12 replies to this topic

[drtrmiller]

Check out byFormica Products on Amazon

 

 

 

Edited by drtrmiller, September 26 2016 - 8:07 PM.

[JediPeaceFrog]

I really liked your grotube. Was curious if you had any 'scratch & dent' items you were looking to clear out at nice prices? Thanks.

[drtrmiller]

I really liked your grotube. Was curious if you had any 'scratch & dent' items you were looking to clear out at nice prices? Thanks.

 

No defective ones, but the very last manufacturing run is currently under construction (ETA sometime in July).  When everything is finished, I'll be launching a fire sale with Early Bird pricing, and prices so low as to clear everything out of inventory to make way way for the next generation formicarium.

 

To be notified when this sale goes live:

 

Like byFormica on Facebook: http://facebook.com/byFormica

Follow byFormica on Instagram: http://instagram.com/byFormica

Sign up for our email newsletter: http://eepurl.com/QoWWP

Edited by drtrmiller, June 14 2016 - 4:51 PM.

[Okeedoke22]

I really liked your grotube. Was curious if you had any 'scratch & dent' items you were looking to clear out at nice prices? Thanks.

 
No defective ones, but the very last manufacturing run is currently under construction (ETA sometime in July).  When everything is finished, I'll be launching a fire sale with Early Bird pricing, and prices so low as to clear everything out of inventory to make way way for the next generation formicarium.
 
To be notified when this sale goes live:
 
Like byFormica on Facebook: http://facebook.com/byFormica
Follow byFormica on Instagram: http://instagram.com/byFormica
Sign up for our email newsletter: http://eepurl.com/QoWWP

Great. Your outworlds are seriously a work of art. Perfect for a display colony.

[NightsWebs]

Thanks for the sunburst sale just ordered more! My ants just stay on it all the time! I also ordered the feeder package! I will let you know how my crazy Pogonomyrmex's and Novomessors do!

[yen_saw]

I took advantage of it too and bought the 240 ml sunburst!!!

[altmoola]

How do you justify $25 for 120ml of liquid sugar?

[drtrmiller]

Thanks for the sunburst sale just ordered more! My ants just stay on it all the time! I also ordered the feeder package! I will let you know how my crazy Pogonomyrmex's and Novomessors do!

I took advantage of it too and bought the 240 ml sunburst!!!

 

Thanks to everyone for your incredible support!  Half a liter of Sunburst should last quite a while!

 

The past few weeks have really kept me busy, and I am very grateful for the community response here.  While it's a struggle to balance manufacturing efforts with continued R&D, none of what I do would be possible without you guys here.  Thank you.

 

How do you justify $25 for 120ml of liquid sugar?

 

In short, the limited market for such a product would not allow me to stay in business very long if I charged substantially less.  I charge the most reasonable prices I can, considering a whole host of business factors—not simply the material cost of goods sold.

 

A more detailed explanation was sent to you via PM.

Edited by drtrmiller, June 23 2016 - 6:04 AM.

[drtrmiller]

I updated the primary image to reflect subtle changes to the product appearance since the upgrade:



The non-threaded bases are both slightly shorter and have a colored band to easily distinguish them from the threaded bases.

Edited by drtrmiller, June 25 2016 - 11:42 AM.

[drtrmiller]

Sale ended

Edited by drtrmiller, September 26 2016 - 8:07 PM.

[kellakk]

Hey Terry, have you experimented with adding amino acids to your sunburst nectar? Depending on the combination of amino acid, that would likely boost receptivity and colony health.

[drtrmiller]

Hey Terry, have you experimented with adding amino acids to your sunburst nectar? Depending on the combination of amino acid, that would likely boost receptivity and colony health.

 

I've researched these diets, which include the holidic Straka/Feldhaar diet.  In general, I have serious doubts of both efficacy and receptivity, as discussed in successive replication studies.  And since I don't have the resources to conduct my own original research, I rely heavily on the work of others in both academia and the antkeeping community to provide possible solutions that transfer over to hobby antkeeping husbandry.

Besides the obvious challenges, such as determining a composition that broadly supports the growth of many different species of ants, there are other difficulties that prevent these diets from serving as convenient or effective tools; such as, but not limited to the fact that some amino acids are immiscible in water, or that the resulting solution would require refrigeration, and would have a diminished shelf life.

 

If you have journals you'd like me to peruse, or other specific knowledge that may be useful in the development of ant diets or antkeeping products, don't hesitate to PM or email me.

Edited by drtrmiller, September 26 2016 - 8:20 PM.

[kellakk]

 

Hey Terry, have you experimented with adding amino acids to your sunburst nectar? Depending on the combination of amino acid, that would likely boost receptivity and colony health.

 

I've researched these diets, which include the holidic Straka/Feldhaar diet.  In general, I have serious doubts of both efficacy and receptivity, as discussed in successive replication studies.  And since I don't have the resources to conduct my own original research, I rely heavily on the work of others in both academia and the antkeeping community to provide possible solutions that transfer over to hobby antkeeping husbandry.

Besides the obvious challenges, such as determining a composition that broadly supports the growth of many different species of ants, there are other difficulties that prevent these diets from serving as convenient or effective tools; such as, but not limited to the fact that some amino acids are immiscible in water, or that the resulting solution would require refrigeration, and would have a diminished shelf life.

 

If you have journals you'd like me to peruse, or other specific knowledge that may be useful in the development of ant diets or antkeeping products, don't hesitate to PM or email me.

 

 

I agree that all of those all-in-one synthetic diets are not applicable for hobbyists.  There are few people studying ant nutrition, though, so it's not likely that a study useful for hobbyists will be done anytime soon.

 

However, the addition of amino acids to a sucrose solution doesn't have to create an all-in-one diet.  You could instead add small amounts of amino acids that are present in aphid honeydew, basically acting to increase receptivity and to supplement the amino acids the ants are getting from the insects they're feeding on.  I haven't done a thorough search of the literature yet to see how useful this would be, but I could see it being helpful if you feed your ants only 1 type of insect.  I'll look further into this to see if the benefits would be great enough and PM you.