Wood Founding Formicarium from Ant USIKI
Russian manufacturer Ant USIKI have developed a nice little natural wood founding formicarium not too dissimilar from one of our earlier efforts.
One of earlier efforts at a wood founding formicarium.
The design and intent is simple however it's the use of the natural material that we like. In what appears to be a branch from a tree cut into a section, a glass lid is then moulded to the shape of the branch and screwed down from the top. The tunnels are routed in by hand to achieve the desired pattern.
As with our previous attempts to make a similar design, problems could arise from hydration as the wood soaks in any water applied and then naturally expands. Our tests showed that it was this expansion that caused cracks in the wood large enough for ants to escape that was the critical flaw.
However if they've selected a suitably hard wood this may alleviate this problem.
It appears at this stage that they are only accessible via the Russian Facebook equivalent VK.com. Their store can be found here, but you'll be required to sign up for an account before being able to view the products.
Priced from around US$25.
