Formicarium in classroom?

[mollySF]

Hello,

I've been teaching an ant unit for the past 10 years in my First Grade classroom. I would love to have a formicarium in my classroom, and have been watching the video tutorials. But I have two big questions:

1) Could a formicarium thrive in a classroom setting? I would do the work caring for it, but the classroom is bright and noisy. I could keep the colony in a spot where they wouldn't get bumped, but would the general environment be too stressful?

2) How easy is it to relocate a formicarium? Could I easily bring it home (or send it home with an interested student/family) over the summer?

Thank you for any insight!

[idahoantgirl]

Interesting Idea!
1) While it would be more stressful than at home, I think they could still do quite nicely depending on the species. For instance, you wouldn't want to use Camponotus since they are very susceptible to stress and they take FOREVER to grow. A good hardy species like Tetramorium would be great. You would want to have them covered while they are not being observed with red cellophane photography paper. This will keep them nice and dark.

(2 Since your students would all live close by, I don't think transporting would be too stressful for them. I have a hybrid nest connected to an outworld via tubing. The tubing doesn't fit super snug, so when I move them I have to apply inward pressure to keep the tube from coming undone from the nest and all the ants spilling out. So for a classroom setting the hybrid may not be the best. I would think an omni nest or an omni nest vertical would be great since you can directly connect the outworld to the nest with no tubing. Plus, these nests are ideal for viewing purposes.

It is possible that a colony could die, and the chances are somewhat higher when you've got 50 six year olds in the room, so I would have another colony at home just in case something happens to the school's colony.

[mollySF]

Super helpful, thank you!!