REDO: Ant Project: Desert Island in a Jar! (Improved Format)

Show us your formicariums and ant setup, ask formicarium-related questions, or share your experiences with building an ant home. Here you will also find formicarium requirements for specific ant species.

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UndefinedJRod
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat Sep 07, 2019 3:26 pm
Location: Orlando

REDO: Ant Project: Desert Island in a Jar! (Improved Format)

Post: # 69451Post UndefinedJRod
Sun Apr 26, 2020 12:41 pm

Introduction

Hello Fellow Ant Lovers,

I have recently come up with an idea for a habitat and I need all you ant experts to share your thoughts and steer me in the right direction. First I will introduce my ants and then I'll describe the plan.

The ants I currently have are tiny tiny tiny. I live in Florida and they are naturally caught. I believe they are "Ghost Ants".

Image

Here are some pictures of the colony. Any name suggestions are appreciated :D

Image

Here are some of my observations, so far:
  • The Queen is about 4mm
  • They haven't been eating anything I feed them (syrup, chocolate, berries, jam)
  • The Queen is fast!!!
  • She will abandon the brood without a second thought :lol:
Anyways,
Seeing that this is a relativity small species I had a light bulb moment. Have you guys watched the newest Trapjaw Video* by Mike? The collaboration with Serpadesign where he makes a terrarium in a bottle was amazing. I personally enjoy the aesthetic part of Ant Keeping.

I have also been wanting to test out another idea; A Desert Island Scene(More on that soon). So, while I found this jar in the garage, everything came together. Make a Desert Island in a Jar!

Image

I know, I know, I'm either an idiot or a genius. So, I would like to better describe my idea as well as outline some of the problems I foresee and maybe you experts can better judge my plan.

Details
  • I would use sand in place of dirt.
  • I think artificial plants would be the choice (unless you guys think I can pull off mini beach plants in it.
  • I was thinking an extra step I could take is putting a plastic membrane on the side of the jar in some area to be a shore-type addition to the habitat (A lot easier said than done).
  • An either artificial or sculpted mini Volcano in the middle.
Concerns
  • Would the ants survive in a sand only environment.
  • If I put a dirt layer, the dirt would end up probably all over the place from ant tunneling, which I find undesirable since it would ruin the sand scene.
  • For the shore idea, would it be a problem that the water isn't running/circulating and that it just stays still?
  • How would I handle cleaning, maintenance?
  • Why are the ants not eating? -____-
  • Will keeping the sand moderately moist allow the ants to tunnel without caving in the sand?
  • I have this tiny little piece of doubt that the ant I think is the queen isn't really a queen... :oops:



Progress

So, it has been a few weeks since my last post. I hope I was able to better format this one. Shout out to BluMoon for the heads up and also the informative reply here https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?p=69405#p69405 :)

Since then, I was able to model my design idea and in the process I added a new feature. Below is hopefully a picture in of the model and under that I will explain it a little.

Image

:!: Tah Dahhhh :!:

Alright, so according to BluMoon's advice, it definitely would be risky to have standing water and a filter may not be possible to fit in the vase, which means the cute little beach idea is a bust. BUT, I am not worried because my next idea will over-shadow our loss, believe it.

Since you already know I prefer aesthetics, its important to have the substrate pushed up to a thin digging layer on the glass so we can see all the ant buddies. However, the way I decided to do this became very interesting. I will post pictures below because I am tired of typing hehe. Then I will further explain.

Image
Here is the object. it will create a thinned digging area for better tunnel visibility.

Image
Notice how it is red, transparent, and touches the bottom of the vase.

Alright, so here is the idea. Our design is supposed to be a volcanic desert island, right? Well what if we could go a step further. By using this inner red object, when the ants start to tunnel, their ducts will reveal the red object. Then, by shining a light into the bottom of the vase, we will give these tunnels the illusion of lava ducts! :lol: :lol: :lol: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

And now for the concerns, just in time:
  • Obviously, we are dealing with a ship in a bottle problem. This object has to be flimsy so it can be crushed through the 5.5cm opening of the vase. Tricky!
  • I read that ghost ants can be quite the escape artists and it would be an absolute disaster if they found a way into the red object. I am not tied to the idea I modeled, anything that could hit the needs of the substrate thinner and the lava duct idea would work.
  • Woah, only two concerns? That in itself is a concern so bring on the criticism.
Also, I still haven't seen them eat, but they are still producing and still living so what... ev's...
(is it reproducing? or just producing since its from one queen :| )

Thank you for reading my post! Feel free to criticize, comment, praise ;)

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pZKcOS8P7c

JustABitAntsy
Posts: 120
Joined: Fri Sep 27, 2019 4:10 pm
Location: Virginia

Re: REDO: Ant Project: Desert Island in a Jar! (Improved Format)

Post: # 69507Post JustABitAntsy
Tue Apr 28, 2020 10:28 am

UndefinedJRod wrote:
Sun Apr 26, 2020 12:41 pm
Introduction

Hello Fellow Ant Lovers,

I have recently come up with an idea for a habitat and I need all you ant experts to share your thoughts and steer me in the right direction. First I will introduce my ants and then I'll describe the plan.

The ants I currently have are tiny tiny tiny. I live in Florida and they are naturally caught. I believe they are "Ghost Ants".

Image

Here are some pictures of the colony. Any name suggestions are appreciated :D

Image

Here are some of my observations, so far:
  • The Queen is about 4mm
  • They haven't been eating anything I feed them (syrup, chocolate, berries, jam)
  • The Queen is fast!!!
  • She will abandon the brood without a second thought :lol:
Anyways,
Seeing that this is a relativity small species I had a light bulb moment. Have you guys watched the newest Trapjaw Video* by Mike? The collaboration with Serpadesign where he makes a terrarium in a bottle was amazing. I personally enjoy the aesthetic part of Ant Keeping.

I have also been wanting to test out another idea; A Desert Island Scene(More on that soon). So, while I found this jar in the garage, everything came together. Make a Desert Island in a Jar!

Image

I know, I know, I'm either an idiot or a genius. So, I would like to better describe my idea as well as outline some of the problems I foresee and maybe you experts can better judge my plan.

Details
  • I would use sand in place of dirt.
  • I think artificial plants would be the choice (unless you guys think I can pull off mini beach plants in it.
  • I was thinking an extra step I could take is putting a plastic membrane on the side of the jar in some area to be a shore-type addition to the habitat (A lot easier said than done).
  • An either artificial or sculpted mini Volcano in the middle.
Concerns
  • Would the ants survive in a sand only environment.
  • If I put a dirt layer, the dirt would end up probably all over the place from ant tunneling, which I find undesirable since it would ruin the sand scene.
  • For the shore idea, would it be a problem that the water isn't running/circulating and that it just stays still?
  • How would I handle cleaning, maintenance?
  • Why are the ants not eating? -____-
  • Will keeping the sand moderately moist allow the ants to tunnel without caving in the sand?
  • I have this tiny little piece of doubt that the ant I think is the queen isn't really a queen... :oops:



Progress

So, it has been a few weeks since my last post. I hope I was able to better format this one. Shout out to BluMoon for the heads up and also the informative reply here https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?p=69405#p69405 :)

Since then, I was able to model my design idea and in the process I added a new feature. Below is hopefully a picture in of the model and under that I will explain it a little.

Image

:!: Tah Dahhhh :!:

Alright, so according to BluMoon's advice, it definitely would be risky to have standing water and a filter may not be possible to fit in the vase, which means the cute little beach idea is a bust. BUT, I am not worried because my next idea will over-shadow our loss, believe it.

Since you already know I prefer aesthetics, its important to have the substrate pushed up to a thin digging layer on the glass so we can see all the ant buddies. However, the way I decided to do this became very interesting. I will post pictures below because I am tired of typing hehe. Then I will further explain.

Image
Here is the object. it will create a thinned digging area for better tunnel visibility.

Image
Notice how it is red, transparent, and touches the bottom of the vase.

Alright, so here is the idea. Our design is supposed to be a volcanic desert island, right? Well what if we could go a step further. By using this inner red object, when the ants start to tunnel, their ducts will reveal the red object. Then, by shining a light into the bottom of the vase, we will give these tunnels the illusion of lava ducts! :lol: :lol: :lol: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

And now for the concerns, just in time:
  • Obviously, we are dealing with a ship in a bottle problem. This object has to be flimsy so it can be crushed through the 5.5cm opening of the vase. Tricky!
  • I read that ghost ants can be quite the escape artists and it would be an absolute disaster if they found a way into the red object. I am not tied to the idea I modeled, anything that could hit the needs of the substrate thinner and the lava duct idea would work.
  • Woah, only two concerns? That in itself is a concern so bring on the criticism.
Also, I still haven't seen them eat, but they are still producing and still living so what... ev's...
(is it reproducing? or just producing since its from one queen :| )

Thank you for reading my post! Feel free to criticize, comment, praise ;)

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pZKcOS8P7c
this idea is very interesting please tell me how it works out
New antkeeper in Virginia currently doesn’t have a colony plan to start next Spring :lol:
Join the Forelius Clan https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=15975

Antmanboy
Posts: 330
Joined: Sun Feb 16, 2020 12:12 pm
Location: Converse,Texas,United States

Re: REDO: Ant Project: Desert Island in a Jar! (Improved Format)

Post: # 70567Post Antmanboy
Sun May 31, 2020 11:01 am

You can call them the phantoms

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