Hi guys! I hope you’re doing well!
Today I will be setting up and reviewing this really cool 3D-printed ant nest made by the company Anthouse. You can find the nest here!
Let’s see if it’s any good!
Setting Up The Nest
Before we start with the review, I am going to prepare and set up the nest, so you too can see how it looks once it’s ready!
Before we can start putting the sand into the nest, we have to close the 4 little expansion ports of the nest. To do so, we can use these cool rubber entrance blockers, which are included in the package.
There are 4 holes in total, 2 on the outworld and 2 on the sandwich nest.
Perfect!
Now we can finally start filling the nest with sand! I’m going to start from the outworld, and then proceed with the sandwich nest.
To spread it evenly, you can just give it a little shake!
Now to the actual nest!
Filling the sandwich nest is extremely easy! One tip: If you don’t wanna submerge the nest with sand like I’m doing right now, you can use a folded sheet of paper to create a barrier and contain the sand, making it fall right into the nest!
If you like the look and feel of this particular type of sandwich nest, you will definitely love this other product too! This other nest made by the German company Antstore uses the same all-in-one nest philosophy, but takes the build quality to a whole new level!
Let’s clean this mess with a paintbrush!
If you want, you can level the sand in the sandwich nest using a stick of some sort. I am using the back of the paintbrush.
You can also level the sand in the outworld, just to make it a little more appealing.
Fantastic!
Now we have to water the nest. To do so, you can use a regular pipette or some sort of water dispenser, like the one I am using.
With time, the water will come down to the lowest levels, humidifying the whole nest.
If you want, you can put some escape prevention oil under the border of the outworld opening. To do so, I’m going to use the Antstore’s escape prevention set, which includes a small bottle of oil and a very useful sponge.
Perfect! Now it’s an impenetrable fortress!
It actually looks really good! Let’s continue!
Adding The Feeders And A Colony!
The next thing I’m going to do is add two liquid feeders to the outworld. The first one will contain this extremely concentrated blue sugar liquid, included with the starter pack that comes with the nest.
I’m going to use this smaller feeder for the sugar liquid, and a bigger one for the water.
The blue sugar looks awesome inside the feeder!
If you like this kind of colored sugary liquid, you cannot miss this other product review! In this article, I made a detailed review of the amazing Ant Antics sugar snaps, one of the best ways to provide your beloved ant colonies with a constant and healthy source of sugar!
Here’s the sugar liquid and the water reserve. Now the ants can count on a constant source of liquids!
If you like these really cool types of liquid feeders, I would strongly suggest you check out my review of these products! In the review, I list the pros and cons of using these particular types of liquid feeders, explaining why they can actually be very useful in some circumstances!
I’ve already moved in a colony of Messor barbarus. They seem to like the nest a lot! Just a couple of minutes after they saw the sand for the first time, they started to dig like crazy!
I’ve also added this extremely cool seed feeder. It’s made specifically for Messor species, and can contain an enormous quantity of different types of seeds!
Reviewing The Nest
When it comes to the nest, all I can say is that I like it a lot!
The sandwich nest is fairly sized, and has plenty of nesting space inside! It measures 20 centimeters in height and 25 centimeters in width, or about 7.9 inches by 9.8 inches.
The depth of the sandwich measures 2 centimeters, or about 0.8 inches. This size is the perfect compromise between the space that the ants need to build the chambers and the depth that allow us to see the ants inside the nest.
The lid of the outworld has really amazed me! It’s cut with incredible precision, and it allows us to see the outworld from above with no issues!
The little handle placed on the top of the acrylic panel is super useful, making it extremely easy to lift up the lid!
Rating
BRUMA Ants Rating
Overall
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Pricing
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Build quality
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Aesthetic
Summary
A very good ant keeping product that seamlessly merges a classic sandwich nest and an outworld, creating an amazing-looking ant nest! The main structure is 3D printed, and it doesn’t have any signs of errors or smudges! The sandwich nest is fairly sized, and has plenty of nesting space inside!
Overall this is a very good ant keeping product, perfect for housing your beloved ant colonies!
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 have a smaller ant colony and like acrylic nests!
Real-world impact!
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