When seeing an ant in a room, the natural reaction of every normal person is to figure out how to get rid of house ants. However, there are people who deliberately breed these insects in their homes. For what? Recently, home ant farms have become increasingly popular.
Young children have a natural desire to explore the world around them, including various bugs and insects. Therefore very interesting idea It could be making a safe anthill that can satisfy a child’s curiosity and become an interesting and educational visual aid for studying ant life.
There are two main types of ant farms: gel and mud. In gel “houses,” ants live in a jelly filling. Such farms can be purchased ready-made.
Mud ant farm
It will be easier and more interesting to do ant farm independently, involving the child in the process. How to make an anthill at home with sand filling?
First you need to buy the narrowest glass container you can find on sale. An excellent anthill will be made from double-glazed windows, in which you can see from both sides how insects dig tunnels.
You should lay a piece of polyethylene or oilcloth on the floor, place a container on it and fill it with soil.
It is necessary to lightly shake the soil so that there are no voids left, but there is no need to press down hard. Fill the container in this way almost to the very top, leaving about three centimeters short.
Now you go outside with the container to look for an anthill. Most often it can be found along roadsides or under trees.
Once the anthill is found, put on gloves, use a spatula or scoop to remove a few ants and place them in a container. It is advisable to find a queen ant that differs from other ants in its larger size.
At home, you need to put a cotton ball moistened with water in a container so that your pets have the opportunity to drink water, and also place a small cracker as food. Now you should tightly close the lid of the container and seal the joints of the lid and walls with adhesive tape.
You should change wet cotton wool and crackers every 2-3 days. After a while, you will be able to see the ants digging tunnels, drinking, feeding and communicating with each other.
Did you know?
If you decide to start an ant farm at home, you will need to study some information about the anthill ecosystem. Few people know that all the ants that live in anthills are girls. Girls are soldiers, girls are workers, and they only need boys for reproduction, just once. The winged prince and the winged princess mate during the breeding season, after which the princess casts off her wings, and the prince... skates. One such time is enough for a female to lay eggs for about twenty years! Interestingly, no other insects on Earth live as long as the queen ant, and the life span of worker ants is 1 - 5 years.
If you manage to find a fertilized queen that has shed its wings, and you place it in a home ant farm, you will become a real myrmikeeper. A myrmikeeper is a person who places an ant queen in a home farm, which is called a myrmikary or formicarium, and observes how the ant family lives and develops.
A myrmikiper can see the following interesting pictures from the life of these insects:
How a soldier feeds each porter upon meeting.
How ants carry larvae larger than themselves.
How ants decide to seal up a hole in their plaster house.
How, after hard work, their mouths were sealed with plaster.
How they help each other get rid of fillings.
How ants unpack a newborn from a cocoon.
One of my favorite treats is cat food.
Gel ant farm
How to make an anthill at home with gel filler? If you use jelly as a filler, you will be able to observe in detail how the ants dig tunnels, pulling small pieces of gel to the surface.
To make such a farm you will need 3 bags of gelatin, 15 g each, which should be dissolved in 2 glasses hot water. Stir until the gelatin dissolves, then add 2 more cups of water.
Pour the finished mixture into a container and place in the refrigerator.
After some time, remove the container from the refrigerator, wait until the gel reaches room temperature and can be put into new home ik residents.
It is necessary to keep an eye on the young entomologist, since children's curiosity may require finding out how a container with insects opens, and they will crawl throughout the apartment.
Can be used as a temporary portable container plastic box for a CD or DVD, filling it with soil or sand.
Ant farm with built-in gypsum block
This farm is very convenient for both humans to observe ants and for insects to live.
The features of such a farm are:
Built-in gypsum block.
The entrance to the gypsum block is located at the bottom, which avoids problems with debris in the chambers.
To prevent escapes, the inner surface of the glass should be treated with baby powder or a special powder purchased at the store.
The filler used was aquarium soil, which the ants play with quite amusingly, dragging pebbles around the chambers and around the arena.
The arena has a fairly large volume, so a small test tube with water is placed in it, which is used as an additional source of moisture. A 2 cm thick gypsum block was processed using a milling machine.
Basic conditions for an ant farm
The farm should not have sharp corners, which can injure a person, or ants inside the house.
The material from which the container is made must be environmentally friendly without harmful impurities.
The container should be equipped with a ventilation system to ensure the flow of air inside it.
If your farm is made by yourself and not purchased, then you should purchase a temperature regulator for it. As a rule, purchased farms are equipped with such regulators.
Ants should not be crowded in the container.
You can either make your own gel for the farm from gelatin or purchase it ready-made in a special store. You should know that ant gel is not only a habitat, but also a breeding ground.
Basic conditions for ants
All ants should be from the same anthill, since most insects can kill an intruder who accidentally gets to them.
You should not place the farm in the sun as ants prefer cool places.
You shouldn't have a lot of ants.
You should know that these insects are afraid of sudden changes in lighting and perceive bright light as a signal that they are not in an anthill.
If the filler for the farm is gel, then there is no need to water and feed the insects, since the gel
is both food and drink for them.
You should not use an open container as a drinking bowl for ants, because they can drown in the water. For a small colony, a cotton ball soaked in water, which is changed once every 2-3 days, will be sufficient.
How to care for an ant farm?
It is important to know not only how to make an anthill at home, but also how to care for it. Ants do not require special care. Quite rarely, owners of a farm with a gel filler will have to replace the gel with a new one (it can be purchased separately), wash and dry the container.
If pets live in litter made of sand, soil or plaster, they need to be fed and watered. You should know that, in addition to bread crumbs, various grains and much more, ants also love sweets. However, treating them sugar syrup, it is necessary to control that they do not get stuck in it or drown, so the syrup should not be poured into the container, but lightly smeared over the surface.
Children will especially love the ant farm. It is very interesting and informative to consider how life is in full swing for these insects, how and what they eat, what they like, and what they don’t really like. It is advisable, before bringing ants into your home, to read the necessary literature about them in order to know exactly how to properly care for them.
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, so 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 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 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 , having approximately the time frame allotted to me, I still didn’t have enough plaster to make the front part look good, so I turned the mold over onto the glass. 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. - 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 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 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. Open water For some reason, ants don’t really know how to drink. 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 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 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 come in different sizes, formats, and 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 stop using garden soil, as it contains various bacteria and chemicals. It is acceptable to use plaster. It pours into special form, 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.
Read also:
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. Source of protein 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.
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;)
Soldier
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, so 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.
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.
I cut off the partitions in the bead box, cut out holes for ventilation, humidification and entry. I made a sketch of the interior.
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).
Assembled model without plaster.
To simplify the process of removing the casting from the box and to prevent plaster from leaking out 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 , having approximately the time frame allotted to me, I still did not have enough plaster for the front part to turn out properly, I turned the mold over onto the glass, the plaster sank in a couple of places, but the front side was cast perfectly.
Cleaned out 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.
I 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.
I got a new piece of glass, assembled it with formica and glued it with silicone.
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.
Pre-assembly
Entering the arena
Well, you can connect.
I cut a hole in the old arena and connected the 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 :)
The scout examined the new home for a long time and carefully, constantly stopping, moving his antennae and cleaning them.
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 gnaw on the mesh and walls... Ultimately, a military expert soldier was invited for inspection and then it began! They dragged eggs and larvae and the cocoons were left in the 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.
Attention to those moving: please take your belongings to the blue corridor
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.
I didn't see where they have the activation button. Most often, after being released, the transported person stood up and began to run
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.
The soldier greeted and fed each incoming porter.
Dragging cocoons
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 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 :)
They gnawed fresh alabaster...
...and sealed the top holes
I thought that all construction participants would remain with their mouths sealed
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.
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
Cats, dogs and hamsters are wonderful, but many people have such pets. What to do if you want something unusual, interesting and not too expensive? You can give yourself or your child a wonderful gift - an ant farm. The originality of this gift lies, first of all, in the fact that it is quite easy to make with your own hands.
Preparatory stage
To make an ant farm with your own hands, you need to do a little preparation. To begin with It’s worth deciding on the container in which we will place a restless family. An excellent ant farm can be obtained from a flat aquarium, but this requires additional costs. Craftsmen can make a container from plexiglass by fastening it silicone glue. In this case, the design will be exactly the shape that suits you most.
The simplest version of an ant farm will be made from two containers for bulk products different sizes. These can be jars or boxes made of transparent material without drawing or damage, one of which fits freely inside the other. Both jars must have tight lids. You will populate a colony of ants in the space between two banks so that it is convenient to observe her life.
Soil or base for an anthill
The choice of filler for an ant farm depends on where you are going to get its inhabitants:
Be sure to take into account that the mixture of soil and sand should not only be well loosened, but also moistened. However, do not overdo it; if you make the mixture too wet, the ants will simply drown in it.
Do not fill the container to the very top with the mud mixture. Leave a few centimeters of free space. And do not compact the mixture, but simply shake it lightly so that the inhabitants can easily make passages for themselves.
How to collect ants
The easiest way is to look for ants in your yard. There is nothing complicated about this, especially if you involve a restless child in the process. Small anthills are found very often; to find them, you just need to follow where the small workers so purposefully drag their finds.
To collect with an ant, take gloves, a scoop and a jar with a tight lid. You can make several holes in the lid with a thin needle for air access, but they must be so small that insects cannot crawl out. You can drop honey or jam at the bottom, then the ants will gather around the sweets and will not try to get out. Carefully dig up several inhabitants of the anthill and place them in a jar. Try to find the queen. She is much larger than other ants. 30 - 40 inhabitants are enough for your farm.
To populate a farm you created with your own hands, you need to take into account the following nuances:
- Only working insects can be collected on the surface of the anthill. They are unable to reproduce. To observe how ants lay eggs and care for them, be sure to obtain a queen queen. Alas, to do this you will have to dig the anthill quite deep.
- An ant farm inhabited only by worker ants will last no more than four weeks. This is their natural lifespan.
- In forest anthills you can find more large species insects than at urban sites. They are easier to keep an eye on.
How to care for an ant farm
It’s not enough to make a house for an ant family. To observe how ants live for a long time, you need to properly care for the farm:
Understand how making an ant farm yourself is not at all difficult. If you involve children in this process, then watching the little inhabitants will be even more interesting. The main thing is to act carefully so that the ants live where it is convenient for you, and not where they want.