Venus? Saturn? Which of these two very popular ant nests better suits my needs? Which should I buy for my ant colony? Let’s compare them!
Today I’m going to compare two great ant nests made by the company WaKooshi, the Venus nest, and the Saturn nest! Let’s see which is the best! But before we start with the actual comparison, I wanna take a moment to describe the two products very quickly.
The Venus Nest
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This peculiar nest model made by WaKooshi is made of acrylic, and it’s based on the test tube setup. That means that the actual nest in which the ants live is in fact a very basic test tube setup, considered by most ant keepers to be the gold standard of starter nests.
In this nest the test tubes are placed one next to the other, in order to form a sort of test tube cluster. The 3D-printed structure is capable of holding up to 3 test tubes, which is not bad at all considering how little space this nest takes!
Each test tube has its own little entrance, which connects the nests to a little outworld. The outworld of this nest is not too big and not too small, but it’s a fairly compromise between usability and size.
If you wanna find out more about this cool nest, I would strongly suggest you check out this article! In this one, I make a detailed review of this nest, listing the pros and cons of this type of setup!
The Saturn Nest
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The other nest of this comparison is called the Saturn nest. Made by the same company, it shares the main nest structure of its direct competitor. Like the Venus nest, it uses the test tube setup as the main living area, and it also features a fairly sized outworld.
As you can clearly see, the main difference between the Venus and this nest is its larger size. Thanks to its bigger volume, it is able to hold more test tubes, giving the ants a lot more nesting space! Due to its size, it also has a lot more space to be used as the outworld section, creating an easier-to-manage feeding and drinking area.
Just like for the Venus nest, I’ve also made a dedicated review for this nest! If you are interested, you can check it out here!
The Company
These are two of the most popular ant nests made by WaKooshi.
If you have never heard of them, WaKooshi is a UK-based company, very popular in the ant keeping community for their very cool 3D-printed acrylic nests. If you are interested in one of these nests and wanna check out more, you can find their online shop at www.wakooshi.com.
The Comparison
To determine which of the two nests is the best one, I will assign a point to only one of the two products in 5 different categories: price, build quality, features, aesthetic, and expandability. At the end of the comparison, the nest with the most points will be the winner!
Let’s start with the first category!
Price
At the current date, the Saturn nest is a bit more expensive than the Venus on the WaKooshi online shop. The price of the Venus is currently £16.95, or €20.95 if you live in a country that uses the euro.
On the other hand, the price of the Saturn is £34.95, or €41.95. With a price difference of £18, the Venus is definitely a lot cheaper if compared with the larger Saturn.
For this reason, the Venus easily wins the point of this category!
Build Quality
Both these nests are built using 3D printing technology, a very modern technique used to create custom acrylic parts. This technology uses an additive process that creates the acrylic components by depositing various layers of material one above the other.
The quality of the 3D printing is extremely good in both of these nests! There aren’t any signs of smudges or errors caused by the 3D printer, and the surfaces are really well-made!
If you, just like me, really like 3D-printed ant nests, I would suggest you take a look at this other nest! This one is made by the same company, and is perfect if you have a very small colony or just a newly mated queen ant!
The acrylic panels available on both nests are also made with very high-quality materials, and the cuts are extremely precise. The acrylic panels of the outworld and the red covers of the Venus are very clear, facilitating the view of the ants inside the nest.
Given the fact that both nests are made with the same 3D printer, this could be considered a tie! However, I really love the test tube holder section of the Saturn! The test tubes fit perfectly inside the special handles, and they also look amazing!
For this reason, I have to give the point to the Saturn!
Features
Now let’s talk bout the features. Both nests offer lots of handy features. They both have an outworld, and both are based on the most trusted nest system: the test tube setup.
The main differences between the Venus and the Saturn are the outworld size, the number of test tubes that can be added to the nest, and the red cover that we find only in the Venus.
The outworld of the Saturn nest is a lot bigger, and with its bigger opening, it makes it a lot easier to access the inside and feed the ants.
The Saturn also has a lot more nesting space, and can hold up to 7 test tubes for the larger model!
However, we have a feature in the Venus that we don’t have in the Saturn, and that is the acrylic red cover. This particular type of lid blocks the red light spectrum from entering the nest, creating a darker environment for the ants.
This feature is very useful in the funding stage of a young colony, especially when the queen has just laid her first batch of eggs, reducing the chance that she will eat them for the excessive stress.
Thanks to this additional feature, the point for this category goes to the Venus!
Aesthetic
Personally, I really love the design of the Saturn! It is very different from any other nest that you can find on the ant keeping market, and it’s also extremely functional!
I really like the fact that the test tubes are placed inside the outworld, instead of outside, as we have in many other ant nests. This clever configuration choice creates a better-looking nest, a lot simpler from a shape perspective, and a lot cleaner from a design point of view.
So, for this category, I can safely give the point to the Saturn!
So far we have a tie! 2 points for the Venus and 2 points for the Saturn! Let’s continue with the last category!
Expandability
When it comes to expandability, both of these nests have some great and useful features.
The Venus nest has a single but large enough front door. The door is located on the side of the outworld, and it’s extremely useful if you wanna connect an additional outworld or if you wanna expand the available nesting space.
You can easily connect a standard flexible plastic tube, and by using a 3 or 4 ways connector, the options become limitless.
In the Saturn we have a similar solution. On both sides of the nest, we find two dedicated auxiliary ports made especially for expanding the nest by connecting an outworld or a new nest.
You can even connect other Saturns, creating an endless line of cubic nests!
Given the fact that on the Saturn we find one more auxiliary port than on the Venus, the final point goes to the Saturn!
Conclusions
The verdict is in! The Saturn wins this competition with just one point more than the Venus!
In the end, both are really good nests, perfect if you’re just starting out, or if you already have lots of experience with keeping ants! However, I think that the Saturn has something more, and for this reason, it deserves the victory!
I hope you have found this product comparison helpful!
If you like these types of product comparison guides, I would suggest you check out this other one! In this one, I compare the Saturn with another great nest made by WaKooshi: the Mercury nest!
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