Escape proof

[Foxkit]

Hello,
I was talking with my biology teacher the other day about maybe setting up a couple of ant farms for a few experiments in the class. He said he wouldn't mind but I would have to figure out a way to make it escape proof and come up with a few experiment idea(all humane). I do have a couple ideas based on what most members use, however, most of the time they don't always keep ants out. Is there a fairly good way to keep them inside their formicarium? I was going to experiment with plastic bottle plastic as local ants don't seem to be able to climb that for some reason. I figured I should probably get some input from the community as I'm no Myrmecologist.
- Have a dizzy time
Foxkit

[Kyle]

It can depend on the ant that is being kept, as my Myrmica rubra will walk over Vaseline like its nothing, where as the Pheidole pallidula and Acromyrmex octospinosus, will not even try and cross it, so much so that I'm happy most the time to leave the lids off. So Vaseline is a good idea, but of course a good fitting lid is normally the best solution, or with smaller species you can use both the lid and Vaseline.

[Foxkit]

Since it depends on the species, I would first have to track down the local species in my area. I'm *fairly* certain that I've tracked down one. Camponotus decipiens I believe though I could be very, very, wrong. For the most part it seems that the local species are either Camponotus or Formica, from what I've seen. Again, I'm no myrmecologist, and have only been about halfway through the list. I'd probably get better luck looking for ant species native to New Mexico or Arizona for reference. since its dry and Arid in this part of Colorado.

Back to my main point. Vaseline seems to be a hit or miss and so needs to be tested with the local species?

[Wood~Ant]

You could try the liquid PTFE which is in another thread further down this board page posted by Danikin92