2 replies to this topic

[Siddharth]

On Youtube I saw a guy making a food-grade mould for chocolates using legos and Silicone rubber and that got me thinking:
Could you make an ant formicarium using Silicone rubber?
My idea for such a setup is as follows:
1. Use a lego baseplate and blocks to make a square mould and use lego pieces to shape tunnels.
2. Make a Silicone mould of this using the Silicone rubber and let it cure
3. Make holes for connectors ant testtubes.
4. Punch several tiny holes in a certain area of the mould using a small pin (these will be for water and humidity)
5. Cast a similar sized mould but this time make it hollow for the hydration media.
Place the wet hydration media in the reservoir and set the formicarium on top of it
6. Stick a sheet of glass over the Formicarium to prevent ants escaping.

Is this a good idea for an ant setup? What are the possible cons of such a setup? I'd love to find out if this is a viable option or not before investing in making one of these.

[Serafine]

Many ant species would chew through that in no-time.

[dspdrew]

Yeah, unfortunately it would not work. This is what my Acromyrmex did to my silicone plugs.