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Formicarium for Temnothorax questions

Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2016 12:57 am
by AntMomo
Hey guys, eventually when my Temnothorax Curvispinosus colony needs a formicarium, I want to have something nice and small for them, since they're so tiny and tend to make small nests. AntsCanada is great but doesn't really have anything small enough (while looking nice) yet for what I'm looking for, plus I just wanted to shop around.

https://tarheelants.com/collections/for ... er-or-50mm

I'm considering the small inception chamber, does anyone have any experience with it? I have a few questions about it:

1) Is it worth paying extra for the water tower/humidity source to be inside the nest?
2) How deep is that sand? Is that hard surface with only a light dusting of sand, or is it more than a couple mm's thick of sand? I do not want thick sand, I only want a very thin dusting of sand at most. Unless they wouldn't dig in the sand? I'm worried if it's too thick, they'd try to nest in it or dig tunnels. The videos made it look a little deep...
2.5) -and adding on to that last question, is it possible to just dump out the sand and add back as much as I see fit?
3) Should I pay extra by checking the "tiny species" option rather than just "small species" for temnothorax? Should I just leave it at "small" or "medium" so they have room for their colony to grow more? I intend it to be a long term home for them since I heard Temnothorax rarely ever get big numbers.

Anyway, input appreciated! I have been doing research and watching videos on how these formicaria work, and I'm not really sure about how "user-friendly" they are, but it could be more fitting for my colony in the longrun. I just have very little point of reference as to how the exact nest will look at the different sizes, or what the substrate is like, with only pictures and some videos to look at. If anyone's had experience with similar products, let me know!

Re: Formicarium for Temnothorax questions

Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2016 7:18 am
by AntLove5Ever
1) Is it worth paying extra for the water tower/humidity source to be inside the nest?
2) How deep is that sand? Is that hard surface with only a light dusting of sand, or is it more than a couple mm's thick of sand? I do not want thick sand, I only want a very thin dusting of sand at most. Unless they wouldn't dig in the sand? I'm worried if it's too thick, they'd try to nest in it or dig tunnels. The videos made it look a little deep...
2.5) -and adding on to that last question, is it possible to just dump out the sand and add back as much as I see fit?
3) Should I pay extra by checking the "tiny species" option rather than just "small species" for temnothorax? Should I just leave it at "small" or "medium" so they have room for their colony to grow more? I intend it to be a long term home for them since I heard Temnothorax rarely ever get big numbers.


1) IMO, no if you need it I would just build it.

2) IDK

2.5) probably?

3) No, go with small species. If you want to you can check tiny species, but just in case the colony gets too big for it I wouldn't.

Re: Formicarium for Temnothorax questions

Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2016 2:21 pm
by AntMomo
I kind of want to do as LITTLE building myself as possible. I don't have a lot of supplies or even the most basic materials at my disposal, so anything I need to build would require buying all the materials separately (usually sold in far greater amounts than I'll ever need), and that usually ends up costing me more than just buying it ready-made.

Re: Formicarium for Temnothorax questions

Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2016 5:34 pm
by RainbowScience
AntMomo wrote:I kind of want to do as LITTLE building myself as possible. I don't have a lot of supplies or even the most basic materials at my disposal, so anything I need to build would require buying all the materials separately (usually sold in far greater amounts than I'll ever need), and that usually ends up costing me more than just buying it ready-made.
The sand is just a coating that's affixed to the molded bottom. Your ants might be able to break off a piece here and there, but they can't dig.

Re: Formicarium for Temnothorax questions

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2016 7:01 am
by nightxwolf88
Temnothorax colonies tend to stay small like a couple hundred strong, in the wild at least.

Re: Formicarium for Temnothorax questions

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 7:15 am
by Cal113
I have two tarheel ants setups and they work really well, I have a temnothorax isolated in an outworld he made with their nest being in a pinecone I also placed in there(they came in it)

I really like his work and you might be able to contact him and ask him if he can make a temnothorax specific formicarium

The thing I would do is contact him and ask him these questions yourself. 😁😁

Re: Formicarium for Temnothorax questions

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 3:07 pm
by antnest8
you now that this topic was made one and a half years ago? ;) :D :lol: :lol: