Ants

Magic Monkey

Does anyone know of a pet shop in Dublin that sells ants? I need it for this

Sigma Force

I've seen a lot in pet shops but never ants, try your garden..spring might be easier especially in Patio areas

condra

Hey I was so shocked when I read the word "ANTS" !

Hope I can help you out here- it seems you are ready to become the second ever ant keeper in Ireland! Im sure there are many more out there but I cant find any!!

I use the UK ant forum:

http://rufaman.proboards15.com/index.cgi
Check it out- Im a regular poster there- its a small ant keeping community with regular, helpfull posters.

Ant keeping is popular in America, but HUGE in Germany and France.

You may be lucky enough to find a couple of worker ants in your garden but they wont survive long in captivity without a queen [maybe 2 months].

Queens can typically be found in the wild during the nuptual flights in late summer. This gives a window of about 1 day in the year per species! Late summer is the most celebrated time of the year in the geeky but fascinating myrmecology calender.

Ants [native species of the "British Isles"] are for sale from the following sites:

http://www.antstore.biz/de/shop01/

www.cornishcrispa.co.uk
[only during summer months]

http://www.freewebs.com/ants-rule/liveinsects.htm

http://www.blades-bio.co.uk/


I would reccommend antstore- the first link. Lasius Niger [black garden ant] are probably the most common ants in Ireland but dont let you put you off- they are extremely good hardy ants, excellent busy diggers and have even been known to construct convenient bridges!

One final note. I would reccommend replacing the blue gel with a damp sand /compost mix. :rolleyes: you can order white sand from cornish crispa for better viewing.
Altho not as "sci fi" as the blue gel, this would more closely represent the ants natural habitat, allowing them to make complex tunnell systems and chambers for their different purposes. Also- the blue gel contains nourishment which is prone to mould.
If kept in a more natural medium they will feed on dead insects and honey if offered - which is far more interesting to observe than them just squidging around blue gel.

While traditional antfarms are a great introduction to myrmecology [the study of ants behaviour] serious ant keepers try best to mimic the natural habitat of ants, many opting for aquariums and larger Formicariums [synthetic ant nests]

so please order your ants and join the ant forum!

best of luck.

womoma

raphaelS

Magic Monkey wrote:

Does anyone know of a pet shop in Dublin that sells ants? I need it for this

Hi,

I am just wondering if you got any ants and if you (and the ants ) are happy with the AntWorks?

Thanks
Raphael

I've alawys been interested in doing this for fun, not seriously, is there any fastrack way to getting your colony and ants?

beaver2009

raphaelS wrote:

Hi,

I am just wondering if you get ants and if you (and the ants ) are happy with the AntWorks?

Thanks
Raphael

I also got Antworks for Christmas and not a sign of ants anywhere.
You can order them with the product at www.iwantoneofthose.com for £4 but I thought I could get them myself but I can't.
Thanks for the links.I'll be sure to check them out.
btw any more recommendations?

raphaelS

beaver2009 wrote:

I also got Antworks for Christmas and not a sign of ants anywhere.

Well yes... I guess you won't see any until march!

I think about it for daughter's birthday (9) because she is always trying to keep some ants in a jar with bits of grass... they all die after few days (or ask for their release!)... From what I read on the web, this Antworks is suitable for kids.

Edit: It is available from play.com, at a fair price, I think: http://www.play.com/play247.asp?pa=mchp&page=title&r=GADG&title=156489

Ciaran500

How long does these last? What do you do when they run out of gel?

DEmeant0r

I used to keep ants in rectangular clear plastic box, it was specially designed for keeping ants. They are not fun to keep because, well, they do nothing, so I just emptied the box.

condra

People- please do not keep ants in gel.
It is not their natural habitat.

DEmeant0r wrote: »

They are not fun to keep because, well, they do nothing, so I just emptied the box.

Ants live in colonies. Ants are almost all female. Ants cooperate effectively. Ants communicate with each other. Ants build huge efficient tunnel networks. Ants farm aphids. Ants spray formic acid from their asses. Ants attack and kill insects, in order to feed them to their carniverous larva. Ants build structures such as bridges.

^ And that's just the common black garden ant, Lasius Niger.

GigaByte

Pretty cool!

They should be interconnectable so you could join 2 boxes together and have ant battles!!!

My Army ants kill kick your ants butt!!