Ant Nest

Ant nest in plexiglass and MDF for ants who don't need moisture (like Camponotus or Crematogaster).

I made this nest as a prototype. My girlfriend doesn't want any ant in the house unless it's nest is design. So I Brainstormed and this came out. I want to attach this kind of nests on the walls in my house.

What you need to make this:

Screws: 4 screws 3x20mm

Plexiglass: 2mm thick

MDF (any other material a lasercutter can cut is ok): 3mm thick (or how big you want)

Aquariofilia tubes: 5 to 8mm diameter

Aquarium silicone.

Step 1: MDF

To have a beautiful and cleancut nest I recommend you to use a Lasercutter.

I, myself, cut the MDF in three layers of 3mm because I was cutting my 'Antfarm' as well (3mm). It depends on the species of ants, what the height of the nest has to be.

Commonly we take 2 or 3 times the height of the worker ants.

You can draw the shape you want in Inkscape or any other technical drawing software that can be used for Lasercutting.

Step 2: Plexiglass

The plexiglass is 2mm thick and cut with the Lasercutter too.

Step 3: Assembly

You'll need 4 screws of 3x20mm and aquarium silicone to assemble the nest.

You'll also need 3 aquariofilia tubes with an external diameter of 5 to 8mm.

The 3 MDF plates (if you use one large plate of 9mm it will work better) are glued together with aquarium silicone. Glue the plexiglass on both sides of the MDF. Your nest is almost ready!

After the silicone has dried, screw everything together to be sure. The screws must be tightened by hand. If you tighten it too hard, the plexi may break.

Then glue the aquariofilia tubes in the entries.

Once everything is dry, the nest is ready to use.

I left one exit open because I'm not sure if a Camponotus queen can pass trough the small aquariofilia tubes.

I'll post photos with ants in it when I have enough workers in my colonies.