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Ra3MaN's Founding chamber - Outworld Design.


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#1 Offline Ra3MaN - Posted March 1 2015 - 11:25 PM

Ra3MaN

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My design is as follows

 

IMG 6105 Formicarium
 
IMG 6107 Formicarium
 
IMG 6106 Formicarium
 
IMG 6108 Formicarium

 

I found that using a soldering Iron to make the holes is amazingly accurate and great when using plastic. Especially if you intend on using food containers and such. I used two sizes of tubes, one which fits in to the other, in case I need to join an additional outworld/Formicarium at a later stage. The only down side is that the melting plastic creates fumes, this however is only a disadvantage if one intends on making additionally holes into formicariums with ants already inside. 

 

The ventataltion holes i made were too big so I blocked them up with cotton, and that eliminates my need for petroleum jelly or oils. I will buy a more transparent container at a later stage for my out World... 

 

I hope this helps someone out. 

Attached Images

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  • IMG_6108.jpg
  • IMG_6107.jpg
  • IMG_6106.jpg
  • IMG_6105.jpg

Edited by Ra3MaN, March 3 2015 - 12:07 AM.

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IMG 5858

 


#2 Offline AntGuySA - Posted March 1 2015 - 11:57 PM

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Hey Ra3MaN

 

looking good buddy keep up the great work and thanks for the soldering iron tip.

 

Regards, AntGuySA


It`s not rocket science 


#3 Offline Jonathan21700 - Posted March 2 2015 - 1:44 PM

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Yea, I too use a soldering iron for making holes and it works really good. :)


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#4 Offline Ra3MaN - Posted March 8 2015 - 11:06 PM

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Update to the formacaruim.

 

Hey guys, I have updated my plastic formacaruim, I am starting to think of my formacaruim as a space station because I can add modules to it. I have yet to see if my ants will use it. They are still a small colony but I will leave it there anyway.

 

IMG 6183-1

 

So I started out with transparent containers used for cosmetics. That I obtained from a local plastics store here in South Africa. 

 

IMG 6160 2
 

I used a soldering Iron to make the holes in the plastic. Clear plastic is pretty brittle, So this is my favourite method to make the holes. A word of caution, the fumes of the melting plastic may cause irritation to the lungs, so I advise that you do it in a well ventilated room if you want to use that method to make holes…

 

IMG 6166 3

 

This is just a look at how it looks after I have made the hole.

 

IMG 6169 4

 

I took a short piece of tubing to connect the individual pieces together.

 

IMG 6164 5
IMG 6170 6
 

I managed to get the holes pretty uniform and in similar areas on the container so that made it easy to fit the containers together. The only thing that I messed up with a bit is that I made the holes a bit high.

For my reservoir, I just connected a container in the same fashion and just stuck a piece of sponge in there. I filled the tubes that lead into that container with cotton so that the moisture can bleed into the others that are being used for brood.

 

IMG 6176 7

 

I made some holes in the tops of the containers because I notice that there tends to be a lot of condensation in most of the formicariums that I have seen. The big container is a clear plastic container that is used to store photographs.

The large container gave me the biggest hassle, because of the tubing I have selected for it. But I managed to make a hole that allows the tube to fit like a glove.

All that was left was to connect it to the main founding chamber and outworld.

 

IMG 6179 8

 

I placed the setup on a tray, because I fear that too much movement would cause the individual containers to come loose. So it seems to be working for me this way.

 

IMG 6186 9

 

The foraging workers have been regularly coming into the new open area but they haven’t found the formicarium yet…. So far, so good.

 

What haven’t show is my feeders that I used; I will post that in that collection of feeders topic. I have covered the new formicarium with tinfoil to encourage the ants to migrate to the new nest but I don’t think it will happen until the founding chamber’s water source dries up. 


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IMG 5858

 


#5 Offline Gregory2455 - Posted March 9 2015 - 3:05 PM

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Those little containers look sort of like our 'Boxbox' brand- amazing containers!


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#6 Offline Wraiith303 - Posted March 25 2015 - 10:31 AM

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Hi guys... Finally decided to register so I can post.

 

Which plastic store in South Africa did you get those containers from? I'm also from South Africa, and managed to catch 4 Queens on Monday (I believe they are fertile as I managed to see them mating, and suspect they are lasius niger queens)

 

I'm currently using a very simple setup for the queens (Couldn't get test tubes - and the small plastic ones I got from pharmacy for storing blood samples had some anti bacterial gel in the bottom that I couldn't get out)

 

Would love to hear how other RSA residents are coping with ants, since it's really expensive to import all the fancy tarheel/antscanada nests



#7 Offline SMILEforAnts - Posted March 25 2015 - 10:29 PM

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Lovin the design!

 

This is what I eventually want to do for my S. geminata colony, but I have a hard time finding perfect little containers like what you have, out here.


SMILEforAnts [YouTube channel]

Pictures of my past colony [Pheidole megacephala]





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