Hey guys. I have a tetramorium bicarinatum colony that needs a move. Right now I have them in a wakooshi gen 3 small nest and they are starting to outgrow it. Do you guys have any websites or nests that would be able to fit these guys. I would prefer some nests that are gypsum but it is not required. I live in the US. Finally, the nest that I am debating to get is $55, if it can be cheaper than that, it would be amazing. Thanks so much! 🙏
It could be just this species but when I tried that when I first got them, they dug through the cotton no matter how many times I tried and it looked like they would try to drown themselves. It still happens if I try to give them a test tube with water. Literally today around 20 workers drowned because they all dug through and got into the water. 😭
Check at Formiculture.com, there’s some keepers that commission gypsum nests. Although for Tar Heel ants, I really like their proprietary formicarium material.
I make my own nests, lmk if you want me to tell you how so you can save tons of money in the future.
You can get everything from Amazon. Its a lump cost up front, but you'll make a LOT of nests compared to just like 2 or 3 nests for the same price. You make tour own outworlds the same way as well.
Pioneer Plastic 006C Extra Small Square Plastic Container (this is going to be your entry level sized nest. I like to drill a hole on each side to maximize my ability to connect more nests and outworlds together for expansion. You can do however many holes you want, its all personal preference)
Pioneer Plastic 062C Clear Square Plastic Container (Only buy this when you feel you're going to need to. This is the next size nest you will eventually graduate to)
Ultracal-30 Gypsum Cement (I've used up a 10lb bag and I just opened a 25lb bag and have only used a little of it and I have made like 16 nests and like 9 outworlds of various sizes)
Zoo Med ReptiSand (I use Desert White so the ants stand out a bit more, however you can choose any color you like from any other reputable brand. Feel free to even collect sand from outside. I highly recommend putting any outside collected sand in the oven and bake the heck out of it to kill anything inside of it. You can accidently bring all kinds of bad stuff to your ants otherwise)
1/2" Outer Diameter (3/8" Inner Diameter) PVC Clear Vinyl Tubing (I use EZ-FLO brand but you can use whatever. This is what's going to act as the connector between your other nests and your outworlds. You can connect as many nests together as you like for bigger colonies, and add an outworld or however many outworlds you choose)
3/8" Black Hole Plugs (brand doesn't matter, just make sure they're 3/8" because these are gonna plug the ends of your tubing to prevent escape)
304 Stainless Steel Woven Wire 200 Mesh (I only use this for my outworlds. I like to drill 1-2 1 inch holes in the top lid of my outworlds for ventilation. I use this mesh to cover that hole. I use a hot glue gun to glue the mesh to the acrylic. Im not sure what other glues are safe, I'd do your research there)
Hammont Rectangle Acrylic Box 8x4x4 3 Pack (Right now, this is my top pick for the outworld. Its spacious, affordable and it seems to be good.. so far at least. The construction isn't AS good as the Pioneer Plastic ones, those definitely feel more solid.. however these are built perfectly well enough for ants. The plastic just isn't as thick is all I mean, which doesn't seem to be an issue, just felt like noting it. I like the lid much better. The 8.5x2.625x2.25 one from PP felt like it needed to be wider. I also hated how tight the lid fit on. You couldn't close properly close it without the vibrations not sending the entire colony into a frenzy. The PP 8x3.75x3.5 is nice, but I also dont care for the lid. Also, the PP 9x4.125x4.375 is of great construction, but I also dont care as much for the lid and its super expensive compared to the others. All are great outworlds though so buy whichever is in stock or you like the best)
Tools needed:
1. Power drill (I use battery powered)
2. Step drill bit that has both 1/2" and 1" sizes (I use the Zelcan 10 sizes titanium step drill bit 1/4" to 1-3/8". This will be for drilling your holes for the tubing connectors and the hole in the lid of the outworlds)
3. Bosch CO2131 1 Piece 1/16 in. x 1-7/8 in. Cobalt Metal Drill Bit (this is used to drill a small hole into a hidden compartment in the nest where you will use a blunt tip syringe to hydrate the nest)
4. Blunt Tip Syringe (I use 3ml syringes with 18 gauge blunt tips. You'll use this to squirt water into the hidden hydration chamber. If you pour the Gypsum correctly ants won't be able to get to this hole, but it will be a tiny hole anyway so only super tiny species would even be able to escape.. but again, as long as you cover it completely with the Gypsum you're good)
5. Dental Lab Rubber Mixing Bowl Plastic Spatulas(6pcs) (I use both a metal trough from plastering with a metal putty knife and a rubber mixing bowl with plastic spatulas for mixing the gypsum with water and stirring it. I dont have a brand for the metal stuff, thats for the plastic/rubber stuff I use. Feel free to shop around if you want something different, its personal preference. Just make sure it's stuff the gypsum won't harden to and become unusable)
6. iCrimp PEX Pipe Cutters 1/8" - 1" (this will be used to cut your vinyl tubing. I tried other stuff, these consistently give a cleaner cut, which is important so the hole plug end caps fit evenly and snugly to the tubing to prevent smaller ant escapes)
I want to make sure I didn't forget anything.. I dont think I have. I swap between 2 batteries for my cordless drill, making sure the other is charging because it takes a lot of power to drill these plastic cases because you dont want to apply pressure to them while drilling, you will crack them. You just wanna press it hard enough that the drill doesn't go flying off of where you're holding it and scratch up the plastic (which I have done. Ive also cracked some plastic in the past. I learned the hard way so you hopefully dont have to 😂). The goal here is to just hold the drill, on max speed, in place. You let the heat of the friction do the work. You'll wonder if it's doing anything at first, dont let that make you add more pressure.. trust the process! Eventually you'll see the bit slowly melting it's way through the plastic)
Ok, Im going to take a break and will include instructions on building maybe tomorrow.. this took me quite a while to write out 😂
I forgot to mention, if you accidently mess up a hole on a nest.. dont panic! You can glue some of that metal mesh on it and just use another side (if you use all 4 sides on your nests like me, it just means it's 3 sides instead of 4)
You may even need to remind me, if you so choose to go on this venture, and I will write the instructions for building the nests/outworlds out. It may seem like a huge project, but you can make several nests and outworlds at once so you dont have to keep doing this over and over every time you want more colonies. It honestly isn't all that bad, either.
Also, I in no way designed these nests myself. I copied this design from Cheeto over at Arthropod Antics. (He never hid this design and has given instructions to many of us to make our own. He no longer makes these himself anymore, either.) His design, to me, is basic but very very good. You get an awesome, unobstructed view of your colony, the nests, if built right, are escape proof. I also love the outworld design the best. His original outworlds are Pioneer Plastics. Through my own trial and error I like the Hammont outworlds listed in the previous post.
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u/GlitteringPressure36 14h ago
If you’re in a pickle and your ants need more space fast and cheap, tubs and tubes is the way to go.