868 replies to this topic

[Barristan]

I just carved this little wooden nest today. I have my C. nearcticus queen in it. I designed it specifically for smaller Camponotus, Formica and Lasius.

P.s. If anyone wants one, I can make more.

 

 

 

Looks very nice! I plan making two tiny nests for my Crematogaster scutellaris queens from apple tree branches

[TennesseeAnts]

I just carved this little wooden nest today. I have my C. nearcticus queen in it. I designed it specifically for smaller Camponotus, Formica and Lasius.
P.s. If anyone wants one, I can make more.
 
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This looks like it turned out pretty well!  The only problem is that could probably very easily chew their way out of that nest.

Not at all actually. It is a very hard dead wood. It was difficult to carve with my dremel.

[Boog]

 

Grout nest and outworld. Used a plastic food container from Target and an acrylic wedding card holder from Michael's, hooked up with connectors from AntsCanada and vinyl tubing. I mainly didn't want too much substrate for the ants, so I was partial to using grout. I heat them by wrapping a cable around the nest which seems to have helped with faster brood production. There's a small tube behind the nest that I use to hydrate from the bottom up. I also had to drill another hole to allow some ventilation from the bottom level of the nest. I could update with work in progress images to show how the nest was put together.

Edited by Boog, May 11 2019 - 2:53 AM.

[Acutus]

I could update with work in progress images to show how the nest was put together.

 

Please do!!

[Zeiss]

Not at all actually. It is a very hard dead wood. It was difficult to carve with my dremel.

I'd be interested to see if they can chew around the moistened wood.  Hopefully it does well!

[Boog]

My first setup, I ended up adding too much water to the outworld and observed a worker getting around the fluon because of the humidity.

 

 

I then made a grout outworld that I figured would fit the test tube nest. I like to use mounting putty to help hold things down, something that could easily be removed for modular use, like these pipe screens for ventilation.

 

 

I had two test tubes in there for a bit but then worried about moving them into a larger formicarium later down the road so moved them into one.

 

 

Brood was piling up and I noticed more workers bringing some outside the test tube but I was prepping their new nest for a few months by this time.

 

 

I carved out a grout nest and had epoxied sand around the walls. I had let this cure for several months in preparation for this. I read about a lot of colonies dying after moving into a grout nest and figured it was because the grout wasn't properly cured and flushed out. I soaked the nest for a couple days. I chose white grout and white sand because I wanted to observe my black carpenter ants and the contrast is nice. I mixed up some sand and red lava rocks into the grout, setting the plastic container at an angle to have the mixture settle to one side then popped it out after a day. Then spent the next day carving out the nest itself, I had used clay to form a mold but wasn't happy with the result so hand carved out the rest. I highly advise using gloves, protective eyewear that seals around your face, ear plugs, and a face mask when mixing and especially carving grout. It's an irritant that lasts for days, drying out your skin and getting into your eyes which I learned the hard way! Now I always use protective gear when handling grout.

 

 

After letting it completely dry after the initial soak and test fit, I glued it in with aquarium silicon in areas by moisture and construction adhesive around the rest. I smeared some while placing it in though, which was a pain. By the way, I sanitized all the materials before mixing them or gluing them in like the sand, lava rocks, gravel, the container itself with boiling water mixed either with vinegar or hydrogen peroxide throughout the construction of the whole nest here.

 

 

I figured a modular entrance would look cool, I used some vinyl tubing and connectors from AntsCanada. Again I used mounting putty to help hold something in place. I was hoping I could get some light into the entrance by using glass filler around the tubing here.

 

 

The nest put together, with the rocks and glass beads for filler. I figured the open areas around the rocks would help with ventilation and humidity control.

 

 

I used aquarium gravel for the bottom layer to help with hydration. I ended up putting a hygrometer and temperature sensor just above the grout, under the rocks, to get a reading from inside and as close to the nest as possible.

 

 

I was pretty happy with the results! I suggest that if you're looking into making yourself a formicarium instead of purchasing one, do it!

 

 

I added a screen to the lid, which I cut out using a Dremel tool.

 

 

I decided to move the test tube closer to the grout nest, I also used an ice pack to make the colony move out of it. I suggest cold instead of heat to get them to move, just make sure you don't freeze them, lol! I knocked out a major that was hanging out in the test tube still defending it, she was fine after a few minutes of me worrying that I killed her.

 

 

Here they are after they moved in several months ago. The queen likes to hang out in the one spot not next to the plastic, of course.

 

 

Here's a more recent photo. I'm glad to share my journey into antkeeping so far. I really was inspired by a lot of the formicariums throughout this thread so it's great to finally share my creations. I'm sure we all get a little lost in our heads thinking about how to house our ants, it's a relaxing and near meditative exercise for me. I'm now planning a nest extension, another grout one with a section of wood to see how they'd respond to that.

 

Edited by Boog, May 11 2019 - 11:39 PM.

[Barristan]

In March I developed an early prototype of a smart ant nest. I already wrote about it on my blog in German, but I also want to share this here with you.

 

In the following picture you see the components used:

 

 

Nest

 

I made a simple nest out of Ytong. In one chamber I glued a DHT22 temperature/humidity sensor to one of the chamber's wall:

 

 

Through a hole in the Ytong the wires are connected to the breadboard.

 

NodeMCU

 

The "brain" of the smart nest is a NodeMCU micro controller, which has integrated WLAN and is Arduino compatible. 

 

433 MHz transmitter

 

The small transmitter module is used to control the remote socket(s). You can control a lot of remote sockets with just a single module and micro controller

 

Heating pad and remote socket

 

A heating pad is connected to a remote socket. The heating pad is turned on and off depending on the current temperature and the target temperature which was set.

 

Software

 

The whole thermostat logic (monitoring temperature, switching on and off the heat source) was programmed in C++. To better monitor and control the target temperature a dashboard was created using thingsboard:

 

 

On the dashboard you can see two charts one for temperature and one for rel. humidity. It is also possible to change the desired target temperature and the new setting will be transferred to the NodeMCU which uses it to adjust the temperature to the new desired value.

 

[Acutus]

@ Boog thanks for posting your progrssion and especially all the details! I'm definitely gonna steal some ideas!!

 

@ Barristan that's just so Hi Tech!! totally looking forward to see how it works out!!

[ForestDragon]

I recently cut down a large birch tree in my backyard and I had an idea to use the logs to make circular nests but I don't really know what i could use to seal it to prevent wood dwelling species from chewing through them and birch is a lighter wood so darker species could be seen easier

[ANTdrew]

I recently cut down a large birch tree in my backyard and I had an idea to use the logs to make circular nests but I don't really know what i could use to seal it to prevent wood dwelling species from chewing through them and birch is a lighter wood so darker species could be seen easier

Search up FSTP’s termitat for an idea of what you could do.

[neoponera]

just amazing stuff, but i just can't make a formicarium for a tiny ant species, can i get some help?

[AntPhycho]

just amazing stuff, but i just can't make a formicarium for a tiny ant species, can i get some help?

 

If you are looking for something easy and cheap, I recommend building a bead box formicarium. I love these as bead boxes are available in many different sizes and they are always simple to make. 

http://www.formicult...x formicariums

 

With tiny ants like Solenopsis sp. just make sure to use a good amount aquarium silicone. 

[AntPhycho]

Used an old VOSS water bottle to make this little founding formicarium. Thought it came out pretty nice considering it was made out of a piece of trash. 

 

 

I will probably use this with an extra Pogonomyrmex queen. 

Edited by AntPhycho, June 1 2019 - 4:52 PM.

[drtrmiller]

You know you can peel that clear sticker off, right?

[TennesseeAnts]

You know you can peel that clear sticker off, right?

I think he wants it there.

[AntPhycho]

You know you can peel that clear sticker off, right?

Yes I know. There were about 3 other stickers right next to it I peeled off. I left that one because I thought it looked kind of nice.

[CatsnAnts]

Welp, finally attempted at making a picture frame formicarium (credits to Crystal), and I have to say it went OK. The inside of the glass is a little dirty, but WHATEVER. I actually added the back stand to this picture frame formicarium to make it stand up. I just hope my ants like it:

Edited by CatsnAnts, June 21 2019 - 2:04 PM.

[SuperFrank]

This is the nest design I've been working on. The materials are Plaster of Paris, Portland cement, perlite, iron oxide based pigment, silicone, superglue, stainless steel mesh, and glass. The nest provides stable, long term hydration, good visability, and good accessibility.

 

these are the smaller size, the are a self contained nest and outworld for founding or small colonies

 

 

the cover plate on the nest portion is attached with magnest that are sunk into the glass.

 

 

this part is kind of ugly imo but i added a small sand "ladder" for species that may be poor climbers.

 

 

these expansion ports currently double as extra ventilation ports for the outworld

 

 

this is the water reservoir and the fill port. I wanted a large reservoir to cut down on having to refill it.

 

 

this is the larger size, it has four separate sections with individual hydration chambers, these are all connected to central "corridors" that lead to 4 exhaust ports, one of these funtions as the entrance to the nest, the others can be plugged or left open as needed for whatever colony is being housed. 

 

 

very large water reservoir

 

 

recessed lid for a better fit.

 

 

 

I have also made a simple tutorial video on how i make these, this is the first part, the second part will be coming soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ANTdrew]

Wow. Those look so amazing. PLEASE create a turorial.

[Kaelwizard]

Wow. Just wow.