Trials and prototypes

[Leafcutter]

Oh and how do you heat it?

An incubator would be a good idea.

[JVang17]

How do you moisturize it?

[Acromyrmexbob]

I think humidity is maintained initially by adding a 2cm deep layer of plaster on the bottom of the nest area and wetting that. After a while the leaves being carried in to the nest by the ants maintains the humidity. Also the lack of constant air movement tends to prevent loss of moisture from the air.

[Britishants.com]

We'll be providing substrate as an optional extra to assist with moisture control, we spent last night creating the vents and stock is starting to arrive and be processed. This all takes a lot of time and with other work commitments and pending Christmas arrangements it's left little time to respond to messages and upload updates to our other journals. Watch this space

[rens]

thank you for the information !

[Britishants.com]

We're just waiting on the hinges and we're ready to go! Here's the (almost) finished product!

[Formica123]

Would you be able to make a much smaller (not much, but about half the version for about £40?

[Acromyrmexbob]

I suspect it would be possible eventually to produce a different size depending on the availability of a different size of tub but the cost would be unlikely to fall significantly, I think. Seems there is a lot of work in this. Sean, is the pipe fixed in place or removable?

[Britishants.com]

Andrew's right, the smaller you go the more expensive it becomes! You can get smaller ones with lids online, they're about £30 each before delivery then you have to drill the holes. The tube moves within the unit so allowing for movement and spacing, the white end caps stops accidental removal of tube from either pod.

[Acromyrmexbob]

So the tube fixes into a hole thats exactly the correct size for the pipe. What happens if you want to move the setup unit to another location if the pipe is nt fixed. If there are several nest tanks will that cause any problems?