Culture techniques of ants

Ants are community insects, and only a few species of rhubarb ants are found for medicinal purposes, such as yellow ants, quasi-black thorn ants and so on. Only quasi-black thorn ants are more successful in artificial culture. because this ant has strong adaptability, short cycle, fast reproduction and is not affected by geographical conditions, it can carry out high-density box-type three-dimensional culture, which can save expenditure and reduce cost compared with rockery and cylinder culture methods. Occupies a small area and many other advantages.

1. Venue selection:

Should be determined according to the size of the number of breeding, whether indoor or outdoor, must have sufficient light, no sundries stacked, no bad smell.

2. Aquaculture facilities

Use bricks (or plastic film) around the site. Build a flume with a width of 25 cm and a depth of 5 cm. The inner edge of the flume should maintain a certain inclination, which can effectively prevent ants from falling into the water. When the sink is built, it is necessary to leave a drain hole for water exchange. Set up a frame along 20-25 cm from the sink, the material can be arranged side by side with bamboo poles or sticks, the first shelf is more than 30 cm from the ground, the distance between the shelf and the shelf is more than 35 cm, and humic sand 10-15 cm thick is placed at the bottom of the shelf.

Third, the production and arrangement of feeding boxes:

Self-made feeding boxes are generally filled with food, clothing cartons, specifications are generally 35-40 cm long, 20-25 cm wide, 10-15 cm high. In the box, ants like to make a nest of Masson pine, followed by legume straw such as adzuki bean, soybean, broad bean, wild plants such as camphor, camphor, old grass, etc., all need to be dried to prevent mildew, the tightness of the grass handle should be appropriate, neither too tight nor too loose, this one is very important. Ants do not divide and make a nest on the mouldy or moldy grass handle, put the grass handle together with the seed ants who have divided the nest into the box, seal it with adhesive tape around, drill a small hole at one end of the box, and the arrangement interval of the ant box should not be less than 60 centimeters. If the distance is too close, it is easy to cause ants to fight with each other.

IV. Feeding and management

Ants eat a wide variety of foods, such as sweet food and animal food. Can be divided into two categories: a, animal bait: such as cattle, sheep, fish, pigs, chickens and other meat residues and thick blood, all kinds of insects are also good food for ants, such as ground turtles, fly maggots, silkworm pupae, earthworms and so on. B, with sweet foods such as brown and white sugar, watermelon, honey, pear core, apple core and so on.

The food intake of ants is very small, each of which is about 0.1mg a day, and 100000 ants need about 100g of food a day (different varieties vary according to their size), usually every 3-5 days. When feeding, it is necessary to place a food basin at the top of the feeding box and a sponge to inhale water. In order to prevent the food from deteriorating, the feed should basically grasp the principle of each time it is finished, and it should be fed and cleaned frequently. When throwing food, you should try to count as little as possible, so as not to fight for food with each other. In addition, the types of food should be changed frequently to avoid anorexia among ants. Such as outdoor farming, in order to avoid the high temperature of the ant box in the hot summer, some vines should be planted around the box shelf to block the strong sun. The most suitable temperature for ants to grow and reproduce is 22 ℃-37 ℃, the air humidity must be controlled at about 81%, and the soil moisture must be kept at 10-15%. If the air is too dry, sprayers can be used to spray the ant box and the ground from time to time to maintain the normal activity and reproduction of ants.