Hi All,
I've been dabbling for a little while with ants, I've used Ytong (or Celcon) to make nests in the past. I recently picked up an acrylic formicarium from Antstore when over a month ago & that's set up with a young colony in my bedroom *much to the wife's delight!), but I fancied something a bit larger too!
I recently sold my fish and had a couple of tanks laying around and, inspired by a colony on YouTube (Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar) I decided to have a go at making a larger one using a 60cm tank and a couple of blocks.
First I drew the caves on the block and then drilled with a 10mm masonry bit (note the depth stop) -
Next Stage was to (carefully) chisel the caves out properly and then add the joining tunnels -
I drilled 3 large holes on the top at the top left to a depth of about 2/3 of the block - I joined them together to make 1 big hole, this will be for moisturising (didn't take a picture of that bit I'm afraid).
I then made a floor to go above the block, I put a hole for a pipe to go into the watering hole, and a hole for an entrance pipe. I used a large piece of Polystyrene on the opposite side to the blocks to rest the floor on. I put silicone sealant round the edges of the blocks and laid them face down on the front glass of the tank, then stuck the floor on top making sure I put silicone round the top of the water hole to stop it escaping when filling via the pipe -
And a side view....
Once the silicone had set dry (a few hours) I covered the floor in a thick layer of PVA glue and sprinkled it with fine sand. I left this to dry, there is loose sand there too, but it's too dry for the little angels to dig in.
It's out in the garage now & it already has some occupants (only 4 plus Queen, but they've got eggs already). I filled the water tube with fine gravel - this prevents the ants from getting in the water and drowning, but I can pour water in there and it'll go to the bottom, soaking through the blocks - you can see some condensation on the left hand caves, this should give me a gradient from left to right and they can live where is comfortable for them.
The lid has large holes for my hands to get in and Teflon to stop the ants getting out. Once they've settled I'll put some more scenery in for them - I want them to set up house in the caves, not under anything else I put in!!
The tank is lit by an 8w fluorescent tube for daylight and some blue LEDs for night time. The light is directly above the tank, so the front is in near darkness all the time.
Hope this was interesting (I enjoyed it!!) - I shall keep you updated as to how they're doing.
Cheers,
Chalky