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Fire: Acrylic nest for Pheidole (29. Aug 2011 14:26)

Hello, I am considering ordering one of the flat acrylic nests from Antstore to keep P. pallidula in. They are not exactly cheap though so I am wondering if they are suitable for the species - namely if they can provide the level of moisture necessary to keep the ants happy. I was thinking of this one (or its 20×20 cm bigger brother).

All advice is greatly appreciated

Fire: Re: Acrylic nest for Pheidole (6. Sep 2011 20:05)

To all who come to the same problem as myself in the future: I have purchased the flat acrylic nest and put a small colony of P. pallidula inside. So far the little guys seem to be liking their new home.

In order to make them more comfortable I made a few adjustments to the setup. I have put transparent red foil over the nesting part + a 0,25 mm mesh over the ventilation hole. With such well known escape artists I wished for a more secure barrier than a vegetable oil or PTFE. In addition I installed a small hygrometer in the arena to put my worries about humidity aside. With a little lump of cotton soaked in water and the help of the humidity chambers in the nest wet humidity in the arena stays at around 60%.

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/26/acryl.jpg

So far everything seems all right and the colony moved from their test tube into the nest part quite fast (in 3 days).