74 replies to this topic

[Waganga]

I really like that small gypsum nest you bought CoolColJ. I want to get one, but... I'm not sure how to actually BUY something from Taobao.  They give a lot of shipping options I don't understand, and it's not clear what the final price is including shipping. 

 

Also, it's kinda weird that on AliExpress it was $30, but Taobao has it listed as only $10 before shipping? Is it possibly a scam?

[CoolColJ]

Prices are cheaper on TaoBao as a general rule

[DaveJay]

I wonder what they are pixelating there in the nest to hide, maybe there were some ants in it when the photo was taken?  I assume the middle chamber is for hydration maybe.

It could just be ants, I know on eBay you can't advertise live animals so maybe they pixelated them out to abide by the sites rules regarding selling live animals? I notice that on eBay animal products only have toy animals in the advertising pictures, never real animals.

That's my guess anyway.

[DaveJay]

I squirted water onto the nest, and it does not appear to absorb water as fast as i thought!

Or does so very slowly

 

So it's not the kind of gypsum I have in the Empire of Ants nest I have here which is super absorbent.

So It will have to be a Nest Mate kind of hydration I think, or test tube plugged into one of the ports via vinyl tubing

 

edit - it did suck the cotton plug I wet in one of the ports dry, so maybe it does in a different way

But if you squirt water onto the chambers directly the water pools on the surface

When some compounds become very dry they become hydrophobic and repel water, once they reach a certain moisture level they start to absorb water again. This happens often with soil in plant pots, and it's why very arid areas can be prone to flash flooding, the soil is so dry that it repels water. I bet once patches of the gypsum start to finally become damp it will absorb water at a steadily increasing rate, you've probably already noticed this by now, I had meant to reply when I first read the comment.

[CoolColJ]

 

I squirted water onto the nest, and it does not appear to absorb water as fast as i thought!

Or does so very slowly

 

So it's not the kind of gypsum I have in the Empire of Ants nest I have here which is super absorbent.

So It will have to be a Nest Mate kind of hydration I think, or test tube plugged into one of the ports via vinyl tubing

 

edit - it did suck the cotton plug I wet in one of the ports dry, so maybe it does in a different way

But if you squirt water onto the chambers directly the water pools on the surface

When some compounds become very dry they become hydrophobic and repel water, once they reach a certain moisture level they start to absorb water again. This happens often with soil in plant pots, and it's why very arid areas can be prone to flash flooding, the soil is so dry that it repels water. I bet once patches of the gypsum start to finally become damp it will absorb water at a steadily increasing rate, you've probably already noticed this by now, I had meant to reply when I first read the comment.

 

 

 

I'll keep wetting the cotton wool and see if it changes. So far I have emptied over a syringe worth of water into the cotton wool and the nest has sucked it dry, albeit much slower than the other gypsum nest I have here

And the surface does not change in colour like the other nest does, to indicate that water has seeped into it

 

 

I wonder what they are pixelating there in the nest to hide, maybe there were some ants in it when the photo was taken?  I assume the middle chamber is for hydration maybe.

It could just be ants, I know on eBay you can't advertise live animals so maybe they pixelated them out to abide by the sites rules regarding selling live animals? I notice that on eBay animal products only have toy animals in the advertising pictures, never real animals.

That's my guess anyway.

 

 

They sell ants of Taobao, so that's not it
 

[CoolColJ]

Ok I squirted a whole bunch of water onto the nest, took a nap, had a look and all the water is gone

 

So it does suck it all up, eventually

 

And it does feel more damp to the touch now.

Also the areas that contact the glass change in colour, via pressure, indicating a level of water log

 

edit - taking the glass off, the contact areas were wet

Humidity reading is over 70% with glass lid loosely holding in a probe. With the glass lid shut and sealed, it will be much higher

 

 

some user pics

 

https://img.alicdn.com/imgextra/i3/0/TB2oVl2wKuSBuNjSsziXXbq8pXa_!!0-rate.jpg_400x400.jpg

 

https://img.alicdn.com/imgextra/i1/0/TB26057x7KWBuNjy1zjXXcOypXa_!!0-rate.jpg_400x400.jpg

Edited by CoolColJ, July 18 2018 - 7:19 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Tip - a piece of Blu Tack stuck on the glass makes a nice temporary handle to pull it cleanly on and off

Edited by CoolColJ, July 18 2018 - 8:13 PM.

[CoolColJ]

Prepped for my Pheidole antipodum/Carebara queen - the magnets are not attached to the glass, so it was easy to add the red film sheet on top the glass and then drop the magnets on.
Started with red dirt in the foraging area, but switched to white sand, it's still wet so darker in tone.
The bit of red dirt that leaked in between the nest and case is triggering me!

click to enlarge








She flipped on her back and couldn't get up in the foraging area, with the dry soft sand ( I wet it now), her whole back was covered in sand.
I have brushed most of it off, but still some remain, which is triggering me


 
She is 15mm and bulky, and she manages to get around OK inside.
I also tested my 16-17mm Camponotus consobrinus queen inside, and she also did ok.
But I think 20mm would be the limit for a bulky queen.

Edited by CoolColJ, July 19 2018 - 4:10 PM.

[Lamarr]

For that outworld, is the lid double lidded or is it a single piece?

[CoolColJ]

For that outworld, is the lid double lidded or is it a single piece?

It has a single trapdoor that is composed of two pieces that sandwich a mesh

[CoolColJ]

Another set of small gypsum nests with magnetic tops

https://www.aliexpre...iceBeautifyAB=0

[CoolColJ]

For the nest I'm using

I've been thinking of switching to a cotton glove finger, cut off, stuffed with cotton wool and tied up, jammed into the front port.
Then I can squirt a larger amount of water into it to soak into the gypsum - maybe one syringe worth, which should last a couple of weeks at least

or stick the end of it into a petri dish of water. Once it's sucked it all up, it should be good for a few weeks

Edited by CoolColJ, July 21 2018 - 2:27 PM.

[CoolColJ]

I temporarily removed the casing from my Ebay humidity meter's probe, and was able to insert it into one of the ports in the gypsum nest I'm using.

And it eventually read 99% humidity vs a 35% room humidty.

 

I last watered it on Sunday, 4-5 days ago.

 

I did the cotton glove finger thing I mentioned about, squirted a full syringe of water into a petri dish lid and and bent the cotton finger +stuffed cotton wool wick into it, and it sucked up all the water within 10 mins.

Right now this wick is completely dry as the nest sucked all the water from it.

 

There was already water in the nest, so it is over saturated in water

When I did the above the queen noticed the rise in water levels, and started to move around and explore the other parts of the nest.

And she also stood up peeking into the area where the glass lid and nest meet, as the water tends to get wicked there and spread through out the glass contact areas.

Maybe she wanted to drink the water there.

 

I will do another reading on Sunday, and another a week later, so I get an idea of how long the water lasts

Not hard to do right now as there is only a queen on the opposite side of the nest.

Edited by CoolColJ, July 25 2018 - 3:26 PM.

[CoolColJ]

I temporarily removed the casing from my Ebay humidity meter's probe, and was able to insert it into one of the ports in the gypsum nest I'm using.

And it eventually read 99% humidity vs a 35% room humidty.

 

I last watered it on Sunday, 4-5 days ago.

 

I did the cotton glove finger thing I mentioned about, squirted a full syringe of water into a petri dish lid and and bent the cotton finger +stuffed cotton wool wick into it, and it sucked up all the water within 10 mins.

Right now this wick is completely dry as the nest sucked all the water from it.

 

There was already water in the nest, so it is over saturated in water

When I did the above the queen noticed the rise in water levels, and started to move around and explore the other parts of the nest.

And she also stood up peeking into the area where the glass lid and nest meet, as the water tends to get wicked there and spread through out the glass contact areas.

Maybe she wanted to drink the water there.

 

I will do another reading on Sunday, and another a week later, so I get an idea of how long the water lasts

Not hard to do right now as there is only a queen on the opposite side of the nest.

 

 

One week later, tested humidity again and it still reads 99% vs 45% room humidity

 

I think I'll just leave the gauge plugged in, as the queen doesn't move to the other side of the nest

If only the unit had an alarm that went off if the humidity dropped below 60% then I would know exactly when to add water again

 

If the other gypsum nest is another to go by, with >2 syringes worth of water sucked in, it could last over a month

[fleetingyouth]

Hey CoolColJ

 

I picked up one of these to try out. 
Link

 

Do you think the venting might be too big for tetramorium colony? Also, what is the second tube on the side another water reservoir or a feeder tube?

 

Thanks for any info. 

[CoolColJ]

Hey CoolColJ
 
I picked up one of these to try out. 
Link
 
Do you think the venting might be too big for tetramorium colony? Also, what is the second tube on the side another water reservoir or a feeder tube?
 
Thanks for any info.

I have a white one of those - haven't put it together yet
But it's quite small

The mesh is small, no worries about escape here, but the outworld is held together by a jigsaw fit and silicon bands, so tiny species might crawl through the cracks
If you mean the slits for the nest dividers, well they are paper thin, so less than 0.5mm.
Can always Blu Tack them if needed

The side tube is a water feeder

If this nest is like the ones someone I know has, the water does last quite a while, over 2 months

Edited by CoolColJ, July 31 2018 - 1:28 AM.

[fleetingyouth]

Thanks that was what I thought. 

 

The air vent slits were what I was worried about really. they're super tiny but I wasnt sure what an ant could squeeze through. 

 

The outworld does seem a little sketchy for small ants. I might seal it together with a plexiglass adhesive. 

 

I really bought it just to get a better idea of how they were stacking the plexi for some DIY projects. 

[CoolColJ]

I've seen some of these Chinese copies of a MiniHearth type I

 

they seem to work well

Much better visibility that the real Minihearth type II and III I have....

 

[DaveJay]

I've seen some of these Chinese copies of a MiniHearth type I

they seem to work well
Much better visibility that the real Minihearth type II and III I have....

I like that one, much more natural looking than a lot of them, I would have liked to see a long shot though.

[DaveJay]

Thanks that was what I thought.

The air vent slits were what I was worried about really. they're super tiny but I wasnt sure what an ant could squeeze through.

The outworld does seem a little sketchy for small ants. I might seal it together with a plexiglass adhesive.

I really bought it just to get a better idea of how they were stacking the plexi for some DIY projects.

100 mesh is very cheap and easily found on eBay, I'm on a phone or I'd post a link, it might be a good idea to have a sheet on hand in case you are worried about ventilation holes being too large. If you're going to diy it would be very useful. While searching "stainless steel mesh' I came across pre-cut 2cm diameter round mesh pieces, not quite as fine as 100 mesh, but still very fine.
They come in packs of 5, I bought 10 (2 packs) for about $1.50au then found an ad for 100 pieces for about the same price so I ordered them too although I was a bit sceptical.
They came and were the same packs of 5, same brand etc, but as I expected due to past eBay experiences some of the cheap ones were slightly out of round but not enough to be noticeable just looking at one.
I found them to be very useful, drill a 10/15mm hole and stick one on, a very easy and neat way to provide ventilation imo.

Edit-
I should mention that they are advertised as being for pipes or hookahs to stop ash or charcoal being sucked in so as you can imagine the mesh is very fine.

Edited by DaveJay, August 7 2018 - 10:37 PM.