Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2012 16:58:55 GMT 1
Hey there, this week my partner and I have been looking into designing and making ytong nests. So far we've made a 5-sided plexiglas cube and bought a great slab of ytong (in Finland it's called Siporex, apparently). Before we make the jump into actually carving the nest... 1. What's an easy way/which tools should be used to cut a large slab of ytong into smaller blocks? 2. How long should a carved ytong be soaked for after carving to remove dust? The nest is four-sided with a hole and tube through the centre for hydration. My plan was to have a shallow pool in the base of the ytong into which water can be tubed, and thus absorbed by the ytong from the bottom up. 3. Does this sound like a suitable hydration method? 4. I've heard of using some kind of clay granules for hydration pools - what are the benefits of using these and would it improve my hydration plan? 5. Red transparencies for nest-darkening. Oh my word, how we have searched and searched for something to use. Is it even possible to find material for this purpose in stores or do we need to resort to buying expensive sheets from online ant shops? 6. If using natural materials (eg seashells, stones) from the garden or whatever, how should they be treated before going into an outworld? 7. Are tea-light bases (silver cups/dishes) safe for ants when cleaned of wax? They could make great feeding dishes or water pools I think
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2012 22:13:44 GMT 1
1- I used a saw I found in my dads shed 2- I spray mine down with the garden hose 3- Either a hole in the plexiglass or a hole carved at the top, like a resevoir, to moistin the nest 4- I think they are only effective in soil/sand. 5- I have started using mine from the THA nest, you can buy them at queenantshop though 6- For using rocks for my mantids, I but the rocks in boiling water, and leave them to cool 7- That is a great Idea!Use cotton aswell, so they dont drown in a pool I hope I helped
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2012 10:46:45 GMT 1
1- I used a saw I found in my dads shed 2- I spray mine down with the garden hose 3- Either a hole in the plexiglass or a hole carved at the top, like a resevoir, to moistin the nest 4- I think they are only effective in soil/sand. 5- I have started using mine from the THA nest, you can buy them at queenantshop though 6- For using rocks for my mantids, I but the rocks in boiling water, and leave them to cool 7- That is a great Idea!Use cotton aswell, so they dont drown in a pool I hope I helped Thanks for the ideas We were worried that the nest would have to soak for a day or something, and there isn't much time before I go back home! As the nest is on four sides I'm concerned that just a reservoir on top in the middle won't be sufficient for hydration...that the water would only moisten the centre of of the block and not the nests on the outside (unless it covered most of the top, which I forgot to mention I'm using as the outworld so I'd rather not!). Maybe I'm wrong about my ideas of how absorbent ytong is? Is having a (very) shallow indent in the base of the nest not a good method?
|
|