I'm building a formicarium for my first ants, Messor barbarus. They are native to my country, they are big, so that I can see them well and I was told that it was a good species to start with.
My problem is this: I'm building the nest and have some doubts about the chambers and mainly about the water deposit for the nest.
I took some pictures so that you guys could give me some advice:
This is the overall look of the chambers. This could be on this position or upside down (the problem is the irrigation chamber):
My original idea was to put a plastic cup under the y-tong and fill it with water. Then, the water would humidify the chambers of the nest next to the cup:
But when I put the cup to see how it looked like, I noticed that the water wouldn't reach the chambers, because it would only wet the middle of the y-tong! I obviously didn't thought this through!
Then I realized that if I turned the y-tong upside down, I would have some sort of lake with water, that by capilary effect (with a little help from gravity) would humidify the 2 or 4 chambers next to it, depending on how deep I build the lake and how much water I put in it. The chambers are about 1 inch deep and the "lake" wall is about 1 inch from the chambers wall:
The lake, if I go with this solution, will have a net above it, so that the ants don´t drown. I can also reduce the size of it, buy blocking it half-way.
So, my question is: what do you guys think of the chambers and what is the best way to keep the nest?
Once again, sorry for the bad english and thank you very much for your help!
