface and have been spotted patrolling the soil at the top of the formicarium this evening. I was concerned they were going to block up the entrance to the outworld entirely, but an ant has been coming out every few minutes to have some of the protein jelly. So that's good news too. They've made a little access ramp for themselves at the base of the entry hole to the outworld now. It looks like they have done it on purpose.....

I'm looking forward to when I have a better outworld as it's awkward to see what's going on when the lid is on.

I've got this coming in the post so I'll be able to get a close view and photos:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2MP-USB-Digital-Microsco...

[Turn7]

Enjoying this a lot OP, keep up the good work!

[AlexC1981]

Hmm, what are they up to now? They are bringing out more and more soil and they've stuck it on the end of their water supply tube. Maybe they are building a dam in case the water comes rushing out

DSC01634 by 1891CxelA, on Flickr

[Biggles delivers the goods]

I had an ant farm when I was a kid. I'm finding this oddly satisfying to watch.

[mungral]

Enjoying this thread, for a while I thought you must be Michael Ellis...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmKped3yARQ