31 replies to this topic

[FSTP]

Yeah ths is kind of a "pet peeve" of mine as well. that's why when I use THA style formicariums or any formicariums for that matter,  I throw away  the out world and place them in larger tanks I provide myself. My Camponotus fragilis colony which is one of my largest colonies is in a larger outworld. But it is in need of a larger one. 

 

 

This photo is old they are now in three mini hearths in this tank. They need a much larger tank which I'm going to be providing for them soon.

 

 

[anttics]

I have my colonies. In terrariums. My novomessor cokerelli. Is in a huge terrarium. 2 feet x 2 feet. About 1.5 feet tall. It's a square. They have space to recruit. Make marching lines. The only issue. It's extremely heavy if you fill with dirt. Check my novomessor journal for picture. Of terrarium

[CheetoLord02]

A lot of people don't want huge outworlds. They take up a lot of space. I personally do, but many people simply do not have the space, and, as previously mentioned, it is harder to ship larger items. Not to mention more expensive.

This. I actually just downsized one of my colonies' outworlds because the old one was taking up far too much space. I'm a huge fan of very compact setups, so for me the smaller the outworld, the better. My Aphaenogaster tennesseensis colony has roughly 1000 workers, and while their outworld is only 4x8inches, it works perfectly. Not to mention that pre-designed outworlds are generally very costly without much good reason, as a good container can be turned into a very acceptable outworld relatively easily. The 4x8 outworld that I mentioned previously is part of this container collection at Target: https://www.target.c...53/-/A-53659329

From that collection I generally use the 4x4x4 containers as outworlds for smaller colonies and the 8x4x8 as outworlds for larger colonies. I also used the very largest container to make a DIY nest that I'll be making a post on soon. The lids are airtight as well, so I just drill a few holes in the lids and stuff them with cotton for ventilation, meaning that I don't have to deal with barriers. The taller container's height makes it so ants are less likely to swarm to the top (at least with clunkier sp, I'm sure something like Solenopsis would just flood out) so removing the lid for a short time to feed and clean generally doesn't yield any escapees. Just a quick plug for the outworlds that I personally use I suppose.

[Ants_Dakota]

 

Antstore does 60x30x30cm glass outworlds (and even bigger ones on demand) but they only ship inside of Germany.

 

The main problem is the antkeeping community itself - there is simply no sufficient demand because barely anyone keeps ants to a point where they actually need those huge setups.

For most people ants are still throw-away pets.

We must work harder to meaningfully expand and support the ant keeping hobby.

 

We are working on it...

[Canadant]

Yeah a large outworld is important to me too. I think ants Appreciate it as well. If done up like a natural habitat, I think they look great. I use plastic aquariums connected by tubing. I got an even larger one for a new bigger outworld this year.

[Boog]

Yep, I've been on the lookout for a larger outworld too. I've had great success with my acrylic cube meant as a wedding card holder I picked up from a crafts store, a little smaller than a foot cubed but seemed larger than any outworld on the market I saw. I'm already worried about next year's outlook after this year's massive growth as my Camponotus colony might break a thousand at the end of the year so I've got to plan for an expansion. I was wanting to go full bioactive setup with some buried wood but that would need a good sized outworld to be worth it so was looking into custom aquariums. Also am contemplating hooking up smaller outworlds across shelves but am wary of having a large amount of vinyl tubing and connectors to keep track of but that's probably more affordable.

 

I saw these awesome aquariums but with those prices I'd need to start saving now: https://truvuaquariu...quariums?page=1

Their frag tanks are lower profile and open topped: https://truvuaquariu...ions/frag-tanks

The betta tank looks affordable: https://truvuaquariu...ons/betta-tanks

These are acrylic and some have curved corners which I thought was important for our needs.

 

Any outworld not made specifically for ants would need to be customized and these folks seem to accept custom orders like drilling a hole in the side for connection. I might get a quote at the end of the year to see how that'd go.

I'm currently making a few outworlds out of large OXO food containers but they're not cheap either and hope to share the process once I've got them completed.

Edited by Boog, April 20 2020 - 4:30 AM.

[Boog]

I actually just downsized one of my colonies' outworlds because the old one was taking up far too much space. I'm a huge fan of very compact setups, so for me the smaller the outworld, the better. My Aphaenogaster tennesseensis colony has roughly 1000 workers, and while their outworld is only 4x8inches, it works perfectly. Not to mention that pre-designed outworlds are generally very costly without much good reason, as a good container can be turned into a very acceptable outworld relatively easily. The 4x8 outworld that I mentioned previously is part of this container collection at Target: https://www.target.c...53/-/A-53659329

From that collection I generally use the 4x4x4 containers as outworlds for smaller colonies and the 8x4x8 as outworlds for larger colonies. I also used the very largest container to make a DIY nest that I'll be making a post on soon. The lids are airtight as well, so I just drill a few holes in the lids and stuff them with cotton for ventilation, meaning that I don't have to deal with barriers. The taller container's height makes it so ants are less likely to swarm to the top (at least with clunkier sp, I'm sure something like Solenopsis would just flood out) so removing the lid for a short time to feed and clean generally doesn't yield any escapees. Just a quick plug for the outworlds that I personally use I suppose.

 

 

I use those same containers too and they're well suited for our antkeeping needs! I thought they were small for my growing Camponotus colony as outworlds but they'd be perfect for smaller ants.

Edited by Boog, April 20 2020 - 4:22 AM.

[ADHTCIAD]

Antstore does 60x30x30cm glass outworlds (and even bigger ones on demand) but they only ship inside of Germany.

 

The main problem is the antkeeping community itself - there is simply no sufficient demand because barely anyone keeps ants to a point where they actually need those huge setups.

For most people ants are still throw-away pets.

 

 

p.s. Ikea sells a bundle of acrylic boxes with lids under the Godmorgon label (it's one 25x20cm box, one of around 20x10cm and three smaller ones) for 10-15 bucks. They make great outworlds.

I agree with this, in all the years I've been keeping up on it it seems to me that most in the hobby enjoy the thrill of catching a queen. Or searching for one, as an experiment or something to do during summer months. Once the spectacle of the hatching brood and maybe watching them kill something is over, most people could care less. Which I understand if your not a total enthusiast, because keeping them year after year, and expanding which costs $$$ and hibernating etc. It's a lot more than most realize. So therefore the market for smaller setups is way bigger.

[drtrmiller]

I had an idea to offer a "panoramic" foraging area that was really long and narrow and not too tall.  Maybe 18 inch wide, 6 inches tall, 6 inches deep, with frosted colored acrylic backgrounds like my old foraging areas?

Like this one, just stretched to make it 2.2x longer and 1 inch taller and deeper:

Edited by drtrmiller, April 21 2020 - 12:01 PM.

[OhNoNotAgain]

I have very limited space for ants (I'd have more but I started off with isopods and those bins are huge), so I would also appreciate outworlds that, say, stacked nicely/safely or could be arranged very space-efficiently. I do have a freestanding THA outworld (medium size) and I used it for my fraggles when they were in a mini-hearth. It is definitely a much better size (but not good for training them to recognize fruit flies as food - too large).

 

Something else that would be nice are adapters for the usual problem of tubing size not matching, so I don't have to jury rig cotton and tape. There's probably such a thing somewhere right?

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, April 21 2020 - 12:35 PM.

[ANTdrew]

I had an idea to offer a "panoramic" foraging area that was really long and narrow and not too tall. Maybe 18 inch wide, 6 inches tall, 6 inches deep, with frosted colored acrylic backgrounds like my old foraging areas?

Like this one, just stretched to make it 2.2x longer and 1 inch taller and deeper:

Sounds like a great idea. Sign me up!

[ADHTCIAD]

 

I had an idea to offer a "panoramic" foraging area that was really long and narrow and not too tall. Maybe 18 inch wide, 6 inches tall, 6 inches deep, with frosted colored acrylic backgrounds like my old foraging areas?

Like this one, just stretched to make it 2.2x longer and 1 inch taller and deeper:

Sounds like a great idea. Sign me up!

 

I'd get in on that too