Choose a species that you can afford and have the time, resources and space for. Some ants require specialised environments such as the hot humid climates found in the rain forests, others are not so fussy, and only require room temperature. Again Las
Choose a species that you can afford and have the time, resources and space for. Some ants require specialised environments such as the hot humid climates found in the rain forests, others are not so fussy, and only require room temperature. Again Lasius niger are ideal as you can keep them in a simple tub filled with lightly dampened soil. If you want to be able to see into their nest then consider a slim style ant farm, glass or plastic, (I prefer the former as glass is clearer than plastic and doesn’t warp -
Finally you need to consider what your species eat. Some species eat seeds, other insects, whilst others eat fungus grown by themselves from chewed up leaves.
Once again I will champion the cause for good old Lasius niger, which, are, in fact, my favourite species of all. Lasius are ideal for the following reasons:
Identifying the Queen
To make sure you have a queen and not a large worker, look at the shape of the thorax (the middle part of the ant where the legs are); if it is large and just as wide, if not wider than the head, and if the abdomen (the back part of the ant) is large, then it’s a queen. Worker ants’ thoraxes are slimmer than their heads. Here is a picture, for comparison, of a worker and queen of Formica fusca, a large black ant found in the UK and Europe. Not the difference in size, especially how the thorax of the queen is much large in comparison to her head than that of the worker.
It is very important that you do not simply take one of the winged ants from the main nest as she will not be mated, and therefore will not produce a colony.
It takes about 8-
Please note that with many ant species, such as Lasius niger, once the queen has made her burrow she will seal herself in and will not emerge ever again. She does not require food at this stage so do not be tempted to open her burrow and out food in. She has enough body reserves in her to sustain herself and her brood. Once her first workers start foraging you can start to feed them. The same situation stands with water; you don’t need to provide your queen with water until her first workers start to forage.
Here you can see a queen surrounded by her workers. Note the size difference but, more importantly, the size of the queen’s thorax compared to her head; it’s as wide, if not wider. The workers on the other hand have slender thoraxes.
This picture was taken from the Planetinfo website.
So, what food do you give them once it’s time to do so, and how do you give your ants water? The food you give them depends on the species of ant you have. Most ants like Lasius niger eat all kinds of insects such as flies, crickets, cockroaches, wax worms, meal worms and other soft-
The best way to give water is either in a reservoir, such as in the downloadable guide I have, or you can use a spray mist bottle to squirt fine water droplets on the inside edge of your ant farm, or put a damp cotton wool ball on a small plastic lid; just ensure it’s damp enough so that when you touch it your finger comes away damp but not to much that it creates puddles at its base as the ants may drown in it.
So, let’s assume that you have decided to go for my favourite species; Lasius niger. Yay!
You can either order a colony of ants from a supplier or you can start a colony of as it does in the wild; with a single mated queen -
As mentioned on the previous page you can use something as simple as a plastic tub filled with soil, but the only problem with this is that you won’t be able to see into the nest. Therefore the best thing to use is a slim style “ant farm” which you can get from various suppliers, including Toys R Us and Amazon. I prefer the glass types personally, though they are more expensive. The good thing about these sort of ant farms is that as your colony grows you can attach more ant farms onto your original to allow the ants to expand out. They also allow you, more or less, full view of the inside of an ant nest, which is a fascinating thing to see.
Here are some links to ant farms available on the Internet:
Amazon UK -
Ants UK -
Ant Store -
So, you have your ant farm, but how do you set it up? Well, I have made a guide to show you how to set your ant f