7 replies to this topic

[futurebird]

What are your favorite essential ant tools?

 

I love the lids on my AntCube outworlds, I have extra lids that I use to capture escaped ants. This works great for one or two ants. If there are more than that I get the aspirator.

 

Aspirators are hard to find, but you can make one using metal straws and some tubing. 

 

 

I bought this little ant cleaning tool on aliexpress years ago and use it everyday to remove trash, I use a paint brush with it like a broom. 

 

https://www.aliexpre...2657694015.html

 

 

So my tools list is:

 

• extra lids and notecard
• aspirator
• paint brush (great for cleaning and moving ants)
• water dropper
• long tweezers (for feeding dubias)
• mini dustbin
• small sponge on a stick

When I first started keeping ants I bought these "soft tweezers" but I have never been able to use them properly. Ants are too strong, and if you grip them hard enough to pick them up you'll hurt them. I thought I'd use the soft tweezers all the time, but they just gather dust. I'd rather use a notecard and lid, or just use my hand. Ants happily climb on my hands and I've perfected a shake that drops them off in their nest without hurting them. 

 

What tools do you use MOST with your ants? What tool turned out to be a dud?

 

 

[ANTdrew]

A stiff goose feather.

[Manitobant]

I’d say my favourite ant tool is a rechargeable keyboard vacuum. You can use it for collecting wild colonies and brood, cleaning up garbage in the outworld, transferring especially stubborn colonies that refuse to move otherwise and a multitude of other things.


Here is the one i use if anyone is interested: https://www.amazon.c...aps,112&sr=8-17

[cutchins]

The mini dustbin is cool! I've been using a plastic soup spoon in a similar but way less efficient way. I'll prob grab a paintbrush and one of those in the near future.

[AsdinAnts]

I’d say my favourite ant tool is a rechargeable keyboard vacuum. You can use it for collecting wild colonies and brood, cleaning up garbage in the outworld, transferring especially stubborn colonies that refuse to move otherwise and a multitude of other things.


Here is the one i use if anyone is interested: https://www.amazon.c...aps,112&sr=8-17

I have one like those, but yk how vacuums need to blow out air in order to suck in? The ants I were trying to collect were small enough to go through the holes and went all over my face 🥲

Edited by AsdinAnts, February 11 2024 - 3:27 PM.

[Mushu]

A stiff goose feather.

 

is it for picking up ants instead of using a soft paintbrush?

 

 

I also have one of those small handheld vacuums however I ended up putting sand in my outworld so I just use an aspirator with a fuel hand pump so I don't need to use my mouth. It works well to mostly pick up light trash without picking up much sand.  

 

The soft tweezers would come in handy for Honeypot ant repletes, but I've never really used them. In fact I use them over regular tweezers instead since it's already out to pick up some random trash like dubia roach shells that may be large enough that  I don't want to risk it getting stuck in the aspirator.

 

 

For me probably hand held LED magnifying glass, makes it easier to observe the ants close up.

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

I would add always have floun or any other escape prevention thing.

[cutchins]

+1 on the LED magnifying glass. Definitely has been useful, though that may be because i'm old and my eyeballs don't work so well anymore. Also, I should just get better lighting in the shelves i have my ants on. 

 

Just got my mini dustbin and paintbrush. have yet to put them to use, but happy i have them now. Thanks for the suggestion, Future!

 

I see water dropper listed, but I prefer syringe with blunt tipped needle. it holds more water and has been easier to fill and dispense in a controlled manner than the fully plastic droppers i also have.