ANTSTORE World of Ants

[JimmyVe]

I wash thinking of building a new nest.
Something like this, any suggestions or comments are welcome.

[mpir]

It looks sofisticated and complicated. You might have problems because of water and electricity close together. Neverhteless, it looks interesting design and idea. Let us know how it worked out. And also advantages and dissadvantages of the nest.

good luck

[JimmyVe]

Maybe it looks complicated but if you see it in real live it is not so bad.

You might have problems because of water and electricity close together

I was thinking the same thing so i think I'm going to put a tube in the water where i can put in the cable for the heating lamp.
I didn't start building it I'm waiting on reply's to make it better (maybe perfect)

Keeping it warm is not a problem (with the heating lamp) but to keep the humidity perfect... stil looking for that.

[SimGee]

Hey Jimmy, looks pretty cool in my opinion. For what species should this be?
I ask cause somebody got a problem with a electric cable which was inside the formicarium... those pics speak for themselves. btw. those are Atta.

Greetings
Simon (looking forward on Alkmaar vs. Bremen)

[JimmyVe]

I didn't now they did that ?
That is a bit a problem. Maybe if i put the cable in a tube (like i sad) it is saver.

I was thinking for Pheidologeton diversus but i still need something to keep the humidity perfect.

[SimGee]

Waht about this one together with this... i just see there is no english describition... you just put the mist blower into the splash guard, that´s safer for the ants and looks better in my opinion.

If ure not going to close the formicarium with a cover it´ll be hard to keep up humidity. And think of that the humidity could harm the PTFE cover...
in another keeping experience i read that Pheidologeton diversus needs a high humdity (above 60%) and moist earth...


hmmm i see why u have a double breakout protection... soldier caste of Pheidologeton diversus grows up to 20 mm ...

Perhaps u can just cover ur electric wires with strong sticky tapes.
The prob with the Atta perhaps was that they thought the cable was foliage, dunno if Pheidologeton diversus harvests foliage too...



Greetings
Simon

[JimmyVe]

That looks nice but how do you control the humidity than ?
You can control the temperature with a thermostat but how about the humidity ?

PTFE is not an option if the air humidity is so high, so I'm probably going to use the water and a lid.

Indeed they can get very big.
They don't harvest leafs, most of the time i feed them bugs and grains and a little honey/sucker and water of course.

[SimGee]

u control humidity with a hygrometer of course

u have to test how often water must be "released" with help of a clock timer to reach the wanted percentage, or shouldn´t it be "that easy"? with some skills u could even manage the mist blower to be activated when humidity falls under a defined percentage...

when closing the formicarium think also about ventilation, didn´t know if we mentioned this already...


Simon

[pphakkar]

Good hint about electric cable...

[JimmyVe]

u control humidity with a hygrometer of course

That i new ! But there must be an easy way, i mean like you control temperature with a thermostat. You put the thermostat at 26°c and it will 'always' be 26°c. Isn't there a thing (product) to control the humidity also like that ? (that is what I'm looking for)

I use a lid but i have natural ventilation. I put some grid in the lid.

Do you think they would chew on the electric cable ?

[SimGee]

Hey JimmyVe,

i´m not sure if there is such a thing is available. I´m not even sure if this is neccessary. If u use for example this mini mist blower just test how often it must blow a day to keep a special humidity. With a clock timer u can manage the blower.

I now what u are looking for but i think it is unnecessary and i´m sure it would cost very much.
I just asked a friend of mine, he is a graduate engineer for electric stuff if it was possible to "build" such a "super automatic machine" with simple means.

Cause i just read your "german post" i got to say... your german sucks (don´t get angry, just fun)


Simon

[SimGee]

Do you think they would chew on the electric cable ?

oh, forgot that in my former post. I´m not sure To be secure, i would cover cables with a sticky tape.

[JimmyVe]

Cause i just read your "German post" i got to say... your German sucks (don´t get angry, just fun)

i know. lol I used a translation page, there are more German people on this forum so i was hoping they could help me. I tired to apologize at the end for it.


I now what you mean and maybe that is the best (and cheapest) solution. What i was thinking about, the air humidity isn't always the same (outside) so if it gets to low the mist blower needs to give more and than you always need to look at it. So i was just trying to find a better solution.