43 replies to this topic

[Foogoo]

A number of people (including myself) had asked about the formicariums sold from China, so I decided what the heck, and bought two to see for myself. This isn't a true review as I haven't moved any colonies in them yet, so feel free to ask any questions about the ones I got or for more pictures. These are the two I got:

#1 http://www.aliexpres...=66298719522661

#2 http://www.aliexpres...=66298719532661

 

My initial impression is that they're designed and built quite well and looks nice. There are some minor differences between what's in the listing picture and I what I got, such as the corner screw of #1 is just a regular screw and the movable plastic tab only covers half the water filling hole. The hole covers of the "feeding box" of #2 are also white pop-in covers and not screw on covers as pictured. I don't think any of these differences make a considerable difference in functionality.

 

There are some pretty cool features such as multiple sliding dividers in #2 that lets you isolate your colony to only a few chambers as well as sliding access doors to the outside that are held with a locking tab. I believe some of the sections came installed backwards because certain doors aren't making sense, but that should be an easy fix. The cool thing about these being made of acrylic sections is it would be a cinch to fully clean and sterilize. The blue sponge provided has a paper texture, no clue what it is. It came with a baggie of cotton balls, which I assume is the "sponge" in #1 as well as plastic tweezers and eyedropper.

 

I don't own any Ants Canada nests to compare these with, which leads me to the disclaimer that I'm not affiliated with this or any other vendor nor am I advocating/disadvocating buying from this or any other vendor. We've got choices, so might as well see how they compare.

 

Edit: Ordering took a few days since aliexpress needed to verify my identity, but payment went through 3/14, item was shipped 3/18 and it was at the door sometime early this week. That's probably the fastest I've ever received anything from overseas. It was also packed very well, everything bubble wrapped, voids filled, in a styrofoam box encapsulated with tape.

 

Album

Edited by Foogoo, March 27 2015 - 9:41 PM.

[SMILEforAnts]

Nice! I'm currently looking at these types of formicarium to keep my S. geminata colony in.

 

Price is definitely a factor for me when I decide to purchase one and it's a little cheaper than AntsCanada nests. Not bad! Keep us posted on how it goes!

[Foogoo]

I took some time to take them apart to see how they work and flip the reversed pieces. I gotta say, these look really cool and have a lot of potential. The sliding access doors seem really convenient and I think the resized tab isn't a mistake but an improvement since you can fill it without having to move it yet the hole is still partially covered to retain moisture. It also appears that pieces can be removed to make the nest smaller, which may be ideal for a founding colony. I'm tempted to try the other styles, but at this point, I'm going to have more formicariums than ants to occupy them.

 

I decided to look at the Omni nest videos to see whether these are blatant ripoffs as I would not support purchasing these if it were the latter case. IMO, they may be inspired by the basic fundamentals of the Omni nests, but there appears to be many modifications and improvements where I wouldn't consider it a counterfeit product. Hopefully a US based designer can take it to the next level.

 

PS. Does anyone know what the blue sponge that's supplied with the Omni (and this) is?

[William. T]

The type of "sponge" is the same used in almost all Chinese formicariums.....and the Omni Nests. They  are pretty mold resistant, and water conductive, but I couldn't find the name.

[dspdrew]

Probably PVA.

[Foogoo]

Probably PVA.

 

I've got a PVA sponge on the way so I can compare, but this blue sponge is very hard and rigid when dry, almost like a piece of cardboard.

[dspdrew]

That's what PVA sponges are like.

[kellakk]

Have you started using these yet? Have you changed your review of them after using them?  I want to get a formicarium myself, and the price+visibility that these allow makes this an option.  I wouldn't buy it without someone recommending it, though.

[dean_k]

Have you started using these yet? Have you changed your review of them after using them?  I want to get a formicarium myself, and the price+visibility that these allow makes this an option.  I wouldn't buy it without someone recommending it, though.

 

I've seen some facebook users using those Chinese formicariums. They seem to work okay.

[Etherwulf]

I got #2 in the original post. The construction is fine and they have addressed some of the issues which put me off the vertical omni nest. 

 

For instance, they added a hydration tube that attaches to the bottom of the PVA so you don't have to hydrate it everyday. I stuck a hygrometer in it and collected some humidity data over two days. It seems acceptable for the most part but moisture-loving ants might have some issues especially if you live in drier parts of the world.

 

Also, each level can be sealed off using sliders which are fairly neat actually. Three exit holes are present and a tube is provided. 

 

Generally, I don't think there's not much you can go wrong with buying a few of them. They work fine and the visibility is good but I would go with the horizontal nest because the sides tend to get covered with muck after a while.

 

I recommend you buy off taobao through an agent because the prices are generally cheaper even after the agent fees.

Edited by Etherwulf, July 4 2015 - 8:53 AM.

[Foogoo]

Have you started using these yet? Have you changed your review of them after using them?  I want to get a formicarium myself, and the price+visibility that these allow makes this an option.  I wouldn't buy it without someone recommending it, though.

I have, but I can't really give feedback without having another acrylic nest to compare with. I will say some cons are you can't clean individual chambers w/o opening the entire thing (at least my model). I really like how some of them have sliding doors so you can close off sections of the nest or use just one section until your colony grows. They're also modular. Cleaning for reuse is very easy since it can be completely disassembled. For the price I paid which is roughly on par with THA and BF nests, I have no regrets.

 

Edit: I saw similar ones on taobao but it's not clear whether they ship to US (plus it was completely in Chinese), which is why I went with AE.

Edited by Foogoo, July 4 2015 - 12:18 PM.

[drtrmiller]

Who here has enough confidence in these products to put a lone queen in one and believe a formicarium of this type would be sufficient for the queen to successfully rear nanitics?

Edited by drtrmiller, July 4 2015 - 1:11 PM.

[Ants4fun]

Who here has enough confidence in these products to put a lone queen in one and believe a formicarium of this type would be sufficient for the queen to successfully rear nanitics?

Or coarse these products aren't designed for this. You yourself earlier did not recommend putting lone queens in grotubes as they where meant for small colonies.

[drtrmiller]

My comments were regarding the original GroTube (September, 2014), which incorporated a very different hydration method.

 

Since the new GroTube XL launched, I've successfully reared two species of queens in them—Solenopsis and Brachymyrmex.

 

In the case of Solenopsis, nanitics arrived about a week earlier than those kept in test tubes, and there were many more of them—the entire event was broadcast on the live ant cam for a few weeks.  From these experiences, I believe the new GroTube XL may be as good as, or better than a test tube for rearing colonies from a single queen.

 

All queens but those of the largest species will generally settle in the middle chamber, which has a plaster floor that is easy to hygro-regulate.  This design most closely emulates a subterranean environment more than probably any other formicarium in its class.

Edited by drtrmiller, July 4 2015 - 1:42 PM.

[kellakk]

I'm pretty sure you could raise queens in any container, as long as you made sure it was hydrated in some way.  People have reported getting nanitics even in a cup with a moist cotton ball.

 

I wouldn't use this type of formicarium for a founding queen, though.  

Edited by kellakk, July 4 2015 - 2:22 PM.

[drtrmiller]

You're mostly right.  The thing people have to understand, is that ants are over 80% water, and making new ants is very water-intensive.

 

With small setups designed for housing just a few ants, access to water, and sufficient humidity to make efficient use of water obtained, may be among the most critical features.  Almost all commonly kept ants rear their first brood in a humid wood or subterranean environment that also has some water access.

 

Again, for housing a small number of ants, and having owned a similar Chinese setup, I can not fathom a situation in which products of this type would be suitable for their intended purpose—housing a small and growing colony of ants for a long period of time.  The ants will simply hug the water wall and not grow, because there is too much ventilation, and hydration is not distributed evenly.

Edited by drtrmiller, July 4 2015 - 3:09 PM.

[kellakk]

You're mostly right.  The thing people have to understand, is that ants are over 80% water, and making new ants is very water-intensive.

 

With small setups designed for housing just a few ants, access to water, and sufficient humidity to make efficient use of water obtained, may be among the most critical features.  Almost all commonly kept ants rear their first brood in a humid wood or subterranean environment that also has some water access.

 

Again, for housing a small number of ants, and having owned a similar Chinese setup, I can not fathom a situation in which products of this type would be suitable for their intended purpose—housing a small and growing colony of ants for a long period of time.  The ants will simply hug the water wall and not grow, because there is too much ventilation, and hydration is not distributed evenly.

 

I see, that's helpful.  Too much ventilation and uneven hydration are definitely problems I would rather not try to deal with.

[drtrmiller]

Let me put it this way—I had a very similar Chinese formicarium that I had Solenopsis invicta in for several months.  One day, the fire ants got out via a liquid feeder that had fallen in the foraging area—a few hundred of them, and they all moved into a mostly dry test tube on the table, even though the Chinese nest was "hydrated."  So, these water-loving ants preferred a dry-ish test tube over the formicarium.

 

They lived in the test tube for several months before dying in the winter to dehydration, experimentation, and neglect.

[Etherwulf]

Hmm, I think it would be best to avoid generalising here or assuming that all chinese formicariums are made alike. From what I remember, I think you told me you bought the ones that were generally rubbish and had overcomplicated designs. 

 

What I'm talking about would be those that resemble a series of cells that are hydrated by a sponge through a wire mesh.

 

In terms of uneven hydration and ventilation, that has been less of an issue with certain other horizontal designs but I'm not sure what you mean by that. I was under the impression that a formicarium would have 'wet' and 'dry' parts which you yourself have pointed out was a feature in the grotube.

 

Moving on, the one I mentioned previously is no different from the vertical omni nest in terms of ventilation and hydration with a vertical hydration column on the side. As for ants escaping to a dry test tube, I don't quite understand what you are talking about.

 

If the nest was unevenly hydrated, would they not move to the comparatively drier part of the formicarium (before the liquid feeder mishap)?

 

Also, if they did escape to a completely dry test tube, would it not because the formicarium was too wet overall such that even the drier parts are too humid for their liking? That's down to human error at that point – over hydrating. 

 

By the way, I don't think these nests were made for starting colonies. The pages themselves on taobao recommend that you move them in after they have 10 workers or more. So far, I've been keeping camponotus in a horizontal plastic nest and they've been faring well. They are indeed wet-loving ants but I've not observed them plotting to escape to the nearby test tube rack. 

 

In short, experiences will differ based on what product each person bought. To group them all under a single header would be a folly. Just as it would be absurd to discuss BF,AC and THA products as one and the same, it is likewise wrong to do so with chinese products. Of course, there is a larger degree of similarity across the board with chinese products but certain stores have made the extra effort to distinguish themselves from the rest. An example would be the acrylic nest that I showed you, pricey but apparently claims to have solved the heating/condensation conundrum.

[drtrmiller]

Having read your defense, I stand by my original comments. We'll just have to agree to disagree. You've had your experiences with "Product A," and I've had mine with "Product B." You claim there is some metaphysical difference between "A" and "B" that results in one being "rubbish," despite looking nearly identical. I disagree.

And a wet-loving Camponotus? That's a new one.