6 replies to this topic

[noobkeeper]

Hello everyone, I'd like to share my idea about a formicarium I'm planning to make and ask you some tips.

 

I'm planning on building a (grout?) formicarium with a resistor inside it so that it will be warmer, as my home is really cold and ants would develop slowly. I think it will turn out great!

My original plan was to have a small temperature and humidity sensor in order to know what's up inside the nest and a dimmer to regulate how much heat the resistor is producing. Manual balance. However, I thought that if I'm leaving home for a few days and I can't check the temperature the ants may overheat and die. Is this likely to happen? I mean, if the resistor keeps the nest at let's say +4°C over ambient temperature and the latter rises a bit, for example going up from 20 to 22°C (and therefore the formicarium will go form 24 to 26°C), will the ants suffer in any way?

Another option would be to put some Arduino sensors inside the nest and self-regulate the temperature so it'll work fine by itself without fine-tuning the power input. Is it worth the cost? Or should I just put a resistor and let the nest temperature fluctuate a bit?

 

Leave me your thoughts about my project, I'll update and share the results with you as soon as I get going!

[T.C.]

Well, be careful with over heating. From personal experience they don't handle heat all that well.

[drtrmiller]

Any configuration other than front-side heating will yield a greenhouse, where water freely and easily condenses into fog and droplets on the plastic or glass.

Consequently, I recommend against embedding any type of resistive heating element into the structure of the nest that comprises the chambers, tunnels, or floor.

[noobkeeper]

Any configuration other than front-side heating will yield a greenhouse, where water freely and easily condenses into fog and droplets on the plastic or glass.

Consequently, I recommend against embedding any type of resistive heating element into the structure of the nest that comprises the chambers, tunnels, or floor.

 

Mh, thanks for the input. So you're saying that the only way to heat up a formicarium is by putting it on top of a heat mat or an heating cable?

[drtrmiller]

Or you could use that same resistor with a computer fan and louvers to direct warm air across the face of the formicarium. You seem to have the skill, so get creative and show us what you can come up with

[noobkeeper]

I could also apply the method I'm currently using for my test tube setup: styrofoam box heated up by a resistor. This way the air outside of the formicarium (which is inside the box) will have the same temperature of the air outside (still in the box) and there shouldn't be any condensation. Just lift the top styrofoam cover to see the ants.

[noebl1]

I actually was thinking of doing some temperature control for P. Imparis if I catch any this year, as the office where I keep my ants in is too warm during the summer. I thought of a method of indirect temperature control so I could observe them vs putting them in a cooler.  I picked up a small temperature controller as much as I love Arduinos, a purposed device is going to be more reliable.  I also got  an aluminum peletier water cooling block often used for PCs.  Was going to not cool the nest, but instead the reservoir below the nest used for humidification.  Reservoir has a sponge that pushes against hydrostone (like @dspdrew's designs I've seen).  There would be a separate cooling loop using maybe pex tubing curled inside the reservoir, so none of the water cooling fluid comes in contact with their humidifying water.  Just an idea, not sure how well in practice it will work.

Edited by noebl1, February 17 2017 - 6:32 PM.