9 replies to this topic

[futurebird]

One of the downsides to connecting your nests using long tubes is "ant loitering" some ants like to just hang out in the tubes because they retain a little moisture and it's near everything. This will cause the tubes to get dirty and less attractive... hence my new invention of a "mid tube fan"

 

 

I just need to find a small enough fan and 3D print a little holder for it. 

[Artisan_Ants]

Wow, that a pretty good idea. I currently don’t have huge mega colonies, or even colonies in the hundreds, but based on what you have explained (and I’ve seen it in videos) that is pretty genius.

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

Some of my colonies do that and this would be a great idea

[futurebird]

I've bought some low velocity little computer fans and I'm going to design something and see how it goes. I need to add a screen and ensure that the wind isn't so harsh it prevents the ants from moving or too scary. 

 

I'll post more about it in a few weeks when I have something mocked up. 

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

Good luck on the project

[BleepingBleepers]

Oh, I thought hanging out in the tube was because the lower temperature around the tube was triggering their sense of wanting a cooldown / hibernate. That's what happened to my CA02 ants, but mines was on a bigger scale (like a third of the colony or more hanging in the tube) so now they're on cooldown for another month or two.

 

I also noticed more hanging out around the tube when I increased the size from 3/8" to 1/2" to give them more room to squeeze past each other.

 

That is so funny though, tube loitering lmao.....I'm tempted to show this to my boss but he might use it on us hahaha!

[futurebird]

The larger tubes do cause more loitering. And that might also be the issue with my Camponotus discolor colony. I think they just like being close to both outworlds but not out in the open. Someone over on mastodon made this meme when we were talking about this idea:

 

[Full_Frontal_Yeti]

i would suggest that cutting screened vent holes along the tube top could allow the tubes to have a more outside air sent to the ants. Which should discourage loitering/living in the tubes. But not be as much trial and error effort or complexity as forced air venting would be.

 

Just taking out a small bit of the tube and pressing a bit of hot steel screen to it will seal it shut, and if the screening can be a large enough weave, then it should keep the tube much more like outside nest air to the ants' POV.

 

A keep it simple silly path relative to powered motor moving part options to try out, before moving on to more complex solutions.

 

On the fan version.

Venting would be a good flow power control. So the fan was drawing in fresh air from right next to it as well as though the tubes. Find a decent RPM for the fan that balances air flow/noise levels for you. Then basically make vent holes right by the fan, so the ratio of air drawn through the tube is lowered relative to the air being drawn in right next to the fan.

I figure dialing in the speed of the fan would be harder than the air pressure, to control how hard the fan moves air through the tube. Many such tiny fans have a minimum RPM start up, and also a minimum operation RPM they can run at and keep spinning(lower than minimum start up RPM).

So it is possible they would always move air at a greater pressure than desired, and venting their intake area will be the only way to get the air flow in the tubes low enough.

 

But again being me, i'd look for a solid state solution first if i could find one.

 

And my own observations with my ants are that smaller diameter tubes discourage loitering. When a tube is narrower and gets traffic jammed easily, i notice it is also a less popular place to just hang out. While wider tubes that have plenty of room, are fine to just loiter in if you got nothing better to do.

As well shorter tubes. A short tube of any width is more just a means to get form A to B. But a long enough tube, even if it is narrow, is maybe just more nest space in between the A and B on either end of it.

When i had a very long narrow tube, they used it as seed larder. When the same tube got shortened by about 90%, it is now just a hall way to get between places and they store nothing in it anymore.

Edited by Full_Frontal_Yeti, March 4 2024 - 11:42 AM.

[antsriondel]

Wow nice idea! I might have to make one of these myself. 

[Mushu]

Great concept. I did plan to have some fan blowing into the outworld in the 20 gallon tank for the same reason to dissuade the ants from nesting out there as I planned to have some mini cactus. I’d agree with Full_Frontal_Yeti that the simplest and most elegant solution would be to add vents to the tubes.