ANTSTORE World of Ants

[antscience]

I want to build some y-tong nests for some ant species one of them will be Pheidole megacephala and i have some questions.
My nest will be 20cm X 15cm, i will make a separate small chamber for a sponge with water. I am planning to stick plexiglass with silicone as a sealing of the nest.
Is the sponge with water just for the humidity levels or can they drink some of it? fyi: The chamber will be separated from all the other chambers where the ants will reside.
If not, how am i supposed to feed them and give them water? I am planning now on making two holes with tubes so that i can put small insects in one of them and water on the other.
Leaving them an arena with food isn't an option because i am planning on building many nests.
Can you suggest any other ways of feeding them or is my plan alright?

Also i would like to ask whether i need to use a certain type of silicone. I have regular silicone but i saw in some posts that people use aquarium silicone. Do you think it will make a big difference?

Thanks in advance.
If anyone has any pointers for a beginner like me it is much appreciated.

[mjbowman07]

Hey, im new here. however by trade I am a handyman.

If you are using plexi, why not drill into the corners of the ytong block, drill a hole in the plexi, put a red wall plug in (or what ever colour goes with your holes) then tighten it up with 4 screws, or 6 depending how bid you set up is.

other things to help, if you are building many, why not do 3 or 4 nests in each ytong block, then have a stack of asda tuppawear (so you can stack them) with a small hole cut out near the top so you can tpfe or dissolved flour in water or which ever way suits you best. around the hole and still use tweezers to deposit small aluminium foil trays inside with a honey/ water and agar..

if you are mass farming ants, it would be best to have a nice simple set up like that. give me a minute and I will cut out something for you

[mjbowman07]

here I have cut out a 1, 2, 3 ant nest, 3 separate ant nests and 2 watering holes ~the comers are the watering holes~.

oh yeah to answer you last question as well, if you are using ytong you can just have a little bit with a hole in, fill the hole with water, the water soaks into the rest of the brick and keeps the nest moist, they dont need to drink that water, they drink and eat the same. depending on your ant type, a honey, water, agar mix will be fine.

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[mjbowman07]

cant edit, opps.
try agian

[lossanmu]

can i put lasius niger in it or do they not like the foricarium?