Until this spring, when I was ordering a colony and saw that the seller also had 3-queen founding Camponotus nicobarensis for sale, and decided to go for it.
They arrived safe and sound and have quickly become one of my favorite colonies! When they showed up it was just the queens and their first eggs, and over the last several months they've grown to around 120 workers.
Until now they've lived in a large test tube, but this week the test tube was suddenly full, and they were moving pupae to their outworld. So I quickly threw together a wooden nest for them. I've always loved the look of wooden nests, so I tried making a super basic one out of a pine wood board I had laying around.
I know pine wood isn't the best option since it's a fairly soft wood, but it's what I had on hand, and is temporary. So far they've made 0 attempts to chew the wood. They're actually taking little cotton fibers from the old test tube, and shoving it into the tiny gaps between the wood and the glass.
They definitely love the new nest, 2 queens and 80% of the workers had moved in within a handful of hours. By the next morning the entire colony was in.
The other great thing about this nest is that I can finally see them all really well! A packed test tube doesn't provide the best view. But look at this!
I know it's won't be long until they outgrow this nest, so I'm already working on the next one. And I'm hoping that it's going to be a proper display-worthy masterpiece.
I had a bird feeder made of birch logs, and the legs were starting to rot and fall off. So I took it apart, and it looks like the center log is in really nice shape still. Not rotten at all since it never touched the ground, but has a nice worn/textured look from years of being out in all sorts of weather. I want to make this into a vertical nest. I'll add a wooden base to make it sturdy (maybe a thin slice of a trunk), and carve the nest into it.
The only thing I haven't decided is if I want to saw off the entire front of the log, or just cut a tall "window" into it like this:
I'm leaning towards the window option so you can still see the log texture from the front.
Biggest problem here is that I don't have any tools that would make this easier, just a miter saw, hand sander, and dremel with wood carving bits. Might end up having to buy something.
The biggest thing I'm unsure of is how I'd make the window perfectly flat for a snug fit with the glass. Since it would be a bit recessed into the log that gets more difficult than if I could just slap the whole thing onto a belt sander (*which I also don't have either way haha)
Any suggestions on how to go about making this big nest would be appreciated!
