Upgraded tube in arena - formicary

[Skippy]

Hello,

for start , some translations from slovak to english (I am lazy to make different pics)

Korok = cork
sadra = plaster
sadrovy odliatok = plaster form

I am not sure if anyone tried this before , but I´ve never seen it. I just tried it first time today and it looks really fine ... it is wet on photos because fresh - made.

All begun by this tube upgrade:


I wanted to make chambers inside by cork pieces (circle) , but it was really hard to make. So I put inside pieces of cork ... vertically/horizontally/vertically/horizontally.... etc. until enter. From top of tube it looked like "X" .

I used small acryllic box (20x20x20cm cube) and I put there 5mm of plaster. I put there tube , and plaster came in - until horizontal cork pieces. So if you watch on tube , there are chambers with cork ground and with plaster ground
Idea is about better ground for brood of ants. We all know that clean glass is not sometimes good for evolving of larvae/eggs , so this is maybe solution. I am going to test it , I will put there some Lasius colony or so - maybe later Myrmica because their brood is in tube difficult to evolve on glass.

When plaster was fresh , I put on it some soil and small stones as decoration. I´ve also built enter to nest and put there a piece of green died moss.
Now is all wet , but when it will a bit dry , I will try to put water on ground in arena -> plaster on ground will suck it probably and make wet also plaster inside tube = fine fresh wet ground for brood

Pics:






Enjoy

[mn]

Good work,
I've already tried this before, with a plastic tube with a water basin in. Not just with some cotton but maked of a wall of plaster.
So there become's a room to the end of the tube. Now I maked a hole in the plastic tube and now I got a waterbasin what we can fill with water when you want.
The plaster will absorp the water, and you only need to fill the basin when the plaster is getting to dry.

I hope you understand.

Greets Nick.

[Skippy]

I am not sure if I understand so well ... but yesterday I added there one small Formica rufibarbis colony in tube , and they moved into plaster/corked tube in ca 3 hours with no light. They are actually after hibernation , I think there will be eggs in 2 weeks , then it will show how useful or easy is to watering plaster at same time in arena and tube and how long it can survive to dry/watering/dry/watering ... (it is only 5mm of plaster in all basin)