12 replies to this topic

[m99]

I've decided I'm going to get out of the test tube game. I'm sick and tired of having to move colonies before they or I would choose to, except for the fact that they're drying out. I've kept around half a dozen species so far and have only had one that was genuinely eager to move even when heading towards bone dry. Enough's enough!

 

But other than THA's little disc-type nests, and a couple of the "apartment" style nests at Por Amor Ants, I don't recall ever really coming across many genuine starter options. Most makers seem to assume you'll be starting in test tubes, and size even their "founding" nests to be "the first move after nanitics."

 

So, what's your favorite alternative to the tube? The nests you can genuinely plant a single queen inside and maintain hydration indefinitely.

Edited by m99, May 7 2023 - 8:06 PM.

[Talabason]

Test tube are still the best in term of colony foundation. Provides hydration and humidity and a very controlled environment.

Moving colonies are not that bad. Invest in an AC test tube portal (only $9) can help or I have manually moved most of my colonies without problem. Sometimes you just have to put two tubes together and give the colony a real hard tap and have them fall into the new clean fresh tube. It will cause a temporary stress but never had issues.

But make sure you give your new queen small space but fill the test tube at least to half with water so you have enough to last her until her first workers

[m99]

To be clear I don't need education about test tubes. I'm fully familiar with what they do, how they work, what their pros are, AND what their cons are. I am actively making the choice that the pros don't outweigh the cons anymore.

 

I would argue that the only thing test tubes are better than is a full size nest. i.e. they only look like a good option because the most widely available alternatives are so unsuitable to a nuptial queen. But the same small, controlled environment can be accomplished in any number of ways, and requires nothing but a small chamber in the nest. And well-designed non-tube formicariums allow you to MAINTAIN that environment without having to completely disrupt the colony, which is exactly what a test tube demands. It has a quickly ticking expiration clock the moment you occupy it, which is an enormous flaw and IMO 100% justifies considering the alternatives.

 

I think that most people in the hobby rely on tubes to be cheap ways to reliably start mass numbers of queens, but that doesn't say anything about the actual suitability of the design in a vacuum. On a colony by colony basis it's a bad and often awkward choice, IMO. I don't want to start 20 queens at once, I want to start one, and I'm willing to pay more for better features in that experience. To start with, I want to give her the time to move beyond the founding phase before she's forced to completely relocate, and a test tube rarely provides that opportunity in my own experience. For queens who require a season's gap before they lay it NEVER does, at least in my climate.

 

You can't "add" onto a test tube. The queen ALWAYS has to abandon the chamber once it's dry (and 99% of the time that means you the keeper have to actively chase/shake her out). A good non-tube starter nest lets you expand at your own pace, and leaves it to the ants to make the decision about when (if ever) the queen shifts locations.

 

Which is the real point of this thread. Not to debate nests, to list RETAIL options other than THA and Por Amor.

 

I'll add onto that list and say I've also seen "stick" formicariums at places like Aus Ants that would also be a good fit for many species to start out in, with the smallest models. I just don't tend to like the stacked lucite/acrylic designs, which they usually are.

Edited by m99, May 8 2023 - 2:26 PM.

[ANTdrew]

I think building your own small starter nests using hydrostone and refillable water towers would be your best bet then.

[AntsCali098]

Petri dish nests are a fine alternative. Just some plaster in a petri dish, make sure to add a hole for hydration, and you've got yourself a nest.

Edited by AntsCali098, May 8 2023 - 4:16 PM.

[rptraut]

Hello m99
I feel there are many viable alternatives to test tubes for a founding queen, especially if she is light shy or restless in the test tube environment. It's also easier to hook a small founding formicarium to a larger one when the growing colony outgrows the founding formicarium, or, I have made larger nest chambers where the small founding formicarium is placed directly into the larger setup and becomes an integral part of it without having to attach it with tubes. Look on page 41 of the Formicaria and Outworlds section to see examples of founding formicaria I have made. I feel they are a more "natural" way for a queen to found and works better for skittish or shy queens.
RPT

[ZTYguy]

Honestly the best and cheapest alternative is to make your own formicarium. All you need is some plaster, a mold, some sand, a piece or glass or a container and a little bit of imagination and you are golden. Or if you wish to go for a more expensive route, you could invest in a 3D printer and print some designs for founding queens. I know many people (including myself) who have successfully used 3D printed nests. Now I personally only found in test tubes because (and I know you are already guessing this) I catch queens in bulk and I find no issues with keeping a colony for a large span of time in them, even after the “founding” stages. I also heard some people say Petri dishes and they are also a great alternative. I mainly use those for fungus growing ants however I have (against the Will’s of the ant gods) raised fungus growing ants in test tubes.

[m99]

I was really hoping more people would know about premade retail options, largely because I just don't want to pile another hobby onto my life lol. But I do agree it seems most likely I'd be happiest making a few founding nests to my own specifications some day.

 

*edit* For people like me who really want to be doing the actual bare minimum amount of nest building, here's an Etsy seller that does 90% of the work for us with a nearly-small-enough petri style setup. Maybe I'll pick up a few of these and choose something to make a little nuptial chamber with against a wall. https://www.etsy.com...er-sand-plaster

 

*edit edit* forgot I'd already bought a couple of these, haven't arrived yet but the inner chamber size is relatively small, I think it'd work just fine for all but the tiniest species https://www.etsy.com...st-and-outworld

Edited by m99, May 9 2023 - 2:36 PM.

[Miles]

My preference for founding most ant species, in the context of retail, is in Tar Heel Ants mini hearth nests. You may have ruled them out, but you're also pretty adamant about requesting this information from the community so I'll throw my two cents in.

 

As I've covered in previous content, I find that the THA MH combines a relatively small size with flexible nest moisture capabilities (water tower, nest mates, side surface hydration) and a capable outworld for a small colony. It's probably my most-used small formicarium (for founding), with my petri nest system following that and then test tubes in a box (I'm not such a big fan of that). I also make custom founding chambers for my special ants, or for those I want to film in a particular way. The vial founding method is also effective, but requires you to move the colonies into a dedicated nest fairly quickly -- it's better for when you expect high mortality among new queens or for ants destined for customers/friends.

 

I still don't have a perfectly reliable method for founding tiny ants or arboreal ants, though I'm actively working on that research in my rearing laboratory. Hope to have findings/recommendations to share in the fall.

[m99]

lol adamant. Because I brushed aside an immediate lecture about how test tubes are actually the best option? Was pretty clear in the OP that wasn't what this thread was for.

 

But adamantly THANK YOU for contributing to the actual question at hand.

[Miles]

lol adamant. Because I brushed aside an immediate lecture about how test tubes are actually the best option? Was pretty clear in the OP that wasn't what this thread was for.

 

But adamantly THANK YOU for contributing to the actual question at hand.

Fortunately we are in agreement re: test tubes. I'm not a fan at all.

 

To clarify, I meant that although you ruled out THA fairly clearly, I needed to bring them into the conversation anyways.

Edited by Miles, May 11 2023 - 8:41 AM.

[Daniel]

All good suggestions from the other contributors here. This seems like a mountains out of molehills situation though. Just dump them out of the test tube into the new formicarium. That's actually one of the benefits of founding in a test tube... super easy to transfer the colony from them. It's an acute stress that they will recover just fine from.

[Full_Frontal_Yeti]

While i'm a real noob to this stuff, and not taken on founding yet, i did a lot of homework/study in prep to take on ant keeping.

I see no one mentioned these which seem to be fairly well liked in some places/by some.
they are referred to as "bamboo" test tubes due to the chamber segments they have like the plant, but still basically being test tube setups in terms of space/shape/functionality.

 

as you can see the major bennie over plain test tubes being you can add water as needed. As well i've read reports that ants seem more at home in this than on plain glass test tubes.

And otherwise from what else i found around online, people seem to do ok using the TarHeelAnts mini hearth as their founding nest. At least of what i had found in terms of over the counter products readily available and user experience reporting.
I do note that it seems a fairly higher % of ant keepers wind up in the DIY zone, eventually making their own nest and outworlds themselves. So not surprising you got a fair bit of that as the advice, it just seems to go hand in hand with the culture of antting in general i'd say.

 

 

Oh and just my own thoughts. They can recover from the stress of a dump. But if we have time and patience then should not need to. A cold, dry, sub-optimal place to rear the brood will be moved out of if a warm, humid, better place is readily accessible.

Here are mine as the 20+ from THA moving all on their own. All i had to do, was literally nothing but wait once i hooked them up.

Edited by Full_Frontal_Yeti, May 11 2023 - 11:33 AM.