The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

Hi there.

So, I’m new too this whole ant keeping thing, but I have caught the bug and I’m hooked.
I’m already planing to build a Formicarium from scratch using acrylics (plexiglass).

I have made a rough sketch and it would be nice to get some feedback on it.
Should there be access holes, drainage, ventilation etc?

Thinking of covering the top of the nest area with an acrylic “roof” and just have a few holes in it. Also, having the roof removable for easy access incase it becomes necessary. Having a roof allows for easy placement of decor.

The lid will have a big hole cut out and covered with a fine steel mesh.

Thoughts?

I’m thinking 4mm for the outer walls, and maybe 2 mm for the rest.
Too thin?

Also, I’m probably gonna have Messor barbarus in there.
Are the nest walls to thick (6cm)? Will I see them build and dig there?

At 6cm you you will never see them. You might not even see them at 6mm. They will never dig towards the light and if they happened to have a tunnel that went to the edge of the plexiglass and exposed the tunnel to light they would just line the plexiglass with dirt so no light entered the tunnel.

You would basically have to have the dirt layer the width of an ant so it forces them to dig beside the plexiglass.

Oh ok, well.... I have thought of having ytong instead of dirt.

You could still use dirt it would just have to be a very thin layer. Y-tong is a lot better for viewing the inside of the nest. Check out Tar Heel ants, they use y-tong and you could copy some of their designs.

JoeHostile1 wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 28, 2019 6:53 am

You could still use dirt it would just have to be a very thin layer. Y-tong is a lot better for viewing the inside of the nest. Check out Tar Heel ants, they use y-tong and you could copy some of their designs.

If I have only a thin slice around the three wall I don't know If they would have enough space to expand and grow.
Maybe I´ll do a sub level below the foraging area...

I will check them out.
I could probably buy a great formicarium somewhere, but I feel it would be more fun building something self.

Oh there is plenty of room if it’s going to be 15” tall and 15” wide. Especially if you house a small species. That is actually huge for ants. And it would take years for them to grow big enough to even expand to all three sides.

JoeHostile1 wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 28, 2019 11:36 am

Oh there is plenty of room if it’s going to be 15” tall and 15” wide. Especially if you house a small species. That is actually huge for ants. And it would take years for them to grow big enough to even expand to all three sides.

Probably going to have Messor Barbarus, not that tiny.

Well, I guessed it would be pretty big, but.... if I’m going to build something them I might as well make it futureproof.