Instructions for building artificial nests and about how to get hold of an ant colony

8/9/2019 Instructions for building artificial nests and about how to get hold of an ant colony.

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Instructionsfor building artificial nests

and about how to get holdof an ant colony.


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Necessary material:q Plaster

q modelling clay

q plastic tubesq rubber mat

q wooden frame

q sheet of pane

q plastic terrarium

q marbled lacquer

The rubber mat is placed on an even surface

with the sheet of pane right in the middle.Then the wooden frame needs to be put

around the sheet of pane. Out of the modellingclay you need to form small square blocks

that have to be arranged on the pane accordingto the drawing. The individual blocks are connec-ted to those adjoining through the plastictubes that are pressed into the individualblocks. A wider block (marked W in the drawing)

is not linked to the adjacent ones and serves aswater collecting tank. The plaster is mixed accor-ding to the directions and poured into the mould.

When the plaster has become solid, the com-plete construction needs to be turned and therubber mat removed. Plaster mixture between

the rubber mat and the pane should be removedcarefully with a knife. After removal of the sheet

of pane, the modelling clay - still soft - is scrapedout with a spoon.The rubber tubes are takenout with a small pair of pliers or tweezers .Then the finished formicary is freed of the remai-

ning modelling clay with cold water. For thoseant species that are able to bite through theplaster the nest should be painted with marbledlacquer. The pane is cleaned and placed into the

depression formed through the cast. Into theside of the formicary a hole of the diameter of aplastic tube needs to be drilled. Then a rubbertube is inserted and connected to a plasticterrarium serving as food reservoir. In order to

keep the plaster humid, you may pour water intothe big chamber. Thus those chambers close tothe water chamber contain more humidity thanthose that are further away.

Plaster nest for different ant species

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Necessary material:q Test-tubes

usual ones out of plastic

special ones with blown small sidetubes ,completely out of glass

q rubber tubes

q rubber stoppers with holes

the size of a side tubeq glass tubes

q plaster

q plastic terrarium

For this expendable formicary test-tubes as well

as long glass tubes with connecting glasstubes at their sides are needed. These may

possibly be obtained from suppliers of pharma-ceutical institutes and chemical laboratories aswell as glassblowers. The plastic test-tubes(without side tubes) are used as chambers,

those with as corridors of the ant nest. The test-tubes out of plastic are filled up to a quarter withplaster. At the level of the plaster a small holeneeds to be drilled to insert water with a

syringe or hypodermic. Then the test-tubeshave to be closed with the rubber stoppers (withhole). Into the stopper a short glass tube is

inserted over which a piece of rubber tube linkedto the glass test-tubes with side tubes is pulled.

According to their design up to eight chamberscan be linked to these test-tubes. The foodreservoir is linked to one side tube. Such aformicary may be expensive, however, ideal

since its size can be adjusted to the size of acolony.

Expendable formicary out of test-tubes

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Part of an

expandableformicary.

to next part

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Mini-Colonies

Necessary material:

q small casted plaster boardsq sheets of pane the size of the plaster boards

q small sponge

For small ant colonies with little ants plaster boardsmay be cast into which chambers and corridors arecarved. Those boards are then covered by thepanes (e. g. micro slides). Then the nest is placed

on a pedestal - with the sponge in between -standing in a container filled with water.

Feeding takes place on the pedestal. The spongemust be kept wet.

Other nest forms

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Ants that are living on trees

Necessary material:q 2 big flower saucers

one higher and bigger in diameter(approx. 30 cm)

q 1 willow rod

to be used as ant road in the food basinq plastic terrarium as food basin

For ants living on trees a small lemon tree maybe used. The smaller saucer is placed intothe bigger one and the gap filled with

water . The tree is then put onto the smallsaucer and the ants may reach their foodbasin over the willow rod connected tothe flowerpot.

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Nest

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When the nuptial flight of an ant speciesstarts, you should collect several queens andput each of them into a test-tube out of

plastic or Petri dishes the bottoms of whichare covered with moist plaster. You canrecognize fertilized queens by their brokenwings.

The test-tubes should be wrapped withaluminum foil and kept warm. Please controlthe test-tubes regularly and increase thehumidity level if necessary. For this purposeplastic test-tubes need to have a hole at the

level of the plaster filling (see expendableformicary).

After some time you will discover the firsteggs. Just observe their developing until thefirst workers show. Then connect anothertest-tube to offer food. Choose the mostsuccessful colony out of those with morethan 100 workers to settle it in the formicary.Feed according to the species.

Feeding:

A varied diet is very important for the ants. Amonotonous diet will result in failure. It is alsonecessary to feed the ants with very freshfood (every day).

For hunting ant species mealworms, flies,larvae and pupae of other ant species and

even raw meat may be used as food.

It is recommended to keep ones own insectbreedings to feed the ants. You could, forexample, put a piece of cheese rind into acontainer filled with coffee grounds to lure

flies. Once they have laid their eggs onthe rind, you can put it into a closed insectbox out of which flies and larvae for feeding

can be taken continuously. Mealworms(Tenebrio) are bred by putting mealwormsbought in a pet shop onto a mixture of branand flour. On top of it you should put a pieceof dry bread. The larvae gather in the moistand crumpled cloth everything is coveredwith. Pupae should be put into a separatebreeding container (lest they are eaten bythe larvae) as well as the hatched beetles.

A nourishing diet can be mixed out of eggyolk, yeast, trypsin, pepton, ovomaltine andpollen.

Diet mixture for ants:

q 125 g cane sugarq 31 g pure natural honey

q 42 g soya flour

q 42 g dry egg-white

q 42 g baking yeast

q 10 g pepton

q 5 g ovomaltine

q 5 g trypsin

q vitamins A + B1,2,6,12

q hens egg yolkq agar

q water

Everything has to mixed, filled in Petri dishes

and stored in the refrigerator.

How to get hold of an ant colony

This publication and all illustrations are subject to the copyright of Andre Schmidt.

No commercial use allowed without permission.

Should you consider to keep (buy) Fungus-growing Ants, please contact: [email protected].

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Instructions for building artificial nests and about how to get hold of an ant colony