ANTSTORE World of Ants

[laurie]

hi all.
basically im looking to start a colony of Messor barbarus in the coming weeks an had a few questions.
firstly i like the idea of seeing the ants however i also want to let them dig naturally, but i really dont like the tall thin ant farms,
so i was thinking of using a basin type setup with a small ytong (2 or 3 chambers) inside setup with open ended chambers to allow them to expand (hopefully the picture is clearer than my explination lol)
i know the pictures simple but you get the idea
any advise would be great
thanks again

[suckgasse]

Do you want to combine an ant farm and a ytong?
Did I get that right?

[laurie]

Not quite I want to combine it with a basin or aquarium
Hopefully this image is a bit more clear

[suckgasse]

Yeah sure!
I think I got what you want to do.
I, personally, haven't seen it before, but its worth a try!
Keep in mind, that especially Messor barbarus are able to bite through ytong.

[baumarkthammer]

Ants will most likley move into the ground and not into the Ytong. In such basins the ants rather build a natural nest instead of an artificial nest and with such a deep layer of sand/loam you most likley won´t have any insight into the nest.
That is why most people building such basins don´t fill them with material the ants could digg in.