13 replies to this topic

[Nathant2131]

I was playing around with water bottle caps to see what I could make and wooped together this thing:

 

 

 

 

Just a SmartWater bottle cap (3 cm diameter, 1.5 cm deep) with a small piece of cotton ball in it, then wrapped with clingwrap and closed it off with electrical tape. I can poke a tiny hole with a blunt tip syringe above the cotton for hydration. This is good becuase you can choose how hydrated it is and  how large the cootn ball can be, unlike test tubes where they are always the same humidity. Meant for small species like Lasius, Temnothorax, Brachymyrmex, Prenolepis imparis, etc. from the queen to first few workers. Literally just made this so I'll have to see how it goes for the first queen to house it.

 

Maybe I can drill a hole in the side and plug it with cotton. Then when workers come, I can place it in an outworld and unplug the cotton, since I can't get solid food in there without taking it apart or making a too-big hole.

 

Thoughts and suggestions?

[Works4TheGood]

What I did was buy tiny test tubes and create test tube setups using sugar water. They do dry up (sugar re-crystalizes on the cotton surface), but that's really fine because it forces me to freshen them up once a week. They can also get pretty nasty and change colors (yellow & pink first) if they're not changed frequently enough, so I would be certain that your design is easily cleaned or replaced.

[Annexis]

I believe some queens would be able to chew their way out of clingwrap, I could be wrong but I would watch out for that if I were you.

[Nathant2131]

What I did was buy tiny test tubes and create test tube setups using sugar water. They do dry up (sugar re-crystalizes on the cotton surface), but that's really fine because it forces me to freshen them up once a week. They can also get pretty nasty and change colors (yellow & pink first) if they're not changed frequently enough, so I would be certain that your design is easily cleaned or replaced.

Mm. I'll have to figure out a way to clean it up. I think replacing the cling wrap with a loose plastic cover would be easy for cleanup.

[dspdrew]

Yeah, ants will chew right through that thin plastic.

[Nathant2131]

I'll find a plastic top.

[drtrmiller]

Why did you do this?

[Works4TheGood]

Why did you do this?

I'm guessing that it was a self-imposed ant-keeping macgyver challenge. I've done a few myself!

Edited by Works4TheGood, March 19 2017 - 2:05 PM.

[Canadian anter]

I've tried it before and it doesn't work. Too many escapees

[Nathant2131]

Why did you do this?

this was my first ever formicarium I've made. I just wanted to start out little and go from there. I knew this was nothing revolutionary but I just wanted to test myself out.

Edited by Nathant2131, March 19 2017 - 2:21 PM.

[Alabama Anter]

Oh yeah, invicta will chew through that like no one's problem.

[thosaka]

This is great. I like how you make it from whatever you have in your house. I think this is how most billionaires and entrepreneurs started. If things don't work out with the founding chamber, I found this nicely sized container for a price:

 

I was thinking of pill bottles/capsule bottles/snap cap vials, but some were orange or translucent, and it would have been hard to take a picture, and some were too tall and too slim, not ideal for a founding chamber. I think this plastic jar is perfect with a 1.45 inch diameter and 1.25 inch height. Slightly wider and shorter in height than pill bottles/capsule bottles/snap cap vials. You can still take pictures from the side or from below, and, if you really need a picture from the top, you can take off the lid. Also, with a wider dimension, you can add a cotton that takes up half the space, and leave the other half without cotton.

 

http://www.ebay.com/...s&ul_noapp=true

 

My 2nd choice would be:

 

https://www.amazon.c...PE5VMGYXDY7RGH6

 

Tell me your insight. What do you think of these products?

[Alabama Anter]

I use bottle caps for feeders.

[Works4TheGood]

I use bottle caps for feeders.

I used to put cotton in bottle caps and then use a pipette to add sugar water.   It worked.  However, the setups got pretty disgusting after a while, and would require regular thorough cleaning.  Also, the ants love to pile substrate on it, and if there's enough of it, it can siphon out the sugar water.  That's when I switched to using small test tube setups half way filled with sugar water.