Outworlds (Foraging Areas)
What is an outworld?
As the name implies, outworlds provide an area for the ants to forage, get resources, and dispose of waste and their deceased. Having an outworld also allows you the added benefit of being able to feed your ants without any incidents, such as having your workers escape.
Be sure to keep this foraging area as dry as possible so that it doesn’t become too humid, sometimes making the ants relocate their nest into or out of it. Maintaining a dryer environment will ensure there isn’t further cleaning required due to an increase or overgrowth of mould and bacteria.
We have outworlds in all shapes and sizes, allowing you to choose whichever setup suits your needs, including ones with a formicarium and the option to add a variety of different add-ons to go with them.
How to pick an outworld:
It is natural to assume that smaller is better when your colony is smaller or just starting. That said, in the wild, ants don’t typically have any limitations with the size of their foraging area.
This leaves the size of the Outworld you choose up to you. Eventually, you will need a much larger space when your colony grows, making it an excellent investment to get the largest Outworld you can afford due to cost and space. However, there is also the option to expand your setup by ensuring you have the ability to connect and attach new environments as needed. The only rule of thumb regarding space is to give at least 1 cm x 1 cm per ant.
Having multiple Outworlds allows you a lot of versatility when it comes to cleaning and general maintenance. You can easily disconnect each Outworld when it needs to be cleaned, making sure your ants always have somewhere to forage and explore.
You can also use a variety of tubes and connections to link to Outworlds not in your immediate vicinity, should you have smaller areas or limited space to work with.
Once you have settled on the enclosure of your choice, you now get to decide what you will include within it. You can choose something functional with a limited substrate and only items you need within it or you can go all out and design a little ecosystem. You can even go so far as to make it bioactive.
Whatever you decide, make sure you choose something that will be easy to access and manage for clean-up and feeding purposes. This includes a substrate that can be easily cleaned or replaced, especially where ants like to place their garbage.
Lastly, choosing an escape barrier is also incredibly important. It is easy to overlook what these little ladies are capable of once they set their minds to something. Our preference for an ant barrier is petroleum jelly because it is thick and seals gaps and is safe for all other pets and kids in the home, but every species has its better method and often, it is a good practice to combine two or more ways.
As always, choose what will be best for you once you have considered all the options. And make sure you are constantly checking and refreshing the barrier as needed, just in case they have figured a way out.