ANTSTORE World of Ants

[JimmyVe]

@Sam: They are in one off these plastic box. Still in tubes. 3 test tubes in the box and the box is the out world. If they get a little bit bigger i can place them in a y-tong nest.

[Sam]

I've seen this setup elsewhere on the forum, not sure where, didn't realise it was yours. It is a very good design, also expandable by removing cotton wool and adding extra sheet of glass / acrylic, cunning.
Plus you can see everything they get up to.

[JimmyVe]

That is way i build it this way. It is not yet perfect but easy to clean and to look at the colony in and out the nest.

[Bob]

Jimmy this looks great. Can you tell us what you used to build it, and if you hand molded the design or if you used a mold to pour your material into. Also how do you keep the nest damp? Would be great to get more details from you.

[JimmyVe]

It is a Y-tong nest. i curved out the rooms with a dremel (don't think it is the wright English worth but i don't now the English worth for this )

[Bob]

It looks great. Would even appreciated pictures of the ant colony inside from closer proximety but oh well. It appears if part of a ytong nest is made to stand in water, it soaks up water pretty well. Is that so?

Also if you're good at designing nests it would be great if you could do a thread where you showed us step by step on how to design one. It will help experienced people as well as beginners as I understand beginners often have their colonies die out because they are unable to use the right materials or make nests that are unable to mainatain proper humidity. Nonetheless this nest is a great effort by you.

[Sam]

Yep it is a good looking setup.
A member called Azzer has already started such a thread; http://www.antstore.net/viewtopic.php?t ... uild+tyong.

[Sam]

It looks as though it is quite full, of ants that is, compared to the last pic. Was t_dsc01340_102.jpg taken May this year?

[JimmyVe]

That is true, Azzer has a nice threat about this already, check it out.
@ Bob: it suck up the water very well. That is the nice thing about Y-tong. Almost perfect to keep the nest moist.

(The last picture i posted here, is not one of my own. it from a friend of mine, it was just an example of how to keep the nest moist, in my pictures the plastic box with water is on the other side so you can not see it )

[Sam]

How are your young ladies getting on now Jimmy in your ytong, do you have as many as your friend yet?

[ratgreen]

hi jimmy just wondering if you could take a photo from above as it looks great but i want a better view of the ants

[JimmyVe]

@ Sam: they are doing great, the y-tong is getting filled up.

@ ratgreen: sure if i have time this weekend i will take a picture of the setup from above.

[JimmyVe]

Nieuwe foto's
In deze y-tong zitten 2 kolonies Lasius niger de rode lijn houd ze van elkaar gescheiden.

New pictures
In this y-tong nest there are 2 colonies Lasius niger the red line you see keeps this 2 colonies away from each other.

[ratgreen]

oh wow, thats cool, lol at the 2 colonies 1 ytong, good idea. cheers for the photo.

[SteveUK28]

thats awesome jimmy.. i had no idea your colony was so big..