Ant Farm?

[losermonkey5]

So I wasn't sure were to post this one but here I choose.

I was thinking about setting up two different ant farms.

The first one would be a colony (w/ queen) in a ten gallon tank so they can have there nest under and expolor up top. This one would be more for seeing there above ground activities then underground.

The second one would be the think glass one like you see everywere with a tube connecting it with a land container for gathering food and other things.

I was wondering if anyone has any information about keeping them, getting a queen, things to put in the exploration part, or any other helpful informationg from personal experiences. After all can't learn everything from google. Athough it does help!

 

[rockethippo]

When I was little I would poke a long stick in a ant hole and then shake the ants off in the farm... then put in bits of sugar... then I think they died.

 

[J double R]

welp, ive had a few ant farms.. they are SOOO cool, but maintenance can be abit of a pain sometimes.. you have to keep the soil just moist enough that they can construct stable tunnels, but not too moist as theyll die and youll get condensation in the glass. tough, but very possible.

ants without a queen will happily live their lives, albeit short, as long as there are plenty of the same colony with them. theyll still build tunnels and collect and eat food, but you'll find yourself having to replenish stock frequently, and you can't mix colonies cuz theyll fight and kill each other till theres only one type alive.

getting queens can be a pain depending on which type of ant youre trying to use, as a lot of different ants are considered pests and wont be sold as pets.
if you want, you can go walking in the woods and find colonies, and dig a couple up CAREFULLY, and make your best attempt to find the queen.. smaller colonies make this easier, but you run the risk of getting bit/stung depending on the type of ant, and it is VERY VERY difficult to find the queen once youve dug them up and there are thousands of the little buggers everywhere.. sometimes if you step back you'll see a large group 'rescuing' larvae and pupae, sometimes there will be a number of ants whisking the queen off to safety since she can't move very well on her own.. it is tedious and if you happen to bury or kill the queen, youve essentially killed the colony. another option would be to wait until ant breeding season when all the males are flying and breeding with the fertile queens, you may get lucky and find a fertilized queen, but there's no way to tell when they have their wings, and you'll more than likely find a lot of males and no queens.

your best bet is to look up an ant farm place on the internet and purchase a queen, its foolproof, and you know youre getting a fertile insect.

as for building the exploration section, a ramp may be necessary, and a bunch of egg cartons (not unlike cricket cages) are good.

feeding can consist of a few drops of sugar water on a moist sponge, as ants need water just as well as any other insect, but you must take care to not let the sponge get moldy or mildewy as it could spread to the ants themselves and wipe out the entire colony.

try little scarps of non-perishable food like crackers and stale bread, they like very small pieces of jerky as well, but the feeding also depends on the type of ant you get.

good luck and post pix when you get it set up!

 

[losermonkey5]

Ya thats going to be the most difficult part is finding a queen because were I live I can't order them in. And I really want a queen to keep the colony going. I probably won't dig up a nest to risky for them and i probably won't find one anyways. I will just wait for mating flights and hope to find one.

 

[lazyNode]

I've seen queen ants and bee's for sale on eBay.
One of the many wierd things I've seen on the site.

 

[losermonkey5]

Wow shockingly that does not surprise me. I would be worried it would be shipped to me dead... just did a quick search didn't find any queens 30 of them.. to bad no queen or I might bid.