FlexGrid Founding 4×4 by Crawlspace Habitats

Shipping: UPS/FedEx 2-Day, $20 flat — free on orders over $120.

The founding nest we use. This is where our own queens start their colonies. The Founding 4×4 is designed and built by Crawlspace Habitats, ant keepers who build what they keep. It works because the people behind it have lost queens to dried-out tubes and clumsy feedings too, and they engineered those problems out. We tested it on our own queens before we put our name next to theirs, and we stand behind every one we ship.

Where she starts her kingdom. Founding is the hardest stretch of the whole hobby. Test tubes dry out, getting food to a young colony without disturbing the queen is fiddly, and every check is a risk. The Founding 4×4 fixes all of it in one module.

Give the well 4 mL of water once a week. Put food in the built-in outworld. Leave her alone. That is the whole routine. The gypsum chamber stays humid, feeding happens away from the brood, and you get a clear view the entire time.

Room to grow

Sliding doors and a built-in KeySnap doorway mean that when the first workers turn into a crowd, you snap on a FlexGrid Nest or Outworld and open the door. The colony moves when it is ready, not when you force it.

Who it's for

Any claustral or semi-claustral queen outside the honeypots. This listing ships with the standard-height insert, sized for Camponotus, Novomessor, Messor and Veromessor, and the larger Pogonomyrmex. Keeping honeypots? Their nest is built differently. See the Honeypot Nest.

Details

• Case: 4 × 4 × 2.067 in (101.6 × 101.6 × 52.5 mm), PETG with acrylic panel and TPU locking sliding doors
• Nest interior: 2.816 × 0.551 × 0.484 in (71.5 × 14 × 12.3 mm), Ultracal 30 gypsum pigmented with iron oxide
• Outworld interior: 3.442 × 1.739 × 1.448 in (87.4 × 44.2 × 36.8 mm), with stainless mesh vent
• Entrances: 3/8 in
• Included: 1 KeySnap connector, 1 well plug, 2 outworld plugs, 1 founding shroud

Backed by two keepers' names

Made by Crawlspace Habitats and covered by their 1-year warranty against damage, accidental breakage included. Sold and supported by us. If anything about it isn't right, email us and we will make it right.

From their chamber to your door — by Royal Chamber Ants.