If you are thinking of buying an ant farm, there are several things that you ought to realize about keeping ants before you set up or at least colonize your farm. In fact, even before you purchase your ant farm, you should look around for which varieties of ants you can get hold of and then read up on what kind of nests those ants create.
Do they build nests above and below ground or only below ground? Most regular ant farms are not designed to handle anthills, although some, shaped like a flat-bottomed egg are constructed to deal with a small anthill.
Once you know what kinds of ants you can have, you can select the variety and acquire the appropriate shaped ant farm. Most novices begin with harvester ants, which will live very happily in a normal ant farm. Your colony may grow to a few thousand members, so the next thing to think about is food for them.
Harvester ants will eat a range of different kinds of food, but it is easier and cleaner if you feed them sweet, crunchy vegetables and fruit. For example, bits of carrot, celery and apple are very good. They are readily cut up and transported by the ants, they are nutritious, and they will not rot down or begin to smell bad quickly.
You will have to weigh up for yourself how much fodder to put down, but it is much better to put out fresh food every day, than leave a large chunk of something standing in the farm for days on end. If you notice that food is being left, cut back a little.
On the other hand, if the colony is increasing in number and the food is disappearing put a little more down. Working this amount of food out is part of your job. Mould is a health hazard to ants so be on the look out for it on the food at all times.
Ants will get a lot of the water that they should have from the food that you give them, but they do need water as well. Not much admittedly, but you need to drip two or three drops - literally only two or three drops of water - onto the soil every day. Whatever you do do not tip so much water that a puddle forms, even a very small one.
If you want to give your ants a real delicacy, put a few granules of sugar into half a teaspoon of water and tip that onto the soil. They will love it, and it will also give them a shot of energy, just as if you were to eat a chocolate bar.
Having an ant farm should be educational and enjoyable. Watching the ants toil together to make a nest and rear their young will teach adults and children alike a lot about how insects live. It will also help dispel some of the illogical fear that many people have for insects in general, including ants.
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Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on quite a few subjects, but is currently involved with
how to kill fire ants. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at
Killing Carpenter Ants.
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