Have you ever observed the life of ants? This is an extraordinary world with its own orders, laws, and relationships. In order not to go to the forest to an anthill, we suggest you create your own ant farm. By placing small inhabitants in it, you will be able to watch how paths and tunnels are built, and how important these little hardworking creatures scurry back and forth, as if they were carrying out someone’s task. We will tell you how to make an ant farm with your own hands in this article.
What will you need for your farm?
You need two jars with lids - one larger, the other smaller (so that the second can fit inside the first). Ants and soil will be placed in the space between the small and large containers. A smaller jar is needed to leave space in the center.
The ants will be able to lay eggs at the top edge and build tunnels, and you will be able to watch this process. Airtight containers are great for “construction”. You can create with their help right size farms. Please note that the jars should not have any patterns, cracks, scratches, etc. If you want your ant farm (with ants) to be flat, buy a small narrow aquarium from your local pet store.
What types of ant farms are there?
Ant farm may be of several types. The differences lie in the composition of the filler. The most common ones are:
- soil-sandy;
- gypsum;
- gel.
Let's look at each of these types in more detail.
Soil-sand farm
First you should prepare a mixture of sand and soil. Ants require a moist environment. This will allow little villagers to dig tunnels and paths. If you collect ants in your dacha or yard, use the same soil so that when they move into new house, found themselves in their usual habitat. You will need enough earth to fill the space in the jar. Loosen it well.
Mix two parts soil with one part sand. You can buy fertilized soil and sand from the gardening department and mix them well. If you buy special ants from a farm at a pet store, then the necessary mixture is included with them.
Looking for an anthill
Now you need to find “tenants” for your farm. The easiest way to find ants is outside. You will not have any difficulties with this, especially if you involve your child in this process. Anthills small sizes often found in courtyards. You can find them if you follow where the little workers are rushing with their finds. When going to collect ants, take with you gloves, a jar with a tight lid and a scoop.
Make several holes in the lid using a needle (for air access). They must be very small so that insects cannot get out. Add some honey or jam to the bottom of the jar. In this case, the ants will gather around the sweet treat and will not try to get out. Very carefully dig up the inhabitants of the anthill and move them to a jar.
Try to find the queen. You will recognize her immediately - she is much larger than the rest of the inhabitants of the anthill. An ant farm, which is populated only by working insects that live on the surface, will last no more than four weeks. This is how long these insects live in natural conditions. which is ready to lay eggs, can be found near anthills in early autumn, immediately after mating has occurred between males and females. In addition, the queen can be purchased from professional breeders. Your ant farm can accommodate 30-40 insects to start with.
Building a farm
Now you can start building the farm. Cover the smaller jar with a lid and place it in the larger one. To make it stand in the center, you can glue it to the bottom with glue. Fill up with soil. Make sure the lid is closed tightly. Fill the space between the jars with soil and sand mixture. This composition should not be compacted tightly - ants will not be able to move inside.
The soil should not reach about 1.5 cm from the top of the jar. This is necessary so that insects cannot escape when you open the lid. Place the ants in a jar and close it. Do this very carefully. Use a needle to make holes in the lid for air.
Farm care
We figured out how to make an ant farm. Now you need to find out how to care for it.
- It is necessary to regularly moisten the soil and feed the inhabitants of the farm. Every 3-4 days, throw small pieces of fresh fruit and a few drops of jam or honey into a jar - ants have a sweet tooth, they love sugar very much.
- Ants should not be fed meat or any other cooked foods. Otherwise, your ant farm will attract unwanted insects.
- When you are not observing insects, cover the jar with a light, dark cloth. The fact is that ants dig their tunnels at night, in complete darkness. If this is not done, the insects will be in a constant state of stress and may lose activity.
- Ants are fragile creatures, rough handling can kill them due to tunnel collapse. Therefore, the jar should not be shaken.
- The ant farm (you see the photo in this article) should be located in warm room(at constant temperature.
- Do not allow straight lines to enter the farm Sun rays. The walls of the jar may heat up and the ants will die.
Truss with gel filler
The gel ant farm is now sold in stores as a complete set. Of course, such a farm does not include its inhabitants. They must be purchased separately or collected in the yard or in the forest. You can make such a house for ants with your own hands. We assure you that it will be interesting not only for children, but also for adult naturalists to watch how insects dig tunnels, pulling pieces of gel to the surface.
For this you will need:
- flat container with a lid and transparent walls;
- gelatin.
Preparing the gel
Pour three sachets of gelatin (15 g each) into 0.5 liters of hot water, stir well until the gelatin is completely dissolved. After this, add another 0.5 liters of water. Pour the finished mixture into a container and place it in the refrigerator. When it hardens, take it out and wait until the gel mass reaches room temperature.
Aquarium gel can be bought at the store in finished form, but it’s more interesting to do it yourself. You should know that such a filler for an ant house is not only a habitat, but also food. As soon as you make a small depression in the gel and place ants in it, they will immediately begin to “eat away” their passages and build tunnels. Let us remind you once again that ants living on a gel farm do not need to be fed or watered. The gel is a source of moisture and food for them.
Gypsum ant farm
Such a formicarium (also called an ant farm) is attractive because it is completely open to observation of insects.
To create it you will need a transparent container. We dilute the plaster to the consistency of sour cream. Pour the resulting composition into a container, having previously placed a regular plastic tube in it (at the side). It should reach the bottom of the container. This is necessary in order to later add water to the formicarium, which will maintain the humidity level.
After pouring the composition, the workpiece sets very quickly, but dries completely in about a week. On the third or fourth day, remove it from the mold. If it does not come out easily, place it in hot (not boiling) water for thirty seconds. After this, the workpiece will easily come out of the mold.
Now it’s time to show your design abilities, that is, “draw” “rooms and corridors” on the blank. At this time, the composition is still damp, so you can easily scratch out any tunnels on it - it depends on your imagination. Although amateurs who already have an ant farm recommend studying the structure of a real anthill so that the passages are as close as possible to natural ones.
The two entrances for the residents of the formicarium can be drilled using a drill. Now take any handy tool screwdriver, etc.) and start making tunnels according to your drawing applied to the workpiece, choosing plaster from them. Do this carefully so that the composition, which has not yet completely dried, does not crumble.
Several depressions should be made at the bottom of the workpiece to better distribute water and moisturize the formicarium. They need to be connected by a small channel to a cocktail tube. Such recesses significantly reduce the weight of the formicarium. Don't forget to do ventilation holes V top cover and sides. For this you can use a 0.5 mm drill.
Your farm is almost ready. All that remains is to dry it well and place it in a container. Here again you may encounter a problem - the dried workpiece will not want to go back into the mold. Don't be upset, but again place it for 30 seconds in hot water, and it will easily fit into the container.
All that remains is to find ants for the formicarium. There are many types of them, so before purchasing, it is advisable to look through special literature to select the most unpretentious one. After settling the farm, you will be able to study the life of these insects.
As you can see, making an ant farm with your own hands is not difficult at all from any material. In conclusion, I would like to give some tips that will be useful to you.
- You can feed ants dead insects, but only if you are sure they are not poisonous.
- Plant one type of insect in your farm. The two colonies will not get along together; they may fight to the death. Therefore, even if you catch ants yourself, try to collect them from one anthill.
- All ants bite. Some - less often, others - more often. For example, they bite and sting very painfully. Therefore, use gloves.
Contrary to popular belief, the arena is not just a box that ants use to obtain food and store garbage, the arena is a rather important part of the formicarium that performs several functions. Which ones exactly? This is what we will look at now.
What is an arena?
An arena is a space that imitates the area around an anthill. And if in nature ants have no boundaries other than natural ones, then at home their movement has to be artificially restrained.
What is the arena for?
The arena performs several functions at once. The most important thing is that it simplifies the care of the colony, makes feeding and cleaning easier. If your colony lives in a test tube, then every time the entrance is opened, the ants will raise the alarm and try to get out. And even if you manage to take out the trash and throw food in its place before the workers rush in, you still won’t be able to clean everything up. small particles, which the ants dragged onto the cotton wool. And each such particle is a potential source of mold, the appearance of which is undesirable in any case.
If you attach an arena, the ants do the cleaning work themselves - they collect food in the arena themselves, take out the garbage themselves, and go to the drinking bowl for water if they need it. All this not only simplifies the care of ants, but also gives the ants the opportunity to work with their own hands, stretch their paws and generally be active.
In addition, a good arena also serves an aesthetic function. At proper planning, the arena becomes a decoration of the formicarium and a place where you can observe the ants during their hunting and foraging. A well designed arena should give good review everything that happens on it, and not create additional barriers to observation.
Another purpose that many keepers often forget about is maintaining a microclimate. Very often the arena looks like simple box made of plastic with a hole in the side - the ants take food there and get food there. But keepers do not take into account that in nature ants often use the space near the anthill for their own needs - ants can set up solariums there and warm up cocoons, dry seeds in the bright sun, or simply bask on their own to speed up their metabolism and digestion. Moreover, the further south an ant lives, the more strongly the sun influences its behavior, and the more important it is to imitate daylight hours and temperature changes.
How to make a good arena?
The ideal arena for ants is their natural biome, where the species lives in the wild.. No matter what we do, we will never be able to exactly replicate all the factors that ants deal with in the wild, but we can try to get as close to natural conditions as possible, without forgetting about the practical side.
The first is the size and height of the arena. The larger your colony, the larger size ants need arenas. It is not necessary to make one large arena - you can connect several using tubes, as is done, for example, for leaf cutters - in this case you can disconnect one arena for cleaning, and transfer the ants from it to the second. For each species, the recommended arena size will be different; you just need to study this experimentally, observing the behavior of ants in the arena that you already have. At the same time, most species of ants collect food on the ground, and only for aphids do they climb onto plants or low bushes - so there is no need to make arenas more than 10-20 cm high. High arenas are only needed if your species lives and hunts in trees or plants - for example, crematogasters, shiny woodborers, weavers. Most ants, as a rule, do not climb tall plants, which means there is no need to place them, nor to make a high arena. However, there is one more exception - for mass and small species it makes sense to make the arena of great height - but only in order to apply a wide layer of anti-escape in an attempt to contain this hungry horde.
The second point is ventilation. Most ant farms have one major drawback - there is not enough ventilation in the arena. Small slits in acrylic and thin slits between parts are unable to ensure normal air circulation. Ants feel this very well, so they do not perceive the arena as an open external space - for them it is large, but closed place like a hollow in a tree or a cavity underground. Therefore, while there, ants can often behave almost like they are in an anthill - they can drag brood back and forth, store seeds under shelters, or even drag the queen there. To avoid this behavior, need to be provided good ventilation using a mesh or open lid.
The third point is review. In pursuit of good level ventilation and imitation of natural conditions, we must not forget that the arena is needed, among other things, for convenient observation of ants. So when you are planning or choosing an arena for your ants, consider which side you will be looking at the ants from and what will be in the way. Look at where the ventilation grids are located, where the ants will enter from, where you can place drinking bowls and feeders, and make sure that no details or decorations will interfere with your observations.
The fourth point is convenience. The arena won't be of any use if you can't maintain it properly. This means that you should be able to calmly put down food, remove debris, disconnect and connect the arena, update the anti-escape, without carrying out any complex manipulations. How easier care- the better for you and for the ants. There are several points to pay attention to:
1) The hole for the cover is large enough to allow hand manipulation with tweezers
2) There are several holes for connecting modules, from different sides
3) There is a large enough rim for applying anti-escape
4) The arena surface is close enough to take macro photographs
5) There is a place above the arena to install a heating lamp
Despite its apparent simplicity, it is worth approaching the organization of the arena wisely, and taking into account all possible nuances in advance. Even though many species can use the simplest arena without any problems, for a beautiful appearance you need to carefully consider the selection of both the scenery and the arena itself, so as not to encounter unexpected difficulties in care. But, if you do everything right, you can achieve not only functionality and convenience, but also a beautiful appearance - and your arena will delight you with its appearance, just like the ants that will use it.
As promised, I’m telling you about the successful relocation of my ant family to a new anthill 🙂 1. Soldier 🙂 Did you know that all the ants in the anthill are girls"/-SorRjo_vVxA/TlFahzQkYlI/AAAAAAAAAItI/mL-ZwZ-67Vg/s800/DSC_7398.jpg" /> So, we felt a little cramped in the test tube. Camponotus fellah ants are quite large. The workers are about a centimeter in length, and the mother and soldiers are twice as large. More than forty workers with offspring could hardly fit in a test tube, and I decided to build a formicarium (an artificial anthill). The principle is simple - pour and drink, you need to cast a block from plaster or alabaster with ready-made passages and rooms that will have access to the arena, ventilation and the ability to moisten the structure. There is a sea of information on the Internet! And, with all this, the first time is always an act. As always, before doing something new, I started by gathering materials. I bought a box of Ferrero chocolates, a box of beads, a hose, plasticine and a pack of plaster. I started by eating candy - it helps a lot brain activity🙂 3. A box of chocolates will become an arena. The top is cut off so that the arena is well ventilated. The edges will be coated with lip gloss so that the ants cannot get out of it. 
4. I cut off the partitions in the bead box, cut out holes for ventilation, humidification and entry. I made a sketch of the interior. 
5. Based on the sketch placed under the glass, I sculpted it on the glass interior spaces so that they make the most of the depth of the box, but do not reach the back wall. One chamber stands separately - this is the humidification chamber. A tube for cocktails is inserted into it from above (the two chambers above it are shaped appropriately for the passage of the tube). 
6. Assembled model without plaster. 
7. To simplify the process of removing the casting from the box and to prevent plaster from leaking through the holes already made, I lined the bottom of the box with cling film. 
I suggested pouring the plaster into the box and covering it with glass with a plasticine mold, squeezing out the excess plaster. In fact, this is not the most good idea. At least it didn't work out for me. True, I have almost zero experience working with plaster. The first and last time I cast a plaster mold was when I worked as a polisher in a dental clinic almost twenty years ago. I then cut out a skull from wax, about five centimeters in size, and immortalized it in dental plastic. I lost it when I moved, it’s a shame 🙁 So, the first batch began to harden before I put the mold in. This was a complete surprise for me and, in trying to finish the job, I crushed the glass 🙁 ...but still, we are not used to retreating... Using a piece of plastic cut from a box of chocolates and the remains of plaster as glass, roughly representing the allotted I have a time frame, I still made the casting. There wasn't enough plaster. To make the front part look good, I turned the mold over onto glass. On back wall The plaster sagged and holes formed in a couple of places, but the front side was cast perfectly. 8. Cleaned the plasticine. 
I dug up some alabaster in the bins: covered up the holes and built up the sagging areas. When the casting had frozen, but had not yet dried: I used a knife to smooth out the unevenness and burrs, and cut passages to the ventilation. 9. Soaked the casting in water with detergent for dishes to wash out the fat absorbed from the plasticine from the plaster. 
I rinsed the casting thoroughly and left it to dry for several days. 10. I got a new piece of glass, assembled it with formica and glued it with silicone. 
11. To cover the ventilation, my daughter suggested a nylon mesh. The mesh turned out to be very thin, durable and, thanks to its special weaving, had non-sliding cells. Tanya glued the nets with hot glue. 
12. Pre-assembly 
13. Entering the arena 
Well, you can connect. 14. I cut a hole in the old arena and connected a new formica, after moistening it. 
I read a lot about how ants are not very willing to move to a new home. To encourage relocation, many keepers are darkening the new Formica. I decided to give my ants a little time and leave everything as is. They didn’t make me wait long 🙂 15. The scout examined the new home for a long time and carefully, constantly stopping, moving his antennae and cleaning them. 
16. — And your nets are strong"/-cDPv-C1bRQQ/TlFZqd7ouxI/AAAAAAAAIqk/kuOxNjVYzoA/s800/DSC_7279.jpg" /> Quite quickly there were two scouts, then four. Then about six workers wandered aimlessly around the Formica for about an hour, scanning the space with their antennae and imitating daily life: they cleaned each other, tried to chew on the mesh and walls... Ultimately, a military expert soldier was invited for inspection and then it began! They dragged the eggs, the larvae and cocoons were left in a test tube. They move them from place to place, look for eggs and drag them into formica. About 15 workers and one soldier are sitting with a queen in a test tube. 17. — Attention to those moving: proceed with your things to the blue corridor 
18. They dragged... uh... robot nannies :))) The workers dragged the crooked workers, I thought that they were dragging the newly hatched ones, but as soon as the crooked ones were released, they jumped to their feet and began to run. I think that they dragged nannies who never left the test tube. 
19. I didn’t see where their activation button is. Most often, after being released, the transported person stood up and began to run 
20. 
21. But it happened that they forgot to press the activation button and the ant lay in the same position for half an hour 
There are three people in the arena: one soldier and two workers. The rest are all in formica. In one place they are trying to chew on the wall. It turned out that they were gnawing on the wall to get building materials for installing ventilation. I missed how my mother was transferred. After she left, only larvae, cocoons, one soldier and a group of workers remained in the test tube. 22. The soldier met and fed each incoming porter. 
23. Drag cocoons 
24. The most difficult thing is to drag the larva the size more ant 
The last larva was taken away. Three workers are sitting in a test tube, finishing something, and a half-soldier is sitting at the entrance. There is a soldier and one worker in the arena, the rest are all in formica :) I sealed up the two lower ventilation holes. The ants collected fresh alabaster and reduced the remaining two ventilation holes by four times. All the pupae and larvae were taken out into the tube, only the eggs were left inside. They themselves also sit inside. The passages between the chambers are quite large. I hope that two holes will be enough for them. At least they stopped digging 🙂 25. They gnawed out fresh alabaster... 
26. ...and sealed the upper holes 
27. I thought that all construction participants would remain with their mouths sealed :) 
28. But, no - with the help of their comrades, almost everyone got rid of the “fillings” in the very first hours after finishing the work 
All pupae were returned to Formica. There's no one in the arena... at all. One sits in a test tube. Sometimes a group of 3-4 workers visits him. They clean themselves there, “kiss” and leave, leaving one. 29. I removed the test tube, changed the arena and placed a large drinking bowl. The ant farm is ready :) 
It is much better to observe and photograph ants through smooth glass. Finally was able to photograph the process of unpacking the newborn 30. 
31. 
32. 
33. 
34. 
35. 
And also the packaging... 36. I noticed that the worker was fiddling with the soldier larva, and it was moving somehow strangely... inside the thin cocoon! 
37. 
38. 
39. Ants build DNA models from eggs in the air. Probably ventilate 
40. Open water For some reason, ants don’t really know how to drink. Maybe these are just mine"/-PYjNVDLPZOg/TlFbHEHBrJI/AAAAAAAAIus/YZqKkGCsi7I/s800/DSC_7705.jpg" /> 41. For the honey syrup I set them plastic cover from bottled water. He poured boiling water over it, pressed a hole with his finger and dipped it in cold water. It turned out to be a tall saucer. 
42. It turns out that the larvae have such red fluff :) 
43. I am very pleased that my ants began to eat cat food. I think this is very healthy eating 🙂 
44. About social justice: A soldier washes away a worker 😉 
45. — See you again :) 
August 25th, 2011 , 08:35 pm
As promised, I’m telling you about the successful relocation of my ant family to a new anthill :)
The relocation began the day after I summed up the results in the last post. Since then, the ants have doubled their numbers and now number about a hundred Amazons :)
1. Soldier:)
Did you know that all the ants in the anthill are girls? Even the stern, warrior-looking soldiers are, in fact, soldiers. Ants need boys only at the time of reproduction and only once! (What if this time is unsuccessful?) During the breeding season, winged princes and princesses leave the anthill in search of a partner. After mating, princesses cast off their wings, and princes... skates: (And after this one time, the female lays eggs for about twenty years!!! By the way, no other insect on Earth lives as long as the queen ant. True, worker ants live from one up to five years.
The fertilized uterus, which has cast off its wings, begins to look for a suitable secluded place. If you find, pick up and put it in a test tube with wet cotton wool, you will become a myrmikiper;)
2. Soldier's love;) 
So, we felt a little cramped in the test tube. Camponotus fellah ants are quite large. The workers are about a centimeter in length, and the mother and soldiers are twice as large. More than forty workers with offspring could hardly fit in a test tube, and I decided to build a formicarium (an artificial anthill). The principle is simple - pour and drink, you need to cast a block from plaster or alabaster with ready-made passages and rooms that will have access to the arena, ventilation and the ability to moisten the structure. There is a sea of information on the Internet! And, with all this, the first time is always an act.
As always, before doing something new, I started by gathering materials. I bought a box of Ferrero chocolates, a box of beads, a hose, plasticine and a pack of plaster. I started by eating candy - it really helps my brain activity :)
3. The candy box will become the arena. The top is cut off so that the arena is well ventilated. The edges will be coated with lip gloss so that the ants cannot get out of it. 
4. I cut off the partitions in the bead box, cut out holes for ventilation, humidification and entry. I made a sketch of the interior. 
5. Based on the sketch placed under the glass, I sculpted the interior spaces on the glass so that they made maximum use of the depth of the box, but did not reach the back wall. One chamber stands separately - this is the humidification chamber. A tube for cocktails is inserted into it from above (the two chambers above it are shaped appropriately for the passage of the tube). 
6. Assembled model without plaster. 
7. To simplify the process of removing the casting from the box and to prevent plaster from leaking through the holes already made, I lined the bottom of the box with cling film. 
I suggested pouring the plaster into the box and covering it with glass with a plasticine mold, squeezing out the excess plaster. This is actually not a good idea. At least it didn't work out for me. True, I have almost zero experience working with plaster. The first and last time I cast a plaster mold was when I worked as a polisher in a dental clinic almost twenty years ago. I then cut out a skull from wax, about five centimeters in size, and immortalized it in dental plastic. I lost it while moving, it's a shame :(
So, the first batch began to harden before I inserted the mold. This was a complete surprise for me and, in an attempt to complete the job, I crushed the glass:(...but still, we are not used to retreating... (c) Using a piece of plastic cut from a box of chocolates and the remains of plaster as glass , roughly understanding the time frame allotted to me, I still made the casting. There wasn’t enough plaster. To make the front part look good, I turned the mold over onto the glass. On the back wall, the plaster sagged, holes formed in a couple of places, but the front side was cast perfectly.
8. Cleaned the plasticine. 
I dug up some alabaster in the bins: covered up the holes and built up the sagging areas. When the casting had frozen, but had not yet dried: I used a knife to smooth out the unevenness and burrs, and cut passages to the ventilation.
9. Soaked the casting in water with dishwashing detergent to wash out the fat that had been absorbed from the plasticine from the plaster. 
I rinsed the casting thoroughly and left it to dry for several days.
10. I got a new piece of glass, assembled it with formica and glued it with silicone. 
11. To cover the ventilation, my daughter suggested a nylon mesh. The mesh turned out to be very thin, durable and, thanks to its special weaving, had non-sliding cells. Tanya glued the nets with hot glue. 
12. Pre-assembly 
13. Entering the arena 
Well, you can connect.
14. I cut a hole in the old arena and connected a new formica, after moistening it. 
I read a lot about how ants are not very willing to move to a new home. To encourage relocation, many keepers are darkening the new Formica. I decided to give my ants a little time and leave everything as is. They didn't make me wait long :)
15. The scout examined the new home for a long time and carefully, constantly stopping, moving his antennae and cleaning them. 
16. - Are your nets strong? And then we have a cat :))) 
Quite quickly there were two scouts, then four. Then about six workers wandered aimlessly around the Formica for about an hour, scanning the space with their antennae and imitating everyday life: they cleaned each other, tried to chew on the meshes and walls... Ultimately, a military expert soldier was invited for an inspection, and then it began!
They dragged the eggs, the larvae and cocoons were left in a test tube. They move them from place to place, look for eggs and drag them into formica. About 15 workers and one soldier are sitting with a queen in a test tube.
17. - Attention to those moving: proceed with your belongings to the blue corridor 
18. They dragged... uh... robot nannies :))) The workers dragged the crooked workers, I thought that they were dragging the newly hatched ones, but as soon as the crooked ones were released, they jumped to their feet and began to run. I think that they dragged nannies who never left the test tube. 
19. I didn’t see where their activation button is. Most often, after being released, the transported person stood up and began to run 
20.
21. But it happened that they forgot to press the activation button and the ant lay in the same position for half an hour 
There are three people in the arena: one soldier and two workers. The rest are all in formica. In one place they are trying to chew on the wall. It turned out that they were gnawing on the wall to get building materials for installing ventilation.
I missed how my mother was transferred. After she left, only larvae, cocoons, one soldier and a group of workers remained in the test tube.
22. The soldier met and fed each incoming porter. 
23. Drag cocoons 
24. The most difficult thing is to drag a larva larger than an ant 
The last larva was taken away. Three workers are sitting in a test tube, finishing something, and a half-soldier is sitting at the entrance. There is a soldier and one worker in the arena, the rest are all in uniform :)
I sealed up the two bottom ventilation holes. The ants collected fresh alabaster and reduced the remaining two ventilation holes by four times. All the pupae and larvae were taken out into the tube, only the eggs were left inside. They themselves also sit inside. The passages between the chambers are quite large. I hope that two holes will be enough for them. At least they stopped digging :)
25. They gnawed fresh alabaster... 
26. ...and sealed the upper holes 
27. I thought that all construction participants would remain with their mouths sealed:( 
28. But, no - with the help of their comrades, almost everyone got rid of the “fillings” in the very first hours after finishing the work 
All pupae were returned to Formica. There's no one in the arena... at all. One sits in a test tube. Sometimes a group of 3-4 workers visits him. They clean themselves there, “kiss” and leave, leaving one.
29. I removed the test tube, changed the arena and placed a large drinking bowl. The ant farm is ready :) 
It is much better to observe and photograph ants through smooth glass. Finally was able to photograph the process of unpacking the newborn
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
And also the packaging...
36. I noticed that the worker was fiddling with the soldier’s larva, and it was moving somehow strangely... inside a thin cocoon! 
37.
38.
39. Ants build DNA models from eggs in the air. Probably ventilate 
40. For some reason, ants don’t really know how to drink open water. Maybe it's just mine? I had to put cotton wool in their drinking bowl. So they drink and don’t drown :) 
41. For honey syrup, I gave them a plastic lid from bottled water. He poured boiling water over it, pressed a hole with his finger and dipped it in cold water. It turned out to be a tall saucer. 
42. It turns out that the larvae have such red fluff :) 
43. I am very pleased that my ants began to eat cat food. I think this is a very healthy food :) 
44. About social justice: A soldier washes away a worker;) 
45. - See you again :) 
When it comes to ants, we think of small black insects that sometimes fly and love sugar. But this is only a superficial idea of these amazing living creatures.
The article will not talk about a couple of annoying bugs, but about creating a full-fledged formicarium with your own hands.
Types of ants there are different ones. But no matter what species is chosen for breeding, the same rules for creating a cozy anthill apply to everyone. Where to start?
Read also:
How to make a formicarium for ants?
As you can see from the photo, this is a special aquarium, an ant farm. They are different sizes, formats, with different contents. Can be used as a primer sand. The ants will use it to build nests, create passages and an arena.
Perfect fit finely sifted natural sand. You should avoid using garden soil as it contains various bacteria and chemicals. It is acceptable to use plaster. It is poured into a special mold, forming passages and burrows. After hardening, the formicarium will be ready.
The third option is to use special gel. Insects will use the gel both for construction and as food.
Features of keeping domestic ants
An important component happy life ants is moisture. Its level varies from 80 to 90 percent.
Lack of moisture is tantamount to the death of the entire anthill. If there is excess moisture, fungus and mold can appear, which is also destructive. If perspiration appears on the walls of the formicarium, this is a sure sign that you need to stop moisturizing for a while.
The required level of humidity is determined practically.
For drinking You can put a small saucer or a tin bottle cap in the anthill. The ants will use this water to humidify their home and build new tunnels. It is important to remember that only filtered water can be given to ants.
In the vast majority of cases, suitable for ants room temperature, order 25 degrees Celsius. If the room is cool, this will slow down the development of the ant farm. In such cases, it is advisable to use special lamps or heating pads. A terrarium thermometer will help you track the correct temperature level.
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Ants feel best when moderate lighting. It is advisable to darken not only the chambers, but also the entire formicarium.
Insects will also get used to open lighting, and quite quickly, but for a comfortable life it is better to leave them in the shade. Particularly harmful effects sunlight has an effect on the larvae. Adults are also not recommended to be exposed to ultraviolet radiation for a long time.
If for some reason the owner needs lighting for a formicarium at home, experts recommend using moon-colored lamp. Such a lamp will be able to warm ants in a cool room and will not cause them stress.
What to feed the ants?
Contrary to popular belief, sugar is not the best food for ants. Protein source Worms and cockroaches may appear. To provide carbohydrates, make honey water, diluting 1:1. It is important to remember that such water can ferment quite quickly, and this is harmful to insects. As solid food suitable for ants: pieces of vegetables and fruits, bread crumbs, dead insects and mixtures for parrots.
Like many living things, ants hibernate. Insects become inactive, refuse proteins, and rarely leave their nests. During this period, you should change your approach to caring for the formicarium with your own hands. The temperature must be maintained between 0 and 10 degrees Celsius. The aquarium can, for example, be placed in the refrigerator.
Periodically, but not so often, you need to moisten the soil. Hibernation lasts 1-2 months. After this period, you need to bring the formicarium into the heat again and gradually warm it up to the usual temperature. The warming process may take up to 7 days.
Here's how to make your own ant farm. At proper care, the owner can get a very interesting and developed ant world. It is interesting to watch him, he is interesting to both children and adults.
