by BushSnake » Fri Aug 24, 2007 5:25 pm
Hi
Yes I have kept ants for breeding myrmecophilous (ant associated) butterfly larvae. Some are quite difficult while others are reall easy. I built a formicarium (Ant viv) as instructed by various other butterfly breeders. I worked as follows:
There are 2 compartments where 1 is a Addisware 350X350X200mm container. This is the living area where ants can gather food, water, etc. The other one, abouth 150X150X40mm, can be made of wood / perspex but should be kept dark. Since ants can't see red I used a red transparent sheet of perspex fo the lid of that compartment which means that even though it is light to humans, it will be dark to the ants. The ants can then be observed inside "the nest". The 2 compartments are tightly joined with nuts and bolts and one 8mm hole is used so that the ants can move in/out of the nest. The lid of the "arena" can be covered with mosquito netting but watch out as some species can chew through nylon netting. The nest should be non-poisonous but light so that the ants' behaviour can be observed.
The ants (preferably with the queen) with some of their brood should be collected in the wild and placed inside the arena. They should carry the young larvae into the nest. Put some diluted honey water in the arena and feed them with bits of fruit and protein (crickets, moths, etc) every now and then.
Since it is very hard to find the queen in the wild, it is a long-term project and you have to wait for the workers to produce eggs by parthenogenesis.
All in all. Good luck!!
We must remember that a photograph can hold just as much as we put into it, and no one has ever approached the full possibilities of the medium - Ansel Adams