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[JustabirdfromFlorida]

So I am getting a P.badius colony soon. With one to four workers pretty soon.

So once the out grow their test tube do I move them to a dirt box, a mini heath or something else?

And once they are a full grown colony then what do I keep them in?

Could I have lots of Uncle Milton farms with real soil connected to each other?

Or should I fill a 40 gallon tank with soil and let them live in their?

But I do prefer more visibility. So all of the experienced pogonomyrmex keepers, please help.

Edited by asim, October 28 2023 - 9:58 AM.

[Full_Frontal_Yeti]

While my XP is limited to one colony and about 10 months, making this advice is more my POV than tried and tested by me over time.

As a lazy i would stay away from real dirt setups myself. From what all i heave read they appear to be more effort to setup, and more potential for issues related to sanitation to arise. Additionally in dirt setups you can't exactly control when/where there is visibility on the ants. They can use the dirt to cover whatever glass if they want to.
I did a lot of homework before i picked my ants, and a lot of that was focused on what's going to be easiest to upkeep.

I would point out i found many keepers reported sucess using a mini hearth for founding. I'd suggest you could consider moving them into one right away.

I got a 20+  colony form THA and kept them in a mini, later moving into a fallen fortress(top down view nest and attached outworld).

 

My pogonomyrmex occidentalis seem to not be light averse(they acclimate to it) so the top down view nests are fine for them, they don't have a freak out in the morning when the light timer ticks on.

And using not dirt box outworlds means they are easier to clean as you can vacuum them out.
I also recommend using more than one outworld if possible. It allows you to block one off for cleaning, and transfer the ants to the other while you do it.

image is pre-ants, but shows how i had two outworlds in use, and could move ants from one to them other as needed for cleaning.

Also i found my ants wanted to keep their trash pile as far from their nest as they could. Each time i added more outworld they would move the trash pile farther out.
So my own XP is, give them as much outworld as you can, they will  use it.