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Good Day Guys
This is my ant colony and I regard them as my pets. I finally went back to this hobby after a very long time. It all started with a single ant which was the queen. It's really difficult to spot her with all the ants right now. I asked somebody to identify them and the person said that it's a Camponotus sp. Let me share with you how I expanded their nest and the materials that I used.
![](https://cdn.rcimg.net/sgbonus/fae19655/03f9e43c28b14b166367cd6ea190107d.png?width=300&quality=10&blur=20)
I didn't like to spend that much so I recycled some items here at our house. I saw this aquarium just stocked up. I asked if could use it.
![](https://cdn.rcimg.net/sgbonus/fae19655/93f8122eeb1af3aceb0f568d76aa7f90.png?width=300&quality=10&blur=20)
I was thinking of putting styrofoam at the bottom of the aquarium for a cushion then my brother suggested putting these furniture pads. He helped me make it. The pad's adhesive was no working anymore we had to use a glue gun to stick it.
![](https://cdn.rcimg.net/sgbonus/fae19655/3913b003653ee7e31fc2960a010c11d0.png?width=300&quality=10&blur=20)
Then I gathered some materials that I got from the orchidarium which was soil and coco soil. I bought these so that the substrate that I will put is clean, instead of getting soil from the garden.
![](https://cdn.rcimg.net/sgbonus/fae19655/ae6271f9ed215c496c09a8751ddc1ac5.png?width=300&quality=10&blur=20)
![](https://cdn.rcimg.net/sgbonus/fae19655/66e4e15d48a0a8fde4aa9a54068995eb.png?width=300&quality=10&blur=20)
I mixed the soil and the cocopeat together and I decided to look for a rock so they have a place that they can hide inside. I also topped it with moss.
![](https://cdn.rcimg.net/sgbonus/fae19655/6ad1fccd243d30bcd2ace9398831c5cd.png?width=300&quality=10&blur=20)
This may look really disgusting but these are springtails. We are culturing them with my brother, we use these when he's making enclosures with his tarantulas. I added springtails because they are decomposers. I love them because they prevent mold breakouts. It's really easy to put them because they usually jump out because of the water.
![](https://cdn.rcimg.net/sgbonus/fae19655/fb0b474aea7a6c044df75b7d82c4d50d.png?width=300&quality=10&blur=20)
![](https://cdn.rcimg.net/sgbonus/fae19655/cc49b0da9e1a66d9a833220f01daf793.png?width=300&quality=10&blur=20)
This is how it looked like. I added some moss to make it look better and to keep moisture. I had to hydrate the nest just to make sure that the springtails would live because they need a moist environment.
![](https://cdn.rcimg.net/sgbonus/fae19655/4fffa20bbeb4b6b798def485abfa70ff.png?width=300&quality=10&blur=20)
I mixed alcohol and baby powder to make a barrier. I used a paintbrush to spread it on top just to make sure that the ants won't escape the formicarium.
![](https://cdn.rcimg.net/sgbonus/fae19655/a1afe29c943c0d7f9e65ce833f572595.png?width=300&quality=10&blur=20)
![](https://cdn.rcimg.net/sgbonus/fae19655/a709c783e836b54f9c5bb637a8eba07f.png?width=300&quality=10&blur=20)
This was my old setup, it had an outworld connecting to it, I usually feed them through the container at the right. I forgot to add ventilation there so it stunk so bad when I was moving them.
![](https://cdn.rcimg.net/sgbonus/fae19655/34fc7d25a0b21038d2cd4ad173f1677a.png?width=300&quality=10&blur=20)
The first thing that I had to do it carefully carry it then remove then detach the nest from the outworld. I just laid it on top of their new home.
![](https://cdn.rcimg.net/sgbonus/fae19655/a1d0aa11a1210174d31740ac6d0bb12b.png?width=300&quality=10&blur=20)
If you look closely there were a lot of ants exploring.
![](https://cdn.rcimg.net/sgbonus/fae19655/6b225857a2ccddc4a9f2e9aa3c2f8af9.png?width=300&quality=10&blur=20)
I decided to give them a housewarming gift, which was cockroaches that I breed. This kind of cockroaches is called Blatta Lateralis/ Turkestan cockroach/ Red Runners. Here comes the fun part. The cockroaches were running all over and the ants started chasing them.
![](https://cdn.rcimg.net/sgbonus/fae19655/18f4fdd57fa613257d5351b03a5b3d51.png?width=300&quality=10&blur=20)
![](https://cdn.rcimg.net/sgbonus/fae19655/a2016b42f7e704d38a4645c908078c8f.png?width=300&quality=10&blur=20)
![](https://cdn.rcimg.net/sgbonus/fae19655/89e1286ac3999d229b9b5af218462cb0.png?width=300&quality=10&blur=20)
I also placed a test tube full of sugar water just to energize them. They were all there drinking from it.
![](https://cdn.rcimg.net/sgbonus/fae19655/3ac8689364e734a37deacedf6fc75cde.png?width=300&quality=10&blur=20)
I checked them recently and they calmed down a bit, They seem to love their old formicarium and are not leaving the chambers.
![](https://cdn.rcimg.net/sgbonus/fae19655/3e6648cb0d7ad8eecf98f9d890fd749b.png?width=300&quality=10&blur=20)
But I saw something that I love and it was some of the ants are using the rock as shelter. I'm just waiting patiently for them to all transfer to the all-natural setup. If you look at the test tube closely only 1/4th of the sugar water is left. This project was fun to make because it tested my creativity. I'm scared to put plants because I might wake up and see that they're not in their setup anymore.
![](https://cdn.rcimg.net/sgbonus/fae19655/ae5c2b33af428cb8317e384bb0a5b931.png?width=300&quality=10&blur=20)
Thanks for reading and Stay safe always!
The photos used in this post are owned by me .
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