New hydrostone casting for nest hub

[Gardener]

I am playing around with stuff to come up with a cheap way to make a sort of next hub. This is my third attempt ( I am learning this stuff). I have been using hydrostone plaster, modelling clay, and acrylic transparent disks. I got the idea on using hydrostone from the youtube ant guy named Miles, who was using hydrostone in petri dishes.

On this nest the idea is to be able to plug in two 15 mm glass tunes in two sides and a 1/2 inch vinyl tube on the third hole for ventilation. The top gets covered with a transparent acrylic disk that is 3" diameter. I also have 2" disks for smaller hubs.

Any thought or ideas? Thanks in advance!

https://imgur.com/a/cHTAkPl

[TalANTFlame]

is hydrostone absorbent? If not, I'd recommend added a spot to put a kitchen sponge for humidity.

[Gardener]

It is absorbent but I actually hadn't planned to do any moisture management. I was going to dedicate one of the three holes to be attached to a glass tube filled with water stopped by cotton and go from there, observing the behavior of where the ants prefer.

1. 15 mm hole for glass tube for water
2. 15 mm hole for glass tube for 'porting' new founding nests
3. .5 inch vinyl tube for aeration & expansion.

How humid do ants like it? 90%?

[TalANTFlame]

Humidity preference changes from species to species, and even colony to colony, you can see if they pile up in the test tube or not to determine whether or not to water it. All in all, it's a good settup.

[Gardener]

My basement is more humid and around 70 in the summer. Should I consider putting my ant nests in the basement?