A founding formacarium it would be good!

Announcements & discussion on upcoming ant products. We also would like to hear your product suggestions.

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Ants500
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Location: Syracuse NY

A founding formacarium it would be good!

Post: # 28381Post Ants500
Tue Aug 08, 2017 8:41 am

You guys at AC should make a small formacarium as an alternative to a test tube, you could use it until there are 20-50 workers it could be a small nest and small outworld like a 4 chamber founding Omni nest with a little outworld on top. It's not that it's any better for rearing queens and founding colonies, it just looks nice and would work well. You could also use it to help beat your competition, Tarheel Ants, to beat their line of founding formacaria, because i think you could make a much better one!!!
Founding:
-3 tetramorium queens
-1 Formica queen
-4 groups of acorn ant queens (they're polygenous)
Super excited to start this amazing hobby :D

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ooper01
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Re: A founding formacarium it would be good!

Post: # 28398Post ooper01
Tue Aug 08, 2017 11:02 am

Ants500 wrote:
Tue Aug 08, 2017 8:41 am
You guys at AC should make a small formacarium as an alternative to a test tube, you could use it until there are 20-50 workers it could be a small nest and small outworld like a 4 chamber founding Omni nest with a little outworld on top. It's not that it's any better for rearing queens and founding colonies, it just looks nice and would work well. You could also use it to help beat your competition, Tarheel Ants, to beat their line of founding formacaria, because i think you could make a much better one!!!
Hi Ants500, this is a great idea! We have been thinking of doing something like this, but we need to finish up our current backlog of new products, namely our Version 3 Hybrid Nests and our new Outworlds. Once these are completed, we will most likely look into making something like you suggest.

Thanks!!
~ ooper

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Ants500
Posts: 29
Joined: Sat Jul 15, 2017 9:18 am
Location: Syracuse NY

Re: A founding formacarium it would be good!

Post: # 28837Post Ants500
Sat Aug 12, 2017 3:02 pm

ooper01 wrote:
Tue Aug 08, 2017 11:02 am
Ants500 wrote:
Tue Aug 08, 2017 8:41 am
You guys at AC should make a small formacarium as an alternative to a test tube, you could use it until there are 20-50 workers it could be a small nest and small outworld like a 4 chamber founding Omni nest with a little outworld on top. It's not that it's any better for rearing queens and founding colonies, it just looks nice and would work well. You could also use it to help beat your competition, Tarheel Ants, to beat their line of founding formacaria, because i think you could make a much better one!!!
Hi Ants500, this is a great idea! We have been thinking of doing something like this, but we need to finish up our current backlog of new products, namely our Version 3 Hybrid Nests and our new Outworlds. Once these are completed, we will most likely look into making something like you suggest.

Thanks!!
No thank you guys at AntsCanada for your great customer service.
Founding:
-3 tetramorium queens
-1 Formica queen
-4 groups of acorn ant queens (they're polygenous)
Super excited to start this amazing hobby :D

Proverbs66
Posts: 70
Joined: Mon Jun 12, 2017 5:01 pm
Location: Glenn Burnie, MD

Re: A founding formacarium it would be good!

Post: # 28869Post Proverbs66
Sat Aug 12, 2017 9:57 pm

ooper01 wrote:
Tue Aug 08, 2017 11:02 am
Ants500 wrote:
Tue Aug 08, 2017 8:41 am
You guys at AC should make a small formacarium as an alternative to a test tube, you could use it until there are 20-50 workers it could be a small nest and small outworld like a 4 chamber founding Omni nest with a little outworld on top. It's not that it's any better for rearing queens and founding colonies, it just looks nice and would work well. You could also use it to help beat your competition, Tarheel Ants, to beat their line of founding formacaria, because i think you could make a much better one!!!
Hi Ants500, this is a great idea! We have been thinking of doing something like this, but we need to finish up our current backlog of new products, namely our Version 3 Hybrid Nests and our new Outworlds. Once these are completed, we will most likely look into making something like you suggest.

Thanks!!
Ummm can you maybe tell us when you expect the new outworlds to be done? Cuz now I'm eager to see what you have in store :D
Let us remember that even though ants are wonderful creatures, even more magnificent is their creator 😌

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ooper01
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Re: A founding formacarium it would be good!

Post: # 28870Post ooper01
Sat Aug 12, 2017 10:10 pm

Proverbs66 wrote:
Sat Aug 12, 2017 9:57 pm
ooper01 wrote:
Tue Aug 08, 2017 11:02 am
Ants500 wrote:
Tue Aug 08, 2017 8:41 am
You guys at AC should make a small formacarium as an alternative to a test tube, you could use it until there are 20-50 workers it could be a small nest and small outworld like a 4 chamber founding Omni nest with a little outworld on top. It's not that it's any better for rearing queens and founding colonies, it just looks nice and would work well. You could also use it to help beat your competition, Tarheel Ants, to beat their line of founding formacaria, because i think you could make a much better one!!!
Hi Ants500, this is a great idea! We have been thinking of doing something like this, but we need to finish up our current backlog of new products, namely our Version 3 Hybrid Nests and our new Outworlds. Once these are completed, we will most likely look into making something like you suggest.

Thanks!!
Ummm can you maybe tell us when you expect the new outworlds to be done? Cuz now I'm eager to see what you have in store :D
We are expecting to have our new outworlds available before Christmas. I wish we could be more exact than that, but our design team is working through some issues right now. A few new features we will have is that they will be stackable, so you can make a taller outworld if desired. Also we will have easier connection points and also new connection points for standard air hose (aquarium air hose) to help provide additional ventilation. They will be slightly larger than the current version and best of all, they will cost less! :)
~ ooper

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Proverbs66
Posts: 70
Joined: Mon Jun 12, 2017 5:01 pm
Location: Glenn Burnie, MD

Re: A founding formacarium it would be good!

Post: # 28873Post Proverbs66
Sat Aug 12, 2017 11:18 pm

😍 these outworlds sounds like a dream come true can't wait to get some around Christmas time thanks!!!!
Let us remember that even though ants are wonderful creatures, even more magnificent is their creator 😌

Serafine

Re: A founding formacarium it would be good!

Post: # 28917Post Serafine
Sun Aug 13, 2017 12:10 pm

Founding formicaria are difficult to make in a way that they're better and easier to handle than test tubes.

TarHeelAnts is trying with their atom founding formicaria but they have issues with hydration (every time you hydrate the nest there is a massive humidity spike the ants don't like and they dry out fairly quickly). While they do work, they require constant maintenance and aren't really perfect (same for the small AntKit formicaria).
AntsAustralia's small Ytong founding nests do dry out almost instantly unless you put them in a moat (that's why none of the european antshops that have been working with Ytong/ACC for decades, produce such small nests - it's simply impossible to keep them hydrated) and I wouldn't recommend them either.

The only good founding formicaria I have seen so far are Drew's "dirt shack" nests, sold by byFormica. They have an integrated water tank with a fairly sophisticated hydration system that makes sure humidity never goes too high but also prevents the nest from drying out too quickly.


Generally test tubes are the easiest and safest way to raise a colony, especially for inexperienced antkeepers (which is most likely the mainstay of the AC customer base).
My Camponotus barbaricus lived in a 30x200mm test tube for 8 months, never had any issues with mold and I never had to touch that tube (except once when they got a bigger entry straw so the queens and majors could pass). They only moved out when the tube ran out of water (at which point they had around 80 workers and were more than ready for a nest) and even then I had nothing to do, they managed the move across the outworld to the attached formicarium very well on their own.

AntsManhattan
Posts: 13
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 5:32 pm
Location: New York City

Re: A founding formacarium it would be good!

Post: # 28927Post AntsManhattan
Sun Aug 13, 2017 2:13 pm

Isn't the test tube portal supposed to be like a mini outworld for starting colonies?

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ooper01
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Re: A founding formacarium it would be good!

Post: # 28961Post ooper01
Sun Aug 13, 2017 9:26 pm

AntsManhattan wrote:
Sun Aug 13, 2017 2:13 pm
Isn't the test tube portal supposed to be like a mini outworld for starting colonies?
Yes, that is one of the uses for the test tube portal. I love it for my semi-claustral queens. Makes providing food and cleaning up so much easier. The same goes for a small colony that still lives from a test tube. Connect a test tube portal and you have a mini outworld. Feeding is much easier than removing cotton plug from a test tube. Also much less chance of escapees during feeding.
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Re: A founding formacarium it would be good!

Post: # 28965Post ooper01
Sun Aug 13, 2017 10:02 pm

Serafine wrote:
Sun Aug 13, 2017 12:10 pm
Founding formicaria are difficult to make in a way that they're better and easier to handle than test tubes.

TarHeelAnts is trying with their atom founding formicaria but they have issues with hydration (every time you hydrate the nest there is a massive humidity spike the ants don't like and they dry out fairly quickly). While they do work, they require constant maintenance and aren't really perfect (same for the small AntKit formicaria).
AntsAustralia's small Ytong founding nests do dry out almost instantly unless you put them in a moat (that's why none of the european antshops that have been working with Ytong/ACC for decades, produce such small nests - it's simply impossible to keep them hydrated) and I wouldn't recommend them either.

The only good founding formicaria I have seen so far are Drew's "dirt shack" nests, sold by byFormica. They have an integrated water tank with a fairly sophisticated hydration system that makes sure humidity never goes too high but also prevents the nest from drying out too quickly.


Generally test tubes are the easiest and safest way to raise a colony, especially for inexperienced antkeepers (which is most likely the mainstay of the AC customer base).
My Camponotus barbaricus lived in a 30x200mm test tube for 8 months, never had any issues with mold and I never had to touch that tube (except once when they got a bigger entry straw so the queens and majors could pass). They only moved out when the tube ran out of water (at which point they had around 80 workers and were more than ready for a nest) and even then I had nothing to do, they managed the move across the outworld to the attached formicarium very well on their own.
Thanks for sharing this info regarding other products that are out there for founding a colony. Looks like the ole test tube setup may still be the best overall. I hadn't heard about the "dirt shack". I just googled it and checked it out, though it is still a bit hard to see exactly how it would work. We at AntsCanada are in the design process right now with a new product for 2018. The small version of this new product could serve as an alternative to the test tube setup. We'll see how it goes.
~ ooper

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