People are used to having familiar animals, such as cats, fish, and dogs. Ant farm- this is an unusual, interesting and affordable entertainment that helps you relax. To observe the life of ants, you can buy a ready-made farm or make it yourself.
Mud Farm
If you involve a child in the process of making a farm, it will be easier and much more fun. For this you need:
- Buy a glass container. Double will also work double glazed window to monitor the digging of tunnels from both sides.
- Prepare a bucket of sand (slightly damp) or soil for plants. The latter contains large number organic matter, while the soil has less weight.
- Line the floor with polyethylene, then install a container filled with soil. The contents must be shaken off to avoid empty seats. The container should be filled almost to the top.
- Find an anthill on the street. They can mainly be found near roads and in vegetable gardens.
- Using a scoop, scoop up the ants and the queen and place them in a container.
- Place a cracker and a piece of cotton wool soaked in water. With its help, pets will drink. Then close the container and seal the joints with tape so that the ants cannot get out.
Gel farm
You can use gel or jelly as an anthill filler. To do this you need:
- 3 sachets of gelatin (15 g), 2 cups hot water. Stir the gelatin until dissolved, then add the same amount of water.
- Place the resulting mixture in a container and then in the refrigerator.
- After a few hours of being in room temperature, let in new residents.
You need to keep an eye on your child, because his curiosity can lead to insects crawling around the room.
Truss with gypsum block
The insects themselves will also like this farm, because it is comfortable for their life. You will need:
- A plaster block that needs to be built into a container.
- To avoid clogging of the chambers, it is necessary to make an entrance at the bottom.
- To prevent insects from running away, you need to treat the glass surface with baby powder.
- Filler – soil for the aquarium. Insects play with it, dragging grains of sand and pebbles around the chambers.
- Place a test tube with water in the arena for an additional source of moisture.
Main conditions when creating a farm
- The container must not have sharp corners so as not to get hurt.
- Environmentally friendly container material that eliminates harmful impurities.
- Take care of the ventilation system to allow air to enter inside.
- Equip the farm with a temperature regulator.
- There should be plenty of space for insects to move.
- You can make the filler yourself or buy it in stores. Remember that the habitat must be nutritious.
If the farm has a gel filler, then it needs to be changed very rarely. Wash and dry the container thoroughly beforehand. If the filler is sand or soil, then you need to periodically add food and water. In addition to crackers, you can feed grains and sweet syrups. To prevent insects from getting stuck in the syrup, it is better to spread it over the walls of the surface. Before setting up ants, you need to study the literature on proper care.
Conditions for insects
- The ants that will live in the farm must be taken from the same anthill. Because when meeting a stranger, ants can accidentally kill each other.
- The farm should be located in a dark and cool place.
- The number of ants should not be large.
- Insects do not like sudden changes in lighting, and bright light for them is a signal that they are outside the anthill.
- Gel farms do not need to feed the ants, because the gel is food and water.
- Open water bowls can trap insects, which can drown in them. Ideal option is a damp cotton ball that needs to be changed every three days.
A person wants to know more about the life of hierarchical insects, for example, bees, wasps, termites and ants. This interest can arise at any age. Understanding the process of creating a farm is quite easy. Well, if you decide to release your pets into the wild, you should do it in the spring or summer.
Observing an ant farm (formicarium) is an extremely exciting activity. Small pets are perfect for busy people: ants do not require special care or material costs. Yes, and you can build an artificial anthill with your own hands.
The first formicaria were born solely for scientific purposes. Using artificial anthills, scientists studied the vital activity of insects. Farms intended for home use, gained popularity in the first half of the twentieth century. Since then, millions of people on our planet have acquired ready-made formics.
Many of you will probably say that insects suffer greatly when imprisoned. However, this is not entirely true. If the farm is properly equipped and its inhabitants are properly looked after, then the ants’ life there is no worse than in the wild.
The easiest way to get a formicarium is to buy it at your nearest pet store or order it on a specialized website. But, you see, it’s much more interesting and cheaper to build an artificial one with your own hands.
Everything you need for a soil-sand formicarium is at hand for everyone. To begin, take two jars of different sizes with tightly screwed lids. The smaller jar should have a lid and fit easily into the larger one. Use a needle to make holes in the lid of the outer jar. Through these tiny holes the anthill will receive required quantity oxygen, and its inhabitants will not be able to get out. There should be no drawings, stickers, cracks or scratches on the cans. The space between the walls of the cans, which will be your farm, needs to be filled with a mixture of soil and sand (1 part sand, 2 parts soil). It is ideal if you take some soil from the ants' habitat. The insects will feel better and more confident in their familiar environment. Do not compact the soil under any circumstances, otherwise the ants simply will not be able to dig tunnels in it. The soil mixture should not reach 1.5-2 centimeters to the top edge of the jar.
Be sure to wear thick gloves when catching insects. Absolutely all ants tend to bite. Take with you a scoop and a jar with a little honey at the bottom. The insects will be carried away by the treat and will not run away. Of course, first make microscopic holes in the lid of the jar.
It is better to collect the future inhabitants of the farm in one place. Representatives of different colonies can simply destroy each other. At first, the number of pets should not exceed 30-40 individuals. Simple worker ants will live on a farm for no more than 3-4 weeks. Unfortunately, the ant age is short-lived. However, if you manage to find the queen, you have a chance to get a virtually immortal ecosystem that will be regularly renewed. Finding a queen in an anthill is not so easy. To destroy an ant's house for this purpose is, of course, barbaric. Therefore, you can wait until autumn, when the queen can be found outside. But it’s better to order a uterus online.
Carefully pour the ants inside the jar and cover it with a lid with holes. Now all you have to do is regularly take care of the farm. This activity will not take much of your effort, time and finances. However, you should not forget about the responsibility that you now bear to your pets.
First, find a warm place for your ant farm. Immediately decide on its location, because it will no longer be possible to move the jar, much less shake it. Otherwise, the internal passages will collapse and simply crush the insects. When you are not observing the life of the formicarium, cover it with a dark cloth. The fabric should be light so that air can easily penetrate the holes made in the lid. “Why is this necessary?” - you ask. The fact is that ants build tunnels only in the dark. If there is light all the time, the insects will experience constant stress. Do not place the jar in the sun. The walls of the farm will heat up and die.
You cannot feed ants with simple food, what is called “from the table”. Once every 3-4 days, place tiny pieces of fruit, drops of jam or honey on the lid of the inner jar. From time to time, ants can be pleased with dead insects: grasshoppers or caterpillars. Just make sure first that they are not poisonous.
The mixture of soil and sand can be replaced with a special gel, which can be easily purchased at the store or made independently. To do this, dilute 3 sachets of gelatin (15 grams each) in half a liter of hot water. Pour another 0.5 liters of water into the resulting composition, place the gel in a flat container for the farm and put it in the refrigerator. When the mixture has set, remove it from the refrigerator. The temperature of the gel should not be lower than the temperature in the room, so before letting your pets into new home, let the gelatin warm up a little.
The farm must be regularly ventilated by unscrewing the lid of the outer can. At the same time, the formicarium must be under constant supervision so that the ants do not scatter throughout the house.
Hydration is also an important factor in the longevity of your ecosystem. To moisturize, you can occasionally place a cotton swab dipped in water on the lid of the inner jar.
Psychologists say that the therapeutic effect of observing an ant farm is almost identical to that which we get from contemplating fish in an aquarium. So formicarium is not only interesting, but also useful!
Having seen an ant in the house, we immediately run for insecticides, while the baby enthusiastically pursues and touches the creature. Young children have a strong natural urge to explore the world around them, and often do not feel fear or aversion to bugs and insects of any kind. So make a safe anthill for your child that will satisfy the little entomologist’s curiosity and help him learn a lot of new interesting information besides the obvious fact that you do not allow insects to crawl freely around your house.
There are two main types of ant farms: mud and gel. In the first case, soil serves as the filler for the ants' house, in the second - jelly. Sometimes ready-made ant farms can be found on sale, but building them on your own will not be difficult.
Mud ant farm.
1) Buy the narrowest glass container you can find so you can see the ants making their tunnels from both sides. Double-glazed windows from a home improvement store are perfect.
2) Now you will need wet sand or loose soil (you can use a mixture for indoor plants, the lighter the weight, the more organics it contains - ants love this). Lay polyethylene or oilcloth on the floor for cleanliness, place a container on top and start pouring soil between the glasses. Lightly shake the soil to avoid large voids, but do not press down too hard. Let your baby help you put the litter in. Fill the container almost to the top, leaving only 2-3 cm free.
3) Find an anthill on the street, from which you move some of the ants to a new colony. Take a “super bug finder” with you on your walks as it can actually spot ants ahead of you. Ants love to dig on roadsides or near trees. Look for ant paths (they will lead you straight to the anthill), they are clearly visible on trampled ground, for example, on a playground.
4) Arm yourself with gloves, a spatula or a scoop. Set up an ant farm on the ground next to the anthill you find. Carefully dig up a few ants one at a time and place them in the container. Also try to find a queen ant, which is several times larger than other ants.
5) Place a wet cotton ball and a few crackers in a container. Close the container tightly with the lid. Before bringing the anthill into the house, I advise you to additionally seal the joint between the lid and the walls with adhesive tape so that there are not even the slightest gaps left.
The advantage of a mud farm is that we will observe ants in their usual habitat. This science experiment can keep your child occupied for weeks!
Gel ant farm. The advantages of jelly as a filler include, first of all, its transparency. In this case, you do not need to make the ant farm as thin as possible. At the same time, you will be able to observe in detail how the ants gnaw their tunnels and bring pieces of gel to the surface, from which characteristic ant heaps are formed.
1) Dissolve three packets of lightly colored gelatin (classic packaging of 15 g) in two glasses of boiling water. Stir until all the gelatin has dissolved. Add two glasses cold water and stir.
2) Invite your little helper to hold the liter bowl while you pour the warm gelatin solution into it. Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator until the gelatin has set.
3) Remove the gelatin mixture from the refrigerator and let it warm slightly so that it is cool, not cold.
4) Go outside and find an anthill there. Look along the side of the road where ants are making a mound of loose sand, or under trees in your yard. Set up an ant farm on the ground near an anthill. Put on gloves and carefully dig down the anthill with a trowel, scoop up a few ants and move them into your container. Try to find and move the queen ant as well.
5) Soak a couple of cotton balls and place them in a container, also add some bread crumbs. Close the container with a lid and securely secure it with tape.
Open the container two or three times a week to replace the wet cotton balls and add food to the goosebumps.
Advice. You can make a small temporary portable container for ants from plastic box for CD or DVD disc. Fill it with soil, wet sand or gel. Plant a couple of ants there and feed the pets with bread crumbs. Tape the edges to keep the ants in and the little naughty fingers out. Release the ants after a day or two of observation so they can find more food and water.
Warning. Keep an eye on your young entomologist; sooner or later his curiosity will demand to find out how to open a container with ants. You don't want bugs to crawl all over the house, do you?
An ant farm, or as it is also called a formicarium, is an anthill under glass, a space where one or several colonies of insects live. The owner gets the opportunity to observe life different types ants, as if under a microscope: how they make a tunnel, collect food, raise larvae. Workers, soldiers, womb - it's literally an entire city under the control of one person! In everyday life, formicaria are unpretentious; ants are not walked at 5 am, they are not bathed, and they are not taken for vaccinations.
What is an ant farm
Formicaria originate from the 19th century. At first they were used exclusively for scientific research. The surge in popularity among naturalists led to the commercialization of the project. Since 1929, formicariums began to be made for sale, and in 1931, inventor Frank Austin patented his sample. The world's most famous formicariums are created by the Ant Farm brand, sending ants by mail, AntKing and AntPlanet.
An ant farm is a home anthill for a child. It will be interesting for him to have a whole “kingdom” under his control. By observing unique processes, he will be closer to nature and learn to be responsible for those he has tamed. Adults also like it: in the office it entertains visitors and inspires employees; at home it helps them relax, clear their thoughts and recharge their batteries. In stores there are small models that are convenient to put on the table, and large ones like aquariums.
Formicarium for ants
The farm looks like a neat aquarium or display case with filler inside. There are simple and complex systems where lighting, acceptable levels of humidity and temperature are automatically maintained. Designer farms are very popular. They have unusual shape, bright colors, the function of connecting the arena (the space where insects walk and hunt), lighting. Sizes - from small to large: there are tabletop ones for the living room or office. Gel, gypsum, and a mixture of soil and sand are used as fillers.
Soil-sandy
Popular examples have the form of a display, cube or cylinder with double walls (the so-called “Cubus”, “Colosseum” models). Containers are filling colorful sand, in which a family of ants develops and builds passages. It is expensive, but the kit includes sand, insect food and other useful items. The soil and sand farm is very visual and fascinating.
Gel anthill
A gel farm is similar to an aquarium, but is filled not with water, but with a transparent gel blue color. It is non-toxic, safe for insects, and simultaneously serves as a living environment and food. The gel ant farm is sealed and convenient. It does not require any maintenance, once every 5-7 days the lid must be opened for a couple of minutes to ventilate and remove dead insects that have already outlived their life.
With gypsum filler
A gypsum ant farm is not as spectacular, but the insects are comfortable there, and the price is reasonable. Plaster is practical, available material. This is the most common type of formicaria. Among the models there are compact ones for the desktop and large ones. The surface of the gypsum is often brightly colored, which makes the anthill a stylish, unusual addition to any interior.
How to choose an ant farm with ants
Artificial ant farms are just becoming popular among domestic buyers, but in the West they have been selling well for a long time. It is convenient to order a farm in the online store, where there are models of all types, designs and sizes. Sellers offer to visit the showroom and choose a product there or make a purchase remotely with delivery. Among the assortment of a regular pet store, especially in the outback, it is usually impossible to buy a formicarium with ants.
Formicarium price
In Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities of Russia, a popular ant farm from Antking or Antplanet can be purchased separately or together with a family of ants, food, and accessories. Average price– 3-6 thousand rubles, models self made, with additional modules are more expensive. You can save a lot by taking advantage of promotions, discounts, sales, and gift coupons.
How much does an ant farm cost in Moscow – review of online stores:
How to make an ant farm with your own hands
You can even create an anthill at home using improvised materials. In terms of price, it will be cheap, and in appearance it will be no worse than a store-bought one. You can save on everything - containers, mixtures, ants. The result is a farm with ants of an original shape, different from typical mass-produced models. Alternatively, you can buy a ready-made mold and fill it with the mixture and insects yourself.
What you need for a home anthill
An ant farm at home is made from two jars with wide necks, a flat bottom, and tight lids. One should fit freely into the other so that there is a gap between the walls and necks. For the ant house, you also buy a soil-sand mixture (or a special gel, which is sold in the same place where formicariums are sold), a family of ants.
Where to get ants
There are two ways to provide a formicarium with hardworking residents:
- Buy ants for an ant farm at a pet store (where ant farms are sold). This is convenient, since you can immediately buy ants with a queen plus special soil for them. The disadvantages are obvious - increased cost, risk of damaging its inhabitants during shipment.
- Find it near the house or in the forest. In the second case, you need to take soil nearby so that the insects do not experience stress. In order for the colony to reproduce, dig up the queen, that is, destroy the nest. When catching ants, wear gloves only to avoid bites.
Farm structure
The preparation for an ant house is two jars placed one inside the other. It is important to close the inner lid tightly. A mixture of soil and sand (proportion 2 to 1) is poured into the opening between them. The farm is ready. All that remains is to create a depression with a stick and launch 20-25 ants so that they begin to dig tunnels. The structure is tightly closed with a lid with small holes to allow air to flow inside. You cannot use fabric or paper for this; the ants will gnaw through them and run away.
A real colony is a self-regulating system. How to care for the inhabitants of the farm is explained in the instructions for the ant farm with photos, as well as the video below. In order for insects to live long and comfortably, it is important to observe simple rules:
- feed with sweet compounds or special food;
- moisten the soil - just put a piece of wet cotton wool on the lid once a week;
- ensure that the room temperature is not lower than +15 degrees;
- close the jar from sunlight(ants live in the dark);
- remove dead specimens using a cotton swab or pad.
What you can’t do with the farm:
- Close the jar tightly - the insects will suffocate. Make only small holes so that pets do not escape.
- Leaving the farm in the cold will cause the ants to hibernate. They also do not tolerate intense heat, so it is better to keep the jar away from direct rays of light.
- Shaking or dropping the container means the insects experience severe stress.
- If you pour water, the ants will die. You should also not forget to moisturize, this leads to the death of the colony.
Feeding the ants
The best food for ants is honey, sugar syrup, jam or pieces of sweet fruit, you can prepare a glucose solution. It is allowed to feed insects if they are definitely not poisonous. Eating is no more than once every few days, the amount of food is small, otherwise the entire colony will stop developing. If the litter is gel, you don't need to worry about the food at all. For a small family, the supply of gel is enough to feed them for 3-6 months, then they buy more.
Video
You're already sure that the entire BroDude editorial team has gone crazy, but our brains weren't attacked by a race of humanoid ants. We ourselves decided that an ant farm was cool. But no one knows about it, so get ready for an exciting and psychedelic adventure through the world of ants.
The uniqueness of ants
Ants are social insects with an extremely rigid hierarchy, where the entire society is divided into workers, females and males. If these insects were bigger and a little smarter, they could crush the planet under themselves, enslaving humanity. Fortunately, evolution has made a choice in our favor. We are happy about this, because it’s somehow not cool to continue living in caves, hiding from huge ants who want to drag you into their nest.
If you imagine this picture, and then add to it the knowledge that we now possess, you will get a completely post-apocalyptic image. The world of ants is very strange.
For example, there is such an effect as a “death spiral” - it looks damn creepy, but also amazing. It is not known for certain why ants gather in groups and then begin to run in a vicious circle, involving even more ants in their “ritual”. The problem with the "spiral" is that it only stops with death - the ants run, run, run, and then drop dead. Such ant circles can take on a titanic appearance.
For example, in 1921, traveler William Beebe observed a death spiral with a circumference of about 365 meters in Guyana. The circling continued for two days, until a separate group of ants, for strange reasons, separated from the main circle - a small group of daredevils saved the remnants of their ant family. It looks like ants are a lot like people, don't you think?
For ants, the word "zombie" is not a fantasy of horror writers, folklore or crazy filmmakers, it is reality. Moreover, there are two ways that can turn a normal ant into a zombie ant. In one case, the minds of ants are controlled by humpback flies, which, while still in the larval state, direct the ant to a damp place. Humpback flies hatch from the head of an ant - this is real horror for you (by the way, these larvae are used to fight fire ants). But there is a more interesting case when the ant is controlled by a mushroom. Ants affected by the fungus leave their fellows and become loners to scatter fungal spores. In this case, the fungus does not kill the victim, but controls it until the spores mature - where else have you seen this?
Actually, we talked above about how vulnerable ants are. But, my friend, look at the representatives of your kind and yourself - you are much more vulnerable. For example, you will not meet alcoholic ants or erotomaniac ants. They have clearly divided responsibilities - a socialist paradise, which makes them the most competitive. It is clear that the ant does not have any individuality, but they do not need it - everything is the will of the collective. In addition, ants are beautifully built - they can overcome “game” much larger than themselves. You should know about ant strength, but no one knows about ant weakness.
Ant farm as an alternative to dogs and cats
If you think that ants are boring creatures, then you simply don’t know what they do in their free time. The fact is that they have no free time - they are constantly at work. You can watch them at night, during the day, and in the morning. They build, interact, fight, create and develop. Sometimes it seems that these insects are much smarter than you. But, of course, to observe all this “state building”, you have to be either a lazy ant or the owner of an ant farm. It’s unlikely that ants can read us, so you have only one way out - to become the owner of a farm.
What is an ant farm? This is a closed anthill in cross-section. They are very popular in the West, which you could see in many English-language films. American schoolchildren are sometimes even given the task of making an ant farm. True, homemade farms are extremely short-lived, because in order for a colony to develop, you need to create a full-fledged society where there would be ants who would be responsible for exploring new territories, hunting, and caring for the new generation. There must be clearly defined “professions” and divisions into castes, otherwise the anthill will quickly die out. Therefore, if you want to observe the life of the ant state, then you need a normal ant farm.
In Russia, a project is working on this topic. They actively promote a fairly new type of hobby for Russia, which is liked not only by children, but also by adults. For example, a lot of people put an ant farm on their desktop. Tired of work, but the project is due tomorrow? Look at the hard-working ants - they will give strength to your endeavors. Ants are unpretentious, although they require some care (but you definitely worry less about them than about a dog). At the same time, an ant colony can last for twenty years if you look after it well. Actually, even if you don’t want to buy a farm for yourself, then buy it for others - as a gift. This will please people who are interested in nature, insects, and even sociology (ants are surprisingly reminiscent of humans).
In general, if you are already eager to order a farm, then we recommend paying attention to the following factors: type of ants, type of farm and rules for caring for ants. Let's talk about all this in more detail.
Species of ants
There are a great many ants. And each species differs from the other in appearance, behavior and even the structure of society. For example, there are predatory ants that even large animals fear. And there are ants that are more like good-natured people, researchers and generally good friends. There are nomadic ants, and there are construction ants, whose abilities would be useful to our would-be architects.
When choosing ants, you need to take into account: your financial capabilities (the price range is large: from 300 rubles to 7,000 rubles), your knowledge about ants (you need to start with those who are easier to follow), your aesthetic tastes (ants really differ from each other). When choosing, we recommend consulting with people who have dealt with ants. However, let us give some guidelines. For entry level They are also excellent (active predators, but quite peaceful), and also - these are generally the top ants for a beginner (there is no more unpretentious species to care for). Actually, there are dozens of other species, about which there is a very detailed and understandable description.
View of an ant farm
As you understand, you need to start by choosing ants, and only then move on to the farm. Why? Because some ants require certain living conditions - this must be taken into account. Modern ant farms are made from durable and lightweight material- acrylic. Thanks to him you get a farm high quality, which eliminates the possibility of any cracks through which your pets want to escape.
If we take the AntPlanet ant farms as an example, they include two components: a system of moves and an arena. The most interesting action takes place in the “arena” - this is a place where ants hunt or do research. Each farm is equipped with humidification chambers that help maintain the required climate.
Actually, if you are, you will find a wide variety there in both colors and shapes. Each ant farm has its own soul and personality. Farms are horizontal, vertical, sand, modular, compact and spacious. You can even order a truss based on your personal drawing. We recommend that you carefully review each farm and choose the one that will tell you with its entire appearance that you should be its owner.
Rules for caring for ants
Here you need to understand that if you are a beginner, then it is better to take ants that require practically no care. However, even the simplest ants will not survive if you just ignore them - ants need to be fed, humidity and temperature regulated.
Each type of ant deserves special treatment, but there are several general recommendations, which relate to the diet of these strange and interesting creatures. should be rich in proteins and carbohydrates. Protein is building material, the basis of growth and development not only for the ant, but for all organisms. Carbohydrates are a source of energy. If there are few carbohydrates, the ants will be very weak. If we take all this into account, then good food for ants will be seeds (however, not all ants eat seeds) and special nutritious jelly (it is rich in amino acids and carbohydrates - this is an energetic recharge for ants). But you will get the main food yourself. For example, there are ants that feed on sugar or honey syrup, which is easy to prepare at home. And there are ants that find a source of food in other insects - they are predators and cannot do otherwise.
As you can see, the diversity in the world of ants is no less than in the world of common domestic animals. But only these hardworking insects do not spoil slippers, parquet and carpet, they will not eat from your plate and rape your foot or pillow. Yes, these creatures are far from fluffy and soft, but they are building a prototype of a society that is sometimes more interesting to watch than all of humanity.