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Pictures of Formicariums and Outworlds

photo pictures formicarium outworld

904 replies to this topic

#521 Offline steelplant - Posted May 31 2020 - 7:39 AM

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IMG_20200531_155342483.jpg

 

IMG_20200531_155413394.jpg

 

Would be interested to hear whether you think this sort of design is worth pursuing.

 

I made the ant hill with vermiculite concrete (water:cement:vermiculite 1.5 : 1 : 2 by volume). After setting for 24 hours I took the ant hill out of the jar and misted it several times a day for a week to help it cure. I then carved out the cave with a screwdriver and made  a little nest hole leading to the cave from the outworld half of the jar. Outworld is gravel and sand.

 

Hydration is just a pipette squirt in the nest hole. Will probably put some substrate in the cave, most likely a coir/sand mix, so the ants can customise it and block the hole if they want to. I'm testing it to make sure it hydrates correctly before putting a queen in. A Tar Heel Ants style water tower would probably work better. 

 

I'll also cover the cave front in red acetate or something.

 

 


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#522 Offline Jimmydave937911 - Posted May 31 2020 - 12:33 PM

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My first few attempts at AAC formicarium...

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#523 Offline RushmoreAnts - Posted May 31 2020 - 4:53 PM

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@steelplant, your looks very naturalistic. I love it.

@Jimmydave937911, your looks very professional. They would sell.
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"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds (including ants). And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version

 

Keeping:

Tetramorium immigrans

Formica cf. pallidefulva, cf. incerta, cf. argentea

Formica cf. aserva, cf. subintegra

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Pheidole bicarinata

Myrmica sp.

Lasius neoniger, brevicornis


#524 Online ANTdrew - Posted May 31 2020 - 6:42 PM

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@steelplant, your looks very naturalistic. I love it.

@Jimmydave937911, your looks very professional. They would sell.

I second both of these statements.
"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#525 Offline Kaelwizard - Posted June 1 2020 - 10:27 AM

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@steelplant, your looks very naturalistic. I love it.

@Jimmydave937911, your looks very professional. They would sell.

I second both of these statements.
And I third those statements.

Edited by Kaelwizard, June 1 2020 - 10:28 AM.


#526 Offline steelplant - Posted June 16 2020 - 3:07 AM

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Thanks for the kind words guys. I made a couple of cubes, one with a vermcrete nest (will plug up hydration port and also silicone the nest onto the box), one natural. I love looking for tiny (non-porous) stones with holes in the top that make perfect ant feeders.

 

Found some unwinged queens running over block paving yesterday but they were way too quick for me. Lots of elates peeping out of nest holes then going back in.

 

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#527 Online ANTdrew - Posted June 16 2020 - 3:10 AM

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Looks great! Ants will probably move into the sea shells, though. This happened to my brother, and he could never get them to move out.

Edited by ANTdrew, June 16 2020 - 3:11 AM.

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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#528 Offline steelplant - Posted June 16 2020 - 4:05 AM

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Looks great! Ants will probably move into the sea shells, though. This happened to my brother, and he could never get them to move out.

 

Cheers ANTdrew. Yes I was thinking when I put them in the shells might make a nice spot for pupae. It didn't occur to me they might all move in though lol. I guess I wouldn't mind too much. 

 

Finally got to the sea at the weekend after months of lockdown and it was great beachcombing for formicarium ornaments and accessories. 


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#529 Offline rbaezam - Posted June 26 2020 - 9:36 AM

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An now the final version with less space around the glass. The edges are also sanded and the nest comes with a cover made out of card board:

 

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A Tetramorium sp. (caespitum/impurum-complex) already moved into one of the nests:

 

IMG_0970.jpg
 

 

I have some blocks of ytong and I'd love to do something like this, but I've always wonder how can I do the inset in the block to put the glass. Can you give me some advice about how to do it? Thanks!



#530 Offline to_be_announced - Posted July 8 2020 - 12:42 PM

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Man, so many people here make such nice formicariums.


Currently keeping Tetramorium Immigrans and Camponotus Pennsylvanicus in THA mini hearths.  I also have a couple Prenolepis Imparus queens in test tubes.


#531 Offline FSTP - Posted July 8 2020 - 12:48 PM

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Here is a new larger foraging enclosure I made for my Myrmecocystus mexicanus colony a few weeks back. IMO most out worlds and foraging spaces are way to small even for a small colony. So really I only use the small outworld included with THA formicarums in the very beginning of a colony.

 

 

ou can see the new out world in this video. Also you can see some of it on my instagram page as well.

 

 

 

If there is interest I can make a video showing how I made it since I plan on making another one soon.


Edited by FSTP, July 8 2020 - 12:49 PM.

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#532 Offline AntaholicAnonymous - Posted July 10 2020 - 5:05 PM

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It's not fully done but that's my ant terrarium I'm working on.
It's gonna house messor barbarus and I made all of that from scratch.

You can't see it too well now but there's a cave in front that I gonna light up with LEDs and put in some sort of monster or demon looking thing that holds a great vine growing from the cave all the way up to the tree and the vine grows hangmans nooses down the tree that I already put up to see what it'll look like.

Its not the typical setup but I like making those and they work pretty well.
Only made one before this one
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#533 Offline TechAnt - Posted July 10 2020 - 6:02 PM

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Awesome! But I am not sure about those ropes on the the tree.


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My Ants:
(x1) Campontous semitstaceus ~20 workers, 1 Queen
(x1) Camponotus vicinus ~10 workers, 1 Queen (all black variety)
(x1) Tetramorium immigrans ~100 workers, 1 Queen
(x1) Myrmercocystus mexicanus -1 Queen
(x2) Mymercocystus mimcus -1 Queen
(x1) Mymercocystus testaceus ~45 workers, 1 Queen

#534 Offline AntaholicAnonymous - Posted July 10 2020 - 6:19 PM

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Awesome! But I am not sure about those ropes on the the tree.


Thank you
What do you not like how it looks or what it represents?
My favorite horror movie is sinister and there's a hanging tree sort of controlled by a demon type thing so it's basically making the cave I'll make the hiding spot for the monster.

That's not the finished setup tho. I'll dress it all up a little more and make the ropes look like vines like they grow from inside the cave making it mysterious looking

#535 Offline TechAnt - Posted July 10 2020 - 6:43 PM

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Awesome! But I am not sure about those ropes on the the tree.

Thank you
What do you not like how it looks or what it represents?
My favorite horror movie is sinister and there's a hanging tree sort of controlled by a demon type thing so it's basically making the cave I'll make the hiding spot for the monster.

That's not the finished setup tho. I'll dress it all up a little more and make the ropes look like vines like they grow from inside the cave making it mysterious looking

Actually, I don't like either, no offense. It makes me a little uncomfortable, while asthetically I prefer the tree, it can't really pull off extra stuff unless it really fits in. Its just my opinion though. But I see what you mean.


Edited by TechAnt, July 10 2020 - 6:43 PM.

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My Ants:
(x1) Campontous semitstaceus ~20 workers, 1 Queen
(x1) Camponotus vicinus ~10 workers, 1 Queen (all black variety)
(x1) Tetramorium immigrans ~100 workers, 1 Queen
(x1) Myrmercocystus mexicanus -1 Queen
(x2) Mymercocystus mimcus -1 Queen
(x1) Mymercocystus testaceus ~45 workers, 1 Queen

#536 Offline AntaholicAnonymous - Posted July 10 2020 - 7:01 PM

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It looks a little out of place at the moment I'm working on how to implement it preperly right now so that it looks more like it belongs.

Guess it also strongly depends on what you like in general. Many like the natural oasis look. I like the ants to look intimidating in this setup snatching crickets from the ropes foraging in the dessert cliff and hopefully building in the tower where the tree is on walking up and down the spiral to their hunting grounds.

Messor make long trails and can't go too steep elevations with seeds. They also like to dig deep in sand so I came up with the tower and spiral design. The tower is 50 cm deep and holds about 40 kilos of sand

#537 Offline TechAnt - Posted July 10 2020 - 7:22 PM

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Ah, cool.


My Ants:
(x1) Campontous semitstaceus ~20 workers, 1 Queen
(x1) Camponotus vicinus ~10 workers, 1 Queen (all black variety)
(x1) Tetramorium immigrans ~100 workers, 1 Queen
(x1) Myrmercocystus mexicanus -1 Queen
(x2) Mymercocystus mimcus -1 Queen
(x1) Mymercocystus testaceus ~45 workers, 1 Queen

#538 Offline mannac - Posted August 2 2020 - 2:18 PM

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I made a few founding formicariums using those boxbox containers, hydrostone, pool filter sand, and 25 micron mesh. Next time I'll go a little shallower with the hydrostone because it expanded enough to make the lid fit noticeably looser. And I need to pay more attention to CA glue off-gassing because it discolored the lids a bit.

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#539 Offline Wegmier - Posted August 6 2020 - 4:24 AM

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Some Ytong nests I've made

NZpMhCG.png

BoZWTjH.jpg

tjoeXjt.jpg


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1 x Lasius niger -  https://www.formicul...-wegmier/page-6

1 x Lasius flavus - https://www.formicul...flavus-wegmier/

4 x Camponotus fedtschenkoi - https://www.formicul...-wegmier/page-2


#540 Offline Richard - Posted September 4 2020 - 12:32 AM

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teno2aK.jpg







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