My Lasius needed an upgrade and since they are growing so fast I thought I would try out an acrylic nest.
Took me a few trials to get everything right and then let the ants move in.
I used a scroll saw to make strips of acrylic from some scrap laying around, the bottom and top panes are glass as they scratch less easily. Slow speeds and certain bits work better than others for cutting acrylic with a scrollsaw. I didn't have quite the right bit, so I couldn't carve tunnels or anything fancy.
I used aquarium silicone to silcone all of the tunnel pieces down to the bottom pane of glass. I only siliconed the outside border on the top pane. So in the water chamber, the top joint of the acrylic tunnel and top glass is un-siliconed to allow water to hydrate the nest through evaporation.
I made 2 water tunnels - I could have made them much smaller as I haven't added any water in 2 weeks and the sand is still soaked. In several trials with the water chamber it turns out that it needs some sort of filler or the water promptly floods the tunnels. It needs to be at least 2/3 full, or preferably, completely full of sand or some other inert filler. I advise rinsing the sand first to remove dust.
I also carved/sanded a small nick into the top of the acrylic in the water tunnels to allow water to get into the joint more easily. I made these little "channels" go completely across the acrylic and connect both water chamber and tunnel - it was un-needed, I really only needed the smallest nick on the water chamber side to allow the water to creep between the glass top and the acrylic walls that made up the water chamber.
I drilled a hole in the glass with a diamond bit to connect an outworld.
I used 2 pieces of 3mm acrylic for the tunnels, and the scroll saw melted the edges of the 2 pieces together. Nice and solid. I had hoped to add the tubing ports to the side, but the tubing that would fit into a 6mm space would not allow the Lasius queen to pass. So I ended up drilling a hole in the top glass. I don't really like drilling glass, it tends to crack too much as I get impatient and go too fast.
Next time I will make the tunnel walls taller to all me to add the tubes to the side (or I could even add an additional solid piece of acrylic to the bottom glass pane if I don't want the tunnels deeper). Acrylic is much easier to drill than glass, and far more forgiving.
All in all, the ants don't seem to mind it. I prefer more natural setups so I am a bit unsure about it. But it is doing what it is supposed to.
I suspect smaller ants wouldn't mind this kind of setup, but I wouldn't use this setup for Formica, Camponotus, or other larger species. I think they may have trouble getting traction on the smooth surfaces.
Not sure if I will build another acrylic nest or not. I may just stick with firebrick as all ants seem to love it.
