Hi guys! I hope you’re doing well!
Today I’m going to make a little review of a really cool ant nest made by the company Anthouse. You can find the nest here!
Let’s see if it’s any good!
General Info
This one is called Acrylic NaturColor 10x10x1, the one with the foam as the humidity system.
As the name suggests, the nest is made of a particular type of transparent acrylic. The quality of the material is amazing, and the fact that the pieces are cut with laser technology accuracy makes it even better.
The nest comes in 10 different colors: yellow, orange, black, green, blue, turquoise, red, purple, and brown. There’s even a transparent option, which is the one I decided to get.
The transparent one is, in my opinion, the better choice if you’re interested in observing the ants. The colored ones look awesome, but can occasionally create some limitations if your main goal is to clearly see the ants’ behavior inside the nest.
That’s because the colored nests create a lower contrast with the ants, making it harder to spot interesting details.
Go pro! 👑
The nest has a square shape, and it measures 10cm in length, 10cm in width, and 1cm in height. The nesting area is perfect for housing a small to medium-sized colony of a relatively small species, like Lasius niger or Messor barbarus.
If you wanna instead use this nest for a very small species like Tetramorium caespitum or Pheidole pallidula, the size is sufficient for housing a fairly big colony of 1 or 2 years of age.
The Humidity System
The nest includes a humidity system, which consists of a small sponge placed at the center of the nest. The sponge is positioned in a strategic way, enabling the moisture to cover all the chambers of the nest.
After testing the nest with a Lasius niger colony, I can confidently say that this humidity system does its job fairly well. The moisture level remains constant for some time, but sadly not for more than 3 days.
The only negative thing I can say is that the sponge is not very large, in my opinion, if compared to the size of the nest. For this reason, to maintain a constant level of moisture you have to refill it every 2 or 3 days, depending on the room temperature.
If you wanna house an ant species that has very strict needs in terms of moisture, and may suffer if the environment becomes too dry, probably this is not the best choice for you.
If a high humidity level is needed, I would suggest you opt for another type of nest, like this other one! This 3D-printed ant nest is based on the gold standard of starter nest, the test tube setup, and it’s the perfect option if you wanna found a colony starting just from a single newly mated queen ant!
On the other hand, if the ants you wanna put in there don’t require an extremely high humidity level, this Anthouse nest can be a very comfortable house for your little friends!
The Chambers
The chambers of this nest are made in a way that resembles the natural shape of the ones you can find in a real ant nest. The internal space is optimized very well, giving the ants a lot of space to inhabit.
This nest features a very clever system for dividing the chambers, in order to give the ants the right amount of space they need. As you probably already know, if the nest in which a colony is housed is too big for its current size, it can stress the ants.
They may also start to accumulate trash in some of the chambers, increasing the odds of a mold outbreak. To avoid this issue you have to provide the colony with the right amount of space they need.
With this nest, once the colony has grown to a certain size and has filled all the currently available chambers, you can expand the space by opening this little door.
By doing so you will unlock another set of chambers, expanding the space without connecting another nest.
The Outworld
The nest also features a little outworld, perfect for feeding the ants without connecting an external one. The outworld has a round shape, and it measures 4cm x 4cm.
The lid is made of two acrylic plates, sticked together by a bolt. Despite being very small, the outworld has even the space to put the escape prevention oil! If you’re planning on adding an external outworld to this nest, I would suggest you check out this other article!
In this one, I make a detailed review of a very cool and spacious outworld made by the company Esthetic Ants. This outworld is perfect for a medium-sized ant colony, and it’s the perfect add-on to this nest!
Connections
Included with this nest, and with most Anthouse products, you will get these particular acrylic connectors.
They are pretty useful if you wanna expand the nest by connecting an additional nest or an external outworld, given that the one included is very small.
The first one is not really a connector, It’s more like an entrance blocker. It’s used to block the main nest port, very useful if you’re planning to use the nest as it is, without any expansions.
The second one is made for attaching a test tube to the nest, facilitating the initial move of your ants.
The last one is a standard male connector for tubes. You can easily use it to connect a vinyl tube with an internal diameter of 10mm, perfect for almost every ant size!
The Top Lid
As an additional accessory, you can get the top lid, made of a particular type of red transparent acrylic. This is very useful if you wanna create a dark space for your colony, as most ant species do not see the red light spectrum.
This lid is very cool, as It also covers the sides of the nest!
Rating
BRUMA Ants Rating
Overall
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Pricing
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Build quality
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Features
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Aesthetic
Summary
A very good square-shaped escape-proof ant nest made of various layers of acrylic, perfect for a medium colony. The outworld included in the nest does its job fairly well, providing a good-sized feeding area. With the nest you can also get an extremely useful red lid cover, perfect for creating a comfortable and dark space for your colony!
I hope you have found this guide helpful!
If you’re interested in the company and wanna check out some other products, you will definitely like this review of another Anthouse nest! This one is perfect if you’re just starting out or if you have a smaller colony!
Thank you!
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