23 replies to this topic

[CamponotusLover]

I have been taking short glimpse of this post for the last 2 days and I gotta say it's brilliant and awesome. I am gonna start to eat more peanut butter after my workouts since it's good for that and will slowly empty some containers and then, in time, I will hopefully be able to try this once I get atleast 2 empty jif containers. Great post.

[DaveJay]

I have been taking short glimpse of this post for the last 2 days and I gotta say it's brilliant and awesome. I am gonna start to eat more peanut butter after my workouts since it's good for that and will slowly empty some containers and then, in time, I will hopefully be able to try this once I get atleast 2 empty jif containers. Great post.

What are you waiting for? Grab a spoon and a jar and put a movie on!

[Trythis22]

CL,

 

Good to see you again. This reply has taken a while because I was trying to troubleshoot some issues tailored specifically to you and other readers in your position. I assume you have Camponotus? Please read the following 3 points for more information on how to better customize this nest for your needs. 

 

• Humidity. The peanut butter formicarium without any water gels or hydrating element inside the watering chamber will get as low as 72%-74% RH at 90° F. The RH% will increase with less heat, but I've found that relying on the RH% alone is not the best indicator of "dryness". The RH% is relative, like its name suggests. This nest can get extremely dry if need be, even at room temperature. If you live in a dry place, that number can fall further. I live in a very wet place so those are pretty high numbers. 

• • Adding a test tube if you have moisture in the main nest is not mandatory, but if you are going with the low humidity option, adding a test tube is almost mandatory. Using electrical tape will speed up the process, but you can use any tape to create a tight fit. Reference the follow-up post in the previous page. 

  • In regards to humidity, I found that buying water gels is not necessary. You could shove a damp paper towel in the watering chamber and it'd do the same thing. It's not stupid if it works. To be honest the water gels thing was just an experiment for my personal curiosity. This should bring down the cost even more. 

  • It takes a bit for the grout piece to dry out. It took a week at 90° F in my heating setup for the dummy nest with the probes to register at 72% RH. Before it was 99%, even without any hydration. I tested this out so you are safe to do this: Take your final sanded piece (make sure the container slips in and out without scratching the walls) and put it in an oven at 250° F for an hour. Do not put the container in as well, only the nest piece. Wait for the grout to cool before slipping on the container. 

• Nest expansion. I also don't know what your colony sizes are, but I'm assuming they're not in the thousands of workers or else you wouldn't want to build a small formicarium like this one. I wanted to include a nest expansion function for you since I don't want you to spend extra money on springtails if you haven't already. Shaye brought this issue to light. You can gradually increase the nesting space available to your ants by using only a cotton ball, some string and a paperclip, so the ants have a greater chance of properly disposing their garbage in the outworld. 

• • Ball & string + paperclip. First things first. This is a way to gradually expand the nesting area available to your ants. I tried to do this before, wrapping the string around the chambers but it didn't work because physics. With the floors punched out, you can do this with no problem. You can create as many "chambers" as you want. Once you expanded to maximum, just leave the cotton in the nest or cut out small pieces of it if you are concerned about mold and seal the gap. 

    • Take a cotton ball and and tie a string around it tightly. Use your teeth to hold one end while pulling on the other end. Cut off the loose end. Depending on cotton ball size and how much floor you cut out, you may need to tie multiple cotton balls together. 

    • Take your container and notch out a small opening at the bottom, exactly where the string will fall down. This is the opening you will slowly pull out the cotton, opening up new areas of the nest for your ants. If you pull more than you meant to, you can take a paperclip to push the cotton ball back into position. 

  • If you are doing this nest expansion function, it's important that there is no access down to the lower levels via the gaps in the edges of the floors. Shaye mentioned this as well, and although it's not a big problem as it is, it becomes a significant problem if you are doing the nest expansion option since there'd be no point in blocking off one entrance if there's another. If you have silicone, you can do it that way. If you don't want to buy silicone, test out the nest with one of your worker ants. If they are Camponotus or another large species and you were careful with your sanding, they should not be able to fit through the gaps. The queen definitely will never be traveling through these gaps. The grout will not scratch the plastic if there is even 1mm of space between them; it can be done.

  • There's a process involving melting the plastic that I tried out to fix this problem, but the main issue is shrinkage. Check out the last picture on the right though, the plastic wraps neatly around the gaps. Maybe there's a forum member here who might some insight into selectively warping certain sections? This thing is as hard as a rock after the heat treatment in the oven. Unfortunately it didn't work out. 

  • Anyways, some better idea may surface in the near future. Bottom line is: If you have a larger species and you were careful with your sanding, the ants will not fit in the gaps. If you have smaller species and access to silicone, it can be remedied. This is only important if you are utilizing the nest expansion function. 

• Monolithic pour. You can also pour everything in one go. It's what I've been doing to save time after the second unit but I forgot to mention it in the follow up post. After you get your coil finalized in the peanut butter container, use a disposable cup to "hold" the container (adjust the cup for how big of a foot you want), place it on a flat surface and shove a bunch of paper towels next to the bottom to prevent the grout from "leaking". This way you can "monolithic" pour the grout, creating a stronger piece (not that it matters). Doing this means you have to position the skewer tube more accurately, or your watering chamber will become crooked. Try to get it straight down the middle.

These are unfinished pieces I tested out for demonstration purposes*

 

Thank you for your interest and if you decide to pursue this further, I will be here to help you out or answer any questions you may have. If you have an embarrassing question you don't want to post, you can always PM me. 

 

Dave,

 

I recommend a movie marathon - the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy. The Matrix, The Godfather, and The Dark Knight trilogies also work. Depression, anxiety, and sleep deprivation also help food binges, but at that point you really have to re-evaluate your life decisions. 

Edited by Trythis22, September 27 2018 - 10:08 PM.

[GeorgeK]

I hear entire day hauling hay might help you with food binges, worth a try?