16 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

So I got tired of having tin foil stick to the tip of my applicator bottle while trying to squirt out a little nectar. I got tired of sneezing or coughing while preparing a honey and cricket dinner for 50 colonies, and having half of them flip over and stick to the counter. I got tired of my large Camponotus queens chewing it up and spreading it all over inside the test tube, or dumping whatever is on it all over the place, defeating the whole purpose of using it in the first place, so I decided I need a bowl. I went to Home Depot, walked through the hardware isle, and came home with 200 of them for $3.40. They even come with a handle making it simple to add or remove them using a tweezers.

 

[Jesse]

You didn't know Home Depot sold ant food bowls? EVERYONE knew that!

 

But seriously, what exactly did you get?

Edited by Jesse, June 5 2014 - 1:10 PM.

[dspdrew]

They're thumb tacks.

[antsinmypants]

How do you clean the thumb tacks, especially after puting honey or sticky mealworm parts in it?

[dspdrew]

I would probably just soak them, but that wouldn't be very often. I usually just left the food in there on the tin foil for them to eat when ever they felt like it, because I live in a fairly dry place where the food doesn't really mold, it just dries out.

[Mercutia]

That's smart. I just use vinyl tubing cut into small segments. The tube's outer diameter = the inner diameter of the test tube and I just toss them out after. This is a real nice way to do it though.

[dspdrew]

I think I'm gonna stick them all into something and spray them with Plasti Dip to give them a nice rubber coating on the bottom to make sure they don't slide around.

[Tspivey16]

I think I will have to try this

[Crystals]

You paid $3.40 for 200 thumbtacks when they are $1.50 at the dollar stores?  

 

Good idea nonetheless.  I like being able to toss out tin foil and my queens are pretty well behaved - except when they try to push the tinfoil against the cotton holding the water.

To wash a lot of them, get a mesh bag and put all the dirty thumb tacks in and toss it in the dishwasher.  Even just hot water under the tap will only take 30 seconds.

[dspdrew]

Haha, well I guess I could have checked the dollar store, but I needed a whole isle of hardware to look through.

 

I wish I had a dishwasher.

[Crystals]

You have a dishwasher, it just happens to be you. 

[WeatherAnt]

This is a pretty cool idea. I usually just take a paper towel in soak it in sugar/honey water ... this way the ants can't fall in and drown (which was a reoccurring problem for some of my past colonies).

[Mathiacus]

Awesome idea. Aimlessly wandering my hardware store is where I found cheap glass to cover my ytong nests. I tried all the local glaziers but they must mix gold in with the sand to charge what they do. I found a 600x200x8 mm tempered glass shelf.. $13! Ytong brick. . 600x200x75 $4.95 the dimensions being perfect was a clear sign to buy! Sent from my GT-I9305T using Tapatalk

Edited by Mathiacus, June 8 2014 - 8:40 PM.

[dspdrew]

It's a good thing the dimensions were the same, because tempered glass can't be cut.

[Mathiacus]

Yeah. I was going to buy that perspex/acrylic stuff but it is insanely expensive here. The glass was a bonus! Add to that the fact that it is 75mm thick, it is hefty and I may be able to get away with having it just held by its own weight.

Sent from my GT-I9305T using Tapatalk

[Lieutenant Redundant]

Well!  That is much easier than what I currently do, which is cut off the very end of a chapstick cap.  Although for larger pieces of food I will probably stick with my chapstick cap tips.

 

At any rate, that thumb tack idea is awesome.

[dspdrew]

So far the only down side to these are they slide around a bit if you tilt the test tube too much, and it can damage the brood of smaller sized ants. I have been planning to spray the tops of them with Plastidip in hopes that the rubber will make them much less likely to slide.