Build 3' wide by 2' high by 1/2" deep glass frame. Would 3/8" be better? Leave 8" non-sand at top.
Thinking WHITE playground sand. Ants will dig their own tunnels.
Vented top.
Seen this type setup at State Park.
Share your thoughts!
Feedback request for homemade vertical ant frame
Moderators: ooper01, Trusted User
Re: Feedback request for homemade vertical ant frame
Funny you should mention this idea. Just last week we started discussing the possibility of a glass, upright formicarium (ala Uncle Milton style, but much more classy). A couple of issues so far:
1. We want it fully enclosed except the top. So all surfaces would be glass. This creates a drainage problem. We are working on ideas to deal with drainage so that if someone accidentally adds too much water, it doesn't drown the colony.
2. Connecting tubing to the glass to allow for outworld and other connections. We've been told by our glass contacts that they need 3 inches of space between the holes and the nearest edge. That's alot of space. We were hoping to have holes drilled much closer to the top and side edges, like maybe 1 inch is all.
We were thinking much smaller though, maybe 12" x 12". We worry that with 2' or 3' sections of glass, we would run into problems during shipping - too many broken formicariums??
And glass is expensive!! We have only looked at clear annealed glass. We wanted to go with tempered glass for its added durability.
We'll keep thinking on this...
1. We want it fully enclosed except the top. So all surfaces would be glass. This creates a drainage problem. We are working on ideas to deal with drainage so that if someone accidentally adds too much water, it doesn't drown the colony.
2. Connecting tubing to the glass to allow for outworld and other connections. We've been told by our glass contacts that they need 3 inches of space between the holes and the nearest edge. That's alot of space. We were hoping to have holes drilled much closer to the top and side edges, like maybe 1 inch is all.
We were thinking much smaller though, maybe 12" x 12". We worry that with 2' or 3' sections of glass, we would run into problems during shipping - too many broken formicariums??
And glass is expensive!! We have only looked at clear annealed glass. We wanted to go with tempered glass for its added durability.
We'll keep thinking on this...
~ ooper
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Re: Feedback request for homemade vertical ant frame
i don't think tempered glass will add anything but cost really i mean its good at resisting scratches and has really high compression value for glass but if you drop it it will still shatter just like the equivalent piece of soda glass
1x Lasius Niger - early forging stage - 60-100 workers
1x Messor Barbarus - founding stage - <20 workers
1x Camponotus Turkestanus - claustral stage - 1 nanitic + brood
1x Odontoponera Transversa - semi-claustral stage - no eggs
1x Messor Barbarus - founding stage - <20 workers
1x Camponotus Turkestanus - claustral stage - 1 nanitic + brood
1x Odontoponera Transversa - semi-claustral stage - no eggs
Re: Feedback request for homemade vertical ant frame
Good to know, thanks!LasiusSapien wrote: ↑Sun Oct 06, 2019 4:45 ami don't think tempered glass will add anything but cost really i mean its good at resisting scratches and has really high compression value for glass but if you drop it it will still shatter just like the equivalent piece of soda glass
~ ooper
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