3 replies to this topic

[futurebird]

Those of you who have really big colonies, did you buy or make your nests?

Of course one could just feed a bit less and let the growth taper off, but I have more shelf space... That said increasingly I find myself looking at the need to make my own nests for large colonies. Tar heel has some good bigger options, foranto too. But what are some other large nests options?

I don't mind building my own but I am very lazy. 

[kiedeerk]

Make your own DIY. The large nest from name brand will cost you 300+ dollars. Make your own for a fraction of the cost. 10x10 inches nest will probably cost $15 dollars or less in materials

[AntaholicAnonymous]

I have a massive colony but in a natural setup in a 0,5m x 1,5m tank.
I only do soil/sand setups with the specific goal of raising them to max potential.


I assume you're not gonna make a tank like that but you could add a plastic terrarium with sand and nicely decorated and watch your ants do big time construction work.
If they are that large in numbers I don't think the trade off in visibility is bad unless you need to see all the brood chambers at all times.

You can add springtails that help with cleaning and they are probably gonna travel through tubes and do cleaning throughout the entire nest.

Cheap, nest and foraging space combined, easy to set up, new behavior to observe, adapting to ants needs and numbers and so on. I can't advertise enough for natural setups. The only trade off is visibility but you're trading seeing some brood chambers VS a big part of what they do in nature which is making the nest themselves.
I don't know about your experience with those setups but if you don't use them I'd recommend giving it a try.

[FloridaAnts]

Those of you who have really big colonies, did you buy or make your nests?
Of course one could just feed a bit less and let the growth taper off, but I have more shelf space... That said increasingly I find myself looking at the need to make my own nests for large colonies. Tar heel has some good bigger options, foranto too. But what are some other large nests options?
I don't mind building my own but I am very lazy.

Ausant nest I wouldn’t describe “large” but they work pretty well. Shipping from Australia though… sheesh…

A great option to DIY ant nest is plaster base, in a decent sized container