Finally made an update to this formicarium. The
Liometopum occidentale colony I had in it died a while back.
Made a quick mold for a test backing.
I realized a while back that most ants like their nest fairly dry. With the tile across the entire back of these nests, they were getting way too wet, so this time I'm only putting the tile across the bottom chambers.
Mold finished. Tile cut.
Covered one side of the tile with painter's tape.
Placed the tile in the mold with the taped side down and poured the resin.
Once everything was cured, I removed the tape and sanded the front down until it was perfectly flat. You can see where the resin has soaked into the tile a little bit. That's what makes the bond so strong. Without the tape across the front of the tile, it would have been all soaked with resin, and I would have been doing a LOT of sanding to get through it. I supposed with the mold being silicone and all, I could maybe apply enough pressure to the tile to keep any resin from seeping under it, but I'm not sure.
I cut the threaded back plate into two small pieces since the back is no longer flat. There's also no need for the chamois anymore since I can just put the water tank directly against the tile.
Here's how it looks with the water tank installed.
I decided to redo the Hydrostone floor on the out world, sprinkling sand on the surface this time.
I moved my
Novomessor cockerelli into it for testing this time. Amazingly, I checked 30 minutes later and they were already moved in. Not sure if that means they REALLY like this nest, or they hate my little founding nests.
They really actually seem to like both. Because the tile in the founding formicariums is so small, it should dry out pretty fast, causing the ants to move pretty quickly. I just didn't think it would be that quick.