18 replies to this topic

[Rstheant]

I made an incubator for my ants. Extremely effective, and easy to make. It has a lock, a stand and a sliding vent. It also has white backing to make any movement easy to see.










A U-hual box works well.

Edited by Rstheant, March 4 2019 - 6:32 PM.

[Apex]

Becareful with using cardboard....especially in direct heat..You have a temp controller right?

[sirjordanncurtis]

How large is the box? and the wattage for the lamp? 

[drtrmiller]

Cardboard is just going to keep drafts from causing sudden temperature changes.  A big ice chest would be a much better insulator. 

 

Better yet, dedicate a small room or closet in your house as an ant room, and heat it with a standard space heater.

 

This is the temperature controller I use to control an inexpensive, analog space heater for my ant room.  Very easy to set up and fine tune your desired working temperature range.  I highly recommend it.

[Rstheant]

At Apex, I have a controller, and my bulb wattage is 60 watt. The box is an XL moving box. @ drtrmiller, I was looking for a simple, easy option to make an incubator. This was what I had, so I used that.

Edited by Rstheant, March 4 2019 - 9:12 PM.

[Trythis22]

drtrmiller, unfortunately I believe our budget for this one is approximately $0, some cardboard, printer paper and duct tape. As you say, cardboard is a poor insulator at an r-value of only 4. That's not to say he is incapable of buying anything, he's just more willing to monkey together something from materials lying around his house. But I like your link, I think I will buy one. 

 

That low wattage heat lamp is never going to reach 450 degrees F in a cardboard box, so I don't think fire safety is a concern unless he has cotton balls or cloth directly placed upside down on the bulb. I would advise not putting anything directly on or above the heat source. 

 

With that setup, you will only see improvements of about 4-7 degrees where you will place your ants. Correct me if I'm wrong. Your best bet (using common household materials) to improving the trapping of heat is to line your box with aluminium foil. Place some foil on your vents and keep the thing closed. Line both the inside and outside of the box, the goal is to have as much air between the heated space and unheated space. At that point you should have a healthy 80-83 degrees F air temperature inside the box. Tetramorium ants will actively seek out spots between 89 and 92 degrees F; adjust to the data you have collected for your species.

 

Hope this helps.

[Rstheant]

It works well. I spent $45 on a thermostat, and I don’t want to buy much stuff. Also, it works well for me. I just wanted to share.

Edited by Rstheant, March 4 2019 - 9:35 PM.

[Rstheant]

drtrmiller, unfortunately I believe our budget for this one is approximately $0, some cardboard, printer paper and duct tape. As you say, cardboard is a poor insulator at an r-value of only 4. That's not to say he is incapable of buying anything, he's just more willing to monkey together something from materials lying around his house. But I like your link, I think I will buy one. 
 
That low wattage heat lamp is never going to reach 450 degrees F in a cardboard box, so I don't think fire safety is a concern unless he has cotton balls or cloth directly placed upside down on the bulb. I would advise not putting anything directly on or above the heat source. 
 
With that setup, you will only see improvements of about 4-7 degrees where you will place your ants. Correct me if I'm wrong. Your best bet (using common household materials) to improving the trapping of heat is to line your box with aluminium foil. Place some foil on your vents and keep the thing closed. Line both the inside and outside of the box, the goal is to have as much air between the heated space and unheated space. At that point you should have a healthy 80-83 degrees F air temperature inside the box. Tetramorium ants will actively seek out spots between 89 and 92 degrees F; adjust to the data you have collected for your species.
 
Hope this helps.

It is wrong. Temps sometimes reach 95* F so I got a controller. I put vents to release some air.

[Trythis22]

Could I get your room temperature ranges please? Lowest and highest. Just curious. 

[Rstheant]

72-84 F

[StopSpazzing]

Why not add some Al. foil to inside and outside for more insulation? Def a cheap $15 thermostat that I bought to control the temp, works great and verified temps with an infrared temp gun to confirm. I actually need to add it to my resources list on the wiki.

[Rstheant]

I don’t want to over complicate this.

[Apex]

@rstheant just tips that's all bro!

[Rstheant]

Yeah, I know.

[Rstheant]

Thanks for your suggestions guys. I don’t have an ant room like drtrmiller, and an ice chest. We moved recently so that’s why. When I get my domain (garage) back, I’ll spend some moola and buy and ice chest or something. Also, I don’t have much space in my room (currently).

[CoolColJ]

Styrofoam box works better, but maybe iffy with heat lamps

Works fine with my heat cable zig zagging on the lid or a large plastic heat mat gaff taped to the lid

can easily hit 20C+ degrees over ambient

Edited by CoolColJ, March 9 2019 - 5:27 AM.

[Rstheant]

Styrofoam box works better, but maybe iffy with heat lampsWorks fine with my heat cable zig zagging on the lid or a large plastic heat mat gaff taped to the lidcan easily hit 20C+ degrees over ambient

I tried that, but I accidentally killed my Aphaenogaster colony because it got hot. Reason why: the temperature rod thing fell out and even though it was 89.7 F it still got hotter.

[CoolColJ]

Styrofoam box works better, but maybe iffy with heat lampsWorks fine with my heat cable zig zagging on the lid or a large plastic heat mat gaff taped to the lidcan easily hit 20C+ degrees over ambient

I tried that, but I accidentally killed my Aphaenogaster colony because it got hot. Reason why: the temperature rod thing fell out and even though it was 89.7 F it still got hotter.

Well I suggest gaff taping the temp probe....

[Unitedus]

I also made incubator out of a box but i put gorilla tape on outside of box styrofoam inside on the bottom an a heating pad underneath the box.an heat lamp on the outside of it..inside the box it stays at 80 to 83 inside.while my ac is set at 65,70 degrees.