11 replies to this topic

[PorAmorArt]

Por Amor Art is a Canadian ant shop that produces and sells formicaria and ant keeping accessories. We have aesthetically pleasing products at affordable prices and ship worldwide! 

[PaigeX]

Very happy to hear you ship worldwide. I was not sure you might ship to Aus.

[Flu1d]

Not really sure where to leave my review, however I thought that I should share one now that I have been using several of your products over the course of the last several months.

Let me start off with the positive, which is the main reason I am leaving a review.

First off, I am a fan of the majority of your test tube accessories and their uses. I think it's very important to be able to have a wide variety of test tube accessories for a variety of tube sizes.

Your test tube inserts with the sand texture finish are great.. every ant I have used them with has loved them so far. I also really enjoy the cone adapters, they are extremely useful in connecting your test tube to outworlds or other things as well. I also have to say that I love the tube holders (I use the tall ones). It not only keeps my tube from rolling, but it also lifts them so you can either put a heating cable under them, keep them off a certain surface or to even lift the back up and keep the front down so that your water is always angled down at your cotton and never just level where it can eventually wet less surface area of the cotton, resulting in poorer humidity. Another product I like are the black jacket covers. I have found multiple uses for these. I must also give kudos to your test tube feeding inserts, I use these to feed all my test tube colonies that I haven't attached to outworlds yet due to colony size.

Now, some of the bad:

I'm not a fan of the cotton water keepers. Even with my keeper being made for 16mm tubes and I use 18mm, it blocks too much water from touching the cotton, resulting in very poor humidity. I almost killed 3 founding colonies with these keepers. I must recommend making the flat part that touches the cotton have tons of holes for water to get through, maybe like how you have your test tube insert backs made up, or even smaller holes if need be.. but more water needs to be able to touch the cotton.

Another issue is with your outworlds. The arenas allow a LOT of escapees for smaller species of ants, and the smaller ones (I have your largest sized one that isn't an "arena") have poor visibility due to having white, non see through walls. The top is also not see through. These are unfavorable qualities to have for an outworld.

Another issue I have is really more of a personal one, however you have some accessories for 18mm tube, but not for all of them. That is slightly frustrating for me because I only really use 18mm. You guys did give me the "it's not as common" reply before, however that doesn't explain why you offer 18mm support to SOME products, but not all. I would probably drop countless dollars to have an unlimited supply of 18mm products. The cone adapters are the major one.. buying the 20mm one and sanding down the rubber piece inside with a rotory tool works, but it's a lot of added work with a potential chance of messing up and ruining the piece.

Just my opinion! Honestly, small gripes.. the products, overall, are certainly nice and the owners, especially the gentleman (I have spoken to him more times than the lady, personally), are extremely knowledgeable on not only the ants but the science behind all things formicaria.

Edited by Flu1d, April 5 2023 - 10:34 AM.

[antsriondel]

This has been my experience of this brand. I found this company around a year ago and loved how all the nests looked in the pictures, plus they are located in Canada so win-win! So I decided to buy an apartment nest with a nano out world. They came in about two weeks after purchase and I loved the product. It looked very beautiful and I thought it was a smart design. So I used it and every time I hydrated the nest it would flood the colony and I would have a panic attack that my colony was going to die and they did. They drowned in the water. Now, the first outworld cracked and busted and Lexi was kind enough to give me a refund on my order and when I got the new nest and outworld I was excited to move a new colony in so I hydrated the nest and waited for twenty-four hours before moving a new colony in. And this time they were doing great for a good month before it flooded and killed another of my colonies. My suggestion is put some type of sponge in the hydration system, and that would fix the problem. I do not think that Por Amor has bad products, I just think that they should test their nests on ants for a good five to six months before releasing it. 

[Rrar]

I just got a jumbo formicarium starter kit. Hopefully it won't flood 

[Flu1d]

I just got a jumbo formicarium starter kit. Hopefully it won't flood

Make sure to join their Discord and speak to their community. They are knowledgeable and can help you out.

[PorAmorArt]

Not really sure where to leave my review, however I thought that I should share one now that I have been using several of your products over the course of the last several months.

Let me start off with the positive, which is the main reason I am leaving a review.

First off, I am a fan of the majority of your test tube accessories and their uses. I think it's very important to be able to have a wide variety of test tube accessories for a variety of tube sizes.

Your test tube inserts with the sand texture finish are great.. every ant I have used them with has loved them so far. I also really enjoy the cone adapters, they are extremely useful in connecting your test tube to outworlds or other things as well. I also have to say that I love the tube holders (I use the tall ones). It not only keeps my tube from rolling, but it also lifts them so you can either put a heating cable under them, keep them off a certain surface or to even lift the back up and keep the front down so that your water is always angled down at your cotton and never just level where it can eventually wet less surface area of the cotton, resulting in poorer humidity. Another product I like are the black jacket covers. I have found multiple uses for these. I must also give kudos to your test tube feeding inserts, I use these to feed all my test tube colonies that I haven't attached to outworlds yet due to colony size.

Now, some of the bad:

I'm not a fan of the cotton water keepers. Even with my keeper being made for 16mm tubes and I use 18mm, it blocks too much water from touching the cotton, resulting in very poor humidity. I almost killed 3 founding colonies with these keepers. I must recommend making the flat part that touches the cotton have tons of holes for water to get through, maybe like how you have your test tube insert backs made up, or even smaller holes if need be.. but more water needs to be able to touch the cotton.

Another issue is with your outworlds. The arenas allow a LOT of escapees for smaller species of ants, and the smaller ones (I have your largest sized one that isn't an "arena") have poor visibility due to having white, non see through walls. The top is also not see through. These are unfavorable qualities to have for an outworld.

Another issue I have is really more of a personal one, however you have some accessories for 18mm tube, but not for all of them. That is slightly frustrating for me because I only really use 18mm. You guys did give me the "it's not as common" reply before, however that doesn't explain why you offer 18mm support to SOME products, but not all. I would probably drop countless dollars to have an unlimited supply of 18mm products. The cone adapters are the major one.. buying the 20mm one and sanding down the rubber piece inside with a rotory tool works, but it's a lot of added work with a potential chance of messing up and ruining the piece.

Just my opinion! Honestly, small gripes.. the products, overall, are certainly nice and the owners, especially the gentleman (I have spoken to him more times than the lady, personally), are extremely knowledgeable on not only the ants but the science behind all things formicaria.

Let me start by saying that we truly appreciate your feedback and your suggested updates the cotton keepers sounds like a great idea. I'll be sure to pitch it to design. 

I see you're on our discord and I'd love to chat with you if you haven't already reached out to Yair to find out where the ants are escaping. If there is an error in the design we'd love to fix it for everyone and your feedback could help us making a better product for everyone.

 

As for the 18mm option. You can message us and see if we can make the product in the size you require. Sometimes it's not possible but we are always open to customize a product to fit your needs even if it isn't available in our store.

 

-Lexy

Edited by PorAmorArt, April 9 2023 - 8:24 AM.

[PorAmorArt]

This has been my experience of this brand. I found this company around a year ago and loved how all the nests looked in the pictures, plus they are located in Canada so win-win! So I decided to buy an apartment nest with a nano out world. They came in about two weeks after purchase and I loved the product. It looked very beautiful and I thought it was a smart design. So I used it and every time I hydrated the nest it would flood the colony and I would have a panic attack that my colony was going to die and they did. They drowned in the water. Now, the first outworld cracked and busted and Lexi was kind enough to give me a refund on my order and when I got the new nest and outworld I was excited to move a new colony in so I hydrated the nest and waited for twenty-four hours before moving a new colony in. And this time they were doing great for a good month before it flooded and killed another of my colonies. My suggestion is put some type of sponge in the hydration system, and that would fix the problem. I do not think that Por Amor has bad products, I just think that they should test their nests on ants for a good five to six months before releasing it. 

I wanted to follow up with you regarding our previous conversation. I couldn't recall if we discussed the flooding issue that you mentioned with our formicaria, so I took a look back and found that you had only mentioned the nano outworld breaking and the glass of the Apartment breaking. Which we refunded and replaced.

 

I also wanted to assure you that we thoroughly test all of our products and they are the only products we use for our inventory and personal colonies. We have never experienced any flooding ourselves, but we have had customers come back with this issue and it has been determined in each case that it was due to overwatering of the formicaria which we have tried to reduce such errors by changing the design to fit less water in the chamber. We appreciate your feed back and are happy to say that we do offer products with a cotton-like material in the water chamber. These products include the Cave 2.0 and Mini Cave, and they are available for purchase on our website. Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns - we're always here to help!

 

-Lexy

Edited by PorAmorArt, April 9 2023 - 8:39 AM.

[PorAmorArt]

I just got a jumbo formicarium starter kit. Hopefully it won't flood 

 

I just got a jumbo formicarium starter kit. Hopefully it won't flood 

Hello there,

 

Thank you for reaching out to us. We wanted to let you know that any cases of flooding that we've received have been determined to be caused by over-watering of the formicaria. While our water chambers can hold a lot of water, it's important to keep in mind that filling them up to the brim may not always be necessary. We highly recommend reading our hydration guide to ensure that you're providing the right amount of water to your formicaria.

 

Please know that we're always available to help if you have any questions or concerns. Here's a link to our hydration guide for your reference: https://www.poramora...hydration-guide. Thank you for choosing our products and we look forward to assisting you in any way we can.

 

-Lexy

[Flu1d]

Not really sure where to leave my review, however I thought that I should share one now that I have been using several of your products over the course of the last several months.

Let me start off with the positive, which is the main reason I am leaving a review.

First off, I am a fan of the majority of your test tube accessories and their uses. I think it's very important to be able to have a wide variety of test tube accessories for a variety of tube sizes.

Your test tube inserts with the sand texture finish are great.. every ant I have used them with has loved them so far. I also really enjoy the cone adapters, they are extremely useful in connecting your test tube to outworlds or other things as well. I also have to say that I love the tube holders (I use the tall ones). It not only keeps my tube from rolling, but it also lifts them so you can either put a heating cable under them, keep them off a certain surface or to even lift the back up and keep the front down so that your water is always angled down at your cotton and never just level where it can eventually wet less surface area of the cotton, resulting in poorer humidity. Another product I like are the black jacket covers. I have found multiple uses for these. I must also give kudos to your test tube feeding inserts, I use these to feed all my test tube colonies that I haven't attached to outworlds yet due to colony size.

Now, some of the bad:

I'm not a fan of the cotton water keepers. Even with my keeper being made for 16mm tubes and I use 18mm, it blocks too much water from touching the cotton, resulting in very poor humidity. I almost killed 3 founding colonies with these keepers. I must recommend making the flat part that touches the cotton have tons of holes for water to get through, maybe like how you have your test tube insert backs made up, or even smaller holes if need be.. but more water needs to be able to touch the cotton.

Another issue is with your outworlds. The arenas allow a LOT of escapees for smaller species of ants, and the smaller ones (I have your largest sized one that isn't an "arena") have poor visibility due to having white, non see through walls. The top is also not see through. These are unfavorable qualities to have for an outworld.

Another issue I have is really more of a personal one, however you have some accessories for 18mm tube, but not for all of them. That is slightly frustrating for me because I only really use 18mm. You guys did give me the "it's not as common" reply before, however that doesn't explain why you offer 18mm support to SOME products, but not all. I would probably drop countless dollars to have an unlimited supply of 18mm products. The cone adapters are the major one.. buying the 20mm one and sanding down the rubber piece inside with a rotory tool works, but it's a lot of added work with a potential chance of messing up and ruining the piece.

Just my opinion! Honestly, small gripes.. the products, overall, are certainly nice and the owners, especially the gentleman (I have spoken to him more times than the lady, personally), are extremely knowledgeable on not only the ants but the science behind all things formicaria.

Let me start by saying that we truly appreciate your feedback and your suggested updates the cotton keepers sounds like a great idea. I'll be sure to pitch it to design.

I see you're on our discord and I'd love to chat with you if you haven't already reached out to Yair to find out where the ants are escaping. If there is an error in the design we'd love to fix it for everyone and your feedback could help us making a better product for everyone.

As for the 18mm option. You can message us and see if we can make the product in the size you require. Sometimes it's not possible but we are always open to customize a product to fit your needs even if it isn't available in our store.

-Lexy

As far as the arena escapees goes, that is an issue that happened to another one of your Discord members. His name is Superkorn, reach out to him regarding his escapees. I believe he used some forms of thick black tape or something to fix it? I was going to buy one because I didn't like how much visibility is blocked by your outworlds, and liked how visible the arenas were. Once I discovered that issue with the arena, paired with not liking the visibility of the outworlds (although I like just about everything else regarding your outworlds), I have just avoided any more of your outworld products altogether. That is not to say they aren't good, they just don't fit my personal needs.

Regarding Discord, I haven't been on there in quite a while.

That being said, I discussed the 18mm things with Yair back then, and he basically told me to just use the 20mm size with my 18mm. It works okay with a lot of added work myself, but it's not an attractive option. I have decided to just use your tube feeding trays for now until they hit nest and outworld size.. not as fun or convenient, but I can deal with it until I find something better.

[PorAmorArt]

 

 

Not really sure where to leave my review, however I thought that I should share one now that I have been using several of your products over the course of the last several months.

Let me start off with the positive, which is the main reason I am leaving a review.

First off, I am a fan of the majority of your test tube accessories and their uses. I think it's very important to be able to have a wide variety of test tube accessories for a variety of tube sizes.

Your test tube inserts with the sand texture finish are great.. every ant I have used them with has loved them so far. I also really enjoy the cone adapters, they are extremely useful in connecting your test tube to outworlds or other things as well. I also have to say that I love the tube holders (I use the tall ones). It not only keeps my tube from rolling, but it also lifts them so you can either put a heating cable under them, keep them off a certain surface or to even lift the back up and keep the front down so that your water is always angled down at your cotton and never just level where it can eventually wet less surface area of the cotton, resulting in poorer humidity. Another product I like are the black jacket covers. I have found multiple uses for these. I must also give kudos to your test tube feeding inserts, I use these to feed all my test tube colonies that I haven't attached to outworlds yet due to colony size.

Now, some of the bad:

I'm not a fan of the cotton water keepers. Even with my keeper being made for 16mm tubes and I use 18mm, it blocks too much water from touching the cotton, resulting in very poor humidity. I almost killed 3 founding colonies with these keepers. I must recommend making the flat part that touches the cotton have tons of holes for water to get through, maybe like how you have your test tube insert backs made up, or even smaller holes if need be.. but more water needs to be able to touch the cotton.

Another issue is with your outworlds. The arenas allow a LOT of escapees for smaller species of ants, and the smaller ones (I have your largest sized one that isn't an "arena") have poor visibility due to having white, non see through walls. The top is also not see through. These are unfavorable qualities to have for an outworld.

Another issue I have is really more of a personal one, however you have some accessories for 18mm tube, but not for all of them. That is slightly frustrating for me because I only really use 18mm. You guys did give me the "it's not as common" reply before, however that doesn't explain why you offer 18mm support to SOME products, but not all. I would probably drop countless dollars to have an unlimited supply of 18mm products. The cone adapters are the major one.. buying the 20mm one and sanding down the rubber piece inside with a rotory tool works, but it's a lot of added work with a potential chance of messing up and ruining the piece.

Just my opinion! Honestly, small gripes.. the products, overall, are certainly nice and the owners, especially the gentleman (I have spoken to him more times than the lady, personally), are extremely knowledgeable on not only the ants but the science behind all things formicaria.

Let me start by saying that we truly appreciate your feedback and your suggested updates the cotton keepers sounds like a great idea. I'll be sure to pitch it to design.

I see you're on our discord and I'd love to chat with you if you haven't already reached out to Yair to find out where the ants are escaping. If there is an error in the design we'd love to fix it for everyone and your feedback could help us making a better product for everyone.

As for the 18mm option. You can message us and see if we can make the product in the size you require. Sometimes it's not possible but we are always open to customize a product to fit your needs even if it isn't available in our store.

-Lexy

As far as the arena escapees goes, that is an issue that happened to another one of your Discord members. His name is Superkorn, reach out to him regarding his escapees. I believe he used some forms of thick black tape or something to fix it? I was going to buy one because I didn't like how much visibility is blocked by your outworlds, and liked how visible the arenas were. Once I discovered that issue with the arena, paired with not liking the visibility of the outworlds (although I like just about everything else regarding your outworlds), I have just avoided any more of your outworld products altogether. That is not to say they aren't good, they just don't fit my personal needs.

Regarding Discord, I haven't been on there in quite a while.

That being said, I discussed the 18mm things with Yair back then, and he basically told me to just use the 20mm size with my 18mm. It works okay with a lot of added work myself, but it's not an attractive option. I have decided to just use your tube feeding trays for now until they hit nest and outworld size.. not as fun or convenient, but I can deal with it until I find something better.

 

 

It's good to know that:

 

Yes, this issue has already been brought to our attention. In fact, it appears to be the only incident reported among all the units sold so far. Superkorn received one of the very first units after the product's release, and after investigating, we concluded that it was likely an assembly issue with that specific item. Interestingly, this situation has led to some design upgrades that will be deployed in the coming weeks. We have implemented tighter gap tolerances and added four magnets to ensure all four corners are consistently pulled against the top frame, providing a secure fit for the top lid. Additionally, we have improved the tolerances on the mesh portion and gaps.

 

This information is reassuring, and I appreciate your feedback.

[Flu1d]

Not really sure where to leave my review, however I thought that I should share one now that I have been using several of your products over the course of the last several months.

Let me start off with the positive, which is the main reason I am leaving a review.

First off, I am a fan of the majority of your test tube accessories and their uses. I think it's very important to be able to have a wide variety of test tube accessories for a variety of tube sizes.

Your test tube inserts with the sand texture finish are great.. every ant I have used them with has loved them so far. I also really enjoy the cone adapters, they are extremely useful in connecting your test tube to outworlds or other things as well. I also have to say that I love the tube holders (I use the tall ones). It not only keeps my tube from rolling, but it also lifts them so you can either put a heating cable under them, keep them off a certain surface or to even lift the back up and keep the front down so that your water is always angled down at your cotton and never just level where it can eventually wet less surface area of the cotton, resulting in poorer humidity. Another product I like are the black jacket covers. I have found multiple uses for these. I must also give kudos to your test tube feeding inserts, I use these to feed all my test tube colonies that I haven't attached to outworlds yet due to colony size.

Now, some of the bad:

I'm not a fan of the cotton water keepers. Even with my keeper being made for 16mm tubes and I use 18mm, it blocks too much water from touching the cotton, resulting in very poor humidity. I almost killed 3 founding colonies with these keepers. I must recommend making the flat part that touches the cotton have tons of holes for water to get through, maybe like how you have your test tube insert backs made up, or even smaller holes if need be.. but more water needs to be able to touch the cotton.

Another issue is with your outworlds. The arenas allow a LOT of escapees for smaller species of ants, and the smaller ones (I have your largest sized one that isn't an "arena") have poor visibility due to having white, non see through walls. The top is also not see through. These are unfavorable qualities to have for an outworld.

Another issue I have is really more of a personal one, however you have some accessories for 18mm tube, but not for all of them. That is slightly frustrating for me because I only really use 18mm. You guys did give me the "it's not as common" reply before, however that doesn't explain why you offer 18mm support to SOME products, but not all. I would probably drop countless dollars to have an unlimited supply of 18mm products. The cone adapters are the major one.. buying the 20mm one and sanding down the rubber piece inside with a rotory tool works, but it's a lot of added work with a potential chance of messing up and ruining the piece.

Just my opinion! Honestly, small gripes.. the products, overall, are certainly nice and the owners, especially the gentleman (I have spoken to him more times than the lady, personally), are extremely knowledgeable on not only the ants but the science behind all things formicaria.

Let me start by saying that we truly appreciate your feedback and your suggested updates the cotton keepers sounds like a great idea. I'll be sure to pitch it to design.

I see you're on our discord and I'd love to chat with you if you haven't already reached out to Yair to find out where the ants are escaping. If there is an error in the design we'd love to fix it for everyone and your feedback could help us making a better product for everyone.

As for the 18mm option. You can message us and see if we can make the product in the size you require. Sometimes it's not possible but we are always open to customize a product to fit your needs even if it isn't available in our store.

-Lexy

As far as the arena escapees goes, that is an issue that happened to another one of your Discord members. His name is Superkorn, reach out to him regarding his escapees. I believe he used some forms of thick black tape or something to fix it? I was going to buy one because I didn't like how much visibility is blocked by your outworlds, and liked how visible the arenas were. Once I discovered that issue with the arena, paired with not liking the visibility of the outworlds (although I like just about everything else regarding your outworlds), I have just avoided any more of your outworld products altogether. That is not to say they aren't good, they just don't fit my personal needs.

Regarding Discord, I haven't been on there in quite a while.

That being said, I discussed the 18mm things with Yair back then, and he basically told me to just use the 20mm size with my 18mm. It works okay with a lot of added work myself, but it's not an attractive option. I have decided to just use your tube feeding trays for now until they hit nest and outworld size.. not as fun or convenient, but I can deal with it until I find something better.

It's good to know that:

Yes, this issue has already been brought to our attention. In fact, it appears to be the only incident reported among all the units sold so far. Superkorn received one of the very first units after the product's release, and after investigating, we concluded that it was likely an assembly issue with that specific item. Interestingly, this situation has led to some design upgrades that will be deployed in the coming weeks. We have implemented tighter gap tolerances and added four magnets to ensure all four corners are consistently pulled against the top frame, providing a secure fit for the top lid. Additionally, we have improved the tolerances on the mesh portion and gaps.

This information is reassuring, and I appreciate your feedback.

Back to the positive, I don't think there's a shop in any country that I have ever seen that comes close to your test tube accesories.. I just hope in the future you guys get a few more 18mm products. If not, oh well 🤷 🤣