First formicarium

[CroatianKeeper]

First of all, excuse my english, it is not my first language.
Second, I caught one lasius niger queen and I am starting to build my formicarium. It is made out of plexiglass and is sturdy on its own, but I was thinking about sealing all edges with silicone. Will my ants try to chew through it or will they just settle in dirt that I provide them? Also, any site where I can buy cheaper PTFE since most sites I found were pretty expensive considering my abilities with money (I'm 18 without job for now so I don't have that much money). Thanks in advance

[Hawkeye]

First of all, excuse my english, it is not my first language.
Second, I caught one lasius niger queen and I am starting to build my formicarium. It is made out of plexiglass and is sturdy on its own, but I was thinking about sealing all edges with silicone. Will my ants try to chew through it or will they just settle in dirt that I provide them? Also, any site where I can buy cheaper PTFE since most sites I found were pretty expensive considering my abilities with money (I'm 18 without job for now so I don't have that much money). Thanks in advance

Hi there!

Welcome to the hobby! I've got big plans to build a large paludarium out of plexiglass myself and I feel you, it is expensive, especially if you need thicker panes. I am not sure where you are getting your plexiglass from so I can't advice you on prices, but there is a glue that you can use to contruct your terrarium. It forms a 'weld' for lack of a better word between the panes as it chemically binds them together. I have constructed a temporary setup from thin plexiglass myself and my ants didn't bother with the silicone at all, but if you're worried about it, you could always apply a barrier on top of it.

[ttshaw1]

there is a glue that you can use to contruct your terrarium. It forms a 'weld' for lack of a better word between the panes as it chemically binds them together. I have constructed a temporary setup from thin plexiglass myself and my ants didn't bother with the silicone at all

I'm also thinking about putting together an acrylic formicarium using the acrylic cement you mention. But I'm also worried about them eating acrylic cement or silicone or something and poisoning themselves. This is my first formicarium so I don't know. Maybe there's no risk of that

[Hawkeye]

there is a glue that you can use to contruct your terrarium. It forms a 'weld' for lack of a better word between the panes as it chemically binds them together. I have constructed a temporary setup from thin plexiglass myself and my ants didn't bother with the silicone at all

I'm also thinking about putting together an acrylic formicarium using the acrylic cement you mention. But I'm also worried about them eating acrylic cement or silicone or something and poisoning themselves. This is my first formicarium so I don't know. Maybe there's no risk of that

If you do it right, the ants wouldn't be able to access the cement glue