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
For centuries, people have loved observing the lives of tiny insects like ants. This is not strange, because their behavior is characterized by incredible hard work, responsibility and teamwork. The extraordinary world of these tiny creatures has its own orders, laws and relationships. However, if representatives of this species appear in the house, the reaction of a normal person is obvious - it is necessary to get rid of the insects, since they will begin to harm food, get into clothes and bite family members.
True, not all people do this - on the contrary, some of them specifically breed ants in their home anthills. The question arises: for what? Everything is very simple - to monitor the behavior, life and characteristics of these amazing babies. Ant farms will be a particularly valuable find if there are children in the house. The fact is that kids are very interested in nature and are ready to study everything that surrounds them. For this reason, creating such a house with ants will satisfy the curiosity of every child.
When wondering how to make an ant farm, pay attention to different types such structures. There are three main varieties in use these days:
- soil-sandy;
- gel;
- mud.
Ant farm - description
The ant farm is a home anthill, which consists of a container with a special gel, sand or other filler. This design makes it easy to monitor the behavior of the ant family. Scientifically, an ant farm is called a formicarium. Such exotic products appeared in the domestic space relatively recently. Nevertheless, they enjoy decent popularity and are of interest to a large circle of people.
Ant farms are a unique version of exotic pets that adapt well to growing in captivity and do not require special care. But following the lives of tiny creatures is very interesting and funny. In addition, everyone will be able to see the development of the colony from the very first days.
Today, formicariums can be seen in offices and other institutions. Many modern people trusses are installed on work tables, as their dimensions remain very compact. Someone uses such structures as original gift for important people. In any case, ant the farm is a very interesting exhibit, and its inhabitants are the most amazing, beautiful and hardworking creatures that you can watch for hours on end.
Home anthill - a unique world of insects in your home
In nature you can find a wide variety of ant species, which are radically different from each other. external features and habits. For example, the Amazon rainforest is inhabited by Amazon ant colonies, which know how to rob and destroy anthills of other species, devouring their larvae. Captured insects quickly turn into slaves and spend the rest of their lives caring for the Amazons.
There is also leaf cutter ants who build their houses inside myceliums. Having strong jaws, they freely cut leaves into small pieces and bring them to the mycelium. They use the cut leaves to build their houses and use the greens as food. Under natural conditions, there are real giants whose dimensions exceed 4 centimeters.
Mostly similar insects can be divided into two groups:
- hunters;
- gatherers.
Representatives of the first group they need to constantly look for protein foods and carbohydrates, so they pay great attention to searching for other insects. Animals spend a significant part of their lives hunting. With the help of special locators - antennae - ants pursue prey by smell. If one ant from a huge colony finds syrup or fruit, returning back, it leaves marks using its abdomen so that other relatives can also find their way to fresh food. You can watch such unique moments in your home ant farm.
In turn, forager ants lead a completely different lifestyle. The main component of their diet is the seeds of plants such as poppy, rapeseed, and millet. However, once they find foods that are high in protein, they won't pass them by. For this reason, they can eat dead insects or boiled chicken (if we are talking about a domestic anthill). They do not hunt living insects, and any attacks can only be explained by a defensive reaction. These animals are characterized by a unique colony structure. It consists of special warehouses containing seeds and other food, birthing rooms, dining rooms and rooms for caring for young animals. Taken together, this design looks very funny.
Features of the life cycle of ants
Within the same family ants can be divided into several separate castes. Among them:
- scouts;
- worker insects;
- soldiers;
- nurse ants;
- queen.
A small percentage of the total colony population are scouts. Nevertheless, all types of ants have them, and their activity is very important and consists of discovering unfamiliar territories and searching for new sources of food.
Working class consists of the most hardworking individuals who lead construction work, move food, sort warehouses and carry out work on cleaning the anthill. Soldiers are characterized by larger sizes, a large head and a powerful jaw. The role of nurse ants is obvious: they raise the young, feed the larvae and the queen.
The uterus is the main individual of an ant colony. Absolutely all inhabitants of one anthill are children of the same queen. That is, they are all brothers. The queen's main goal is to reproduce. Other representatives of the species bring her food. Some colonies may have two or more queens.
Each ant farm has its own unique smells. Even each individual ant has a unique smell, so individuals of the same species can be at enmity with each other.
If you are going to make a formicarium, believe me, the kids will just be delighted. They will examine the structure of the colony and quickly make the insects their favorite pet. In addition, the presence of an anthill in the house will allow them to become more familiar with nature and temporarily forget about harmful technological innovations. By observing the behavior of such tiny creatures, they learn a lot of fascinating facts about nature and the animal world. And for adults, the formicarium will be an excellent way of relaxation, which will allow you to unwind after a hard day at work.
What types of domestic anthills are there?
There are many varieties of formicaria. Among the most common:
- vertical display;
- horizontal;
- volume;
There are also combined options.
In addition, ant farms, which can be made at home, may differ in filler. Sand, earth, clay, gypsum, aerated concrete and wood are used as materials. Each material has its own advantages and disadvantages. The most suitable solution is considered to be gypsum. At the same time, in Western countries, ants are grown in aerated concrete filler.
An important component of a home anthill is the arena, where insects spend a significant part of their above-ground life. There they look for food, water and organize landfills. As a rule, such a part of the colony is located in the farthest corner of the formicarium, where the insects carefully lay out the garbage in one pile.
If you use your ingenuity and imagination, you can make not just an anthill, but also a real work of naturalistic art.
If you have the necessary experience, you can construct a biomodule with a colony of aphids, where insects will lead a life as if in natural conditions. Also, many people create high-quality imitations of forests where animals will feel at home.
And even if the procedure for building a formicarium may seem too complicated, do not despair. If you follow the basic rules and subtleties, you will be able to make a truly elegant home anthill that will decorate your home.
Comfortable conditions for breeding ants: feeding features
In the formicarium it is necessary to ensure optimal temperature regime. It is important to maintain temperatures at level 22-26 degrees Celsius, while the humidity should not fall below 70-90 percent. It is also important to arrange effective system ventilation.
Like any other insects, ants need two types of food: protein and carbohydrates. Forage insects (crickets, mealworms and others) can be used as protein food. They can be bought at any pet store. If you cannot find insects, you can replace them with chicken meat, egg white, fresh or boiled shrimp and other products. When feeding, it is important to pay attention to the quality of food. Outdoor insects can be poisoned by various chemicals, so it is best not to use them.
Regarding carbohydrates, then everything is very simple here. You can use ordinary sugar, previously diluted with water. In addition, you can give your animals fructose or glucose. Insects consume fresh fruits with a special appetite, such as grapes, pears, apples, oranges and tangerines. Great solution marshmallows or marmalade will become, but experienced owners of home anthills do not recommend using industrial sweets.
It is important to note that representatives individual species completely abandon all of the above-mentioned products and give preference to seeds. There is little hassle with them - a pack of canary food will be the most suitable solution. In any case, you will always find something to feed small pets.
It must be remembered that food for ants must remain fresh and nutritious. The insects will decide everything else, including the amount of food consumed, on their own.
When growing ants at home, it is enough to do basic rules care for these tiny creatures and monitor their condition throughout their natural life life cycle. In this case, the home anthill will develop fully.
Contrary to popular belief, the arena is not just a box that ants use to obtain food and store garbage, the arena is a rather important part of the formicarium that performs several functions. Which ones exactly? This is what we will look at now.
What is an arena?
An arena is a space that imitates the area around an anthill. And if in nature ants have no boundaries other than natural ones, then at home their movement has to be artificially restrained.
What is the arena for?
The arena performs several functions at once. The most important thing is that it simplifies the care of the colony, makes feeding and cleaning easier. If your colony lives in a test tube, then every time the entrance is opened, the ants will raise the alarm and try to get out. And even if you manage to take out the garbage and throw food in its place before the workers rush in, you still won’t be able to remove all the small particles that the ants have dragged onto the cotton wool. And each such particle is a potential source of mold, the appearance of which is undesirable in any case.
If you attach an arena, the ants do the cleaning work themselves - they collect food in the arena themselves, take out the garbage themselves, and go to the drinking bowl for water if they need it. All this not only simplifies the care of ants, but also gives the ants the opportunity to work with their own hands, stretch their paws and generally be active.
Besides this, good arena It also performs an aesthetic function. With proper planning, the arena becomes a decoration for the formicarium and a place where you can watch the ants while they hunt and forage. A well designed arena should give good review everything that happens on it, and not create additional barriers to observation.
Another purpose that many keepers often forget about is maintaining a microclimate. Very often the arena looks like simple box made of plastic with a hole in the side - the ants take food there and get food there. But keepers do not take into account that in nature ants often use the space near the anthill for their own needs - ants can set up solariums there and warm up cocoons, dry seeds in the bright sun, or simply bask on their own to speed up their metabolism and digestion. Moreover, the further south an ant lives, the more strongly the sun influences its behavior, and the more important it is to imitate daylight hours and temperature changes.
How to make a good arena?
The ideal arena for ants is their natural biome, where this species lives in wildlife . No matter what we do, we will never be able to exactly replicate all the factors that ants deal with in the wild, but we can try to get as close to natural conditions as possible, without forgetting about the practical side.
The first is the size and height of the arena. The larger your colony, the larger size ants need arenas. It is not necessary to make one large arena - you can connect several using tubes, as is done, for example, for leaf cutters - in this case you can disconnect one arena for cleaning, and transfer the ants from it to the second. For each species, the recommended arena size will be different; you just need to study this experimentally, observing the behavior of ants in the arena that you already have. At the same time, most species of ants collect food on the ground, and only for aphids do they climb onto plants or low bushes - so there is no need to make arenas more than 10-20 cm high. High arenas are only needed if your species lives and hunts in trees or plants - for example, crematogasters, shiny woodborers, weavers. Most ants, as a rule, do not climb tall plants, which means there is no need to place them, just as there is no need to make a high arena. However, there is one more exception - for mass and small species it makes sense to make the arena high - but only to apply a wide layer of anti-escape in an attempt to hold off that hungry horde.
The second point is ventilation. Most ant farms have one major drawback - there is not enough ventilation in the arena. Small slits in acrylic and thin slits between parts are unable to ensure normal air circulation. Ants feel this very well, so they do not perceive the arena as an open external space - for them it is a large but closed place, like a hollow in a tree or a cavity underground. Therefore, while there, ants can often behave almost like they are in an anthill - they can drag brood back and forth, store seeds under shelters, or even drag the queen there. To avoid this behavior, You need to ensure good ventilation using a mesh or an open lid.
The third point is review. In pursuit of a good level of ventilation and imitation natural conditions, we must not forget that the arena is needed, among other things, for convenient observation of ants. So when you are planning or choosing an arena for your ants, consider which side you will be looking at the ants from and what will be in the way. Look at where the ventilation grids are located, where the ants will enter from, where you can place drinking bowls and feeders, and make sure that no details or decorations will interfere with your observations.
The fourth point is convenience. The arena won't be of any use if you can't maintain it properly. This means that you should be able to calmly put down food, remove debris, disconnect and connect the arena, update the anti-escape, without carrying out any complex manipulations. How easier care- the better for you and for the ants. There are several points worth paying attention to:
1) The hole for the cover is large enough to allow hand manipulation with tweezers
2) There are several holes for connecting modules, from different sides
3) There is a large enough rim for applying anti-escape
4) The arena surface is close enough to take macro photographs
5) There is a place above the arena to install a heating lamp
Despite its apparent simplicity, you should approach the organization of the arena wisely and take everything into account in advance possible nuances. Even though many species can use the simplest arena without any problems, for a beautiful appearance you need to carefully consider the selection of both the scenery and the arena itself, so as not to encounter unexpected difficulties in care. But, if you do everything right, you can achieve not only functionality and convenience, but also a beautiful appearance - and your arena will delight you with its appearance, just like the ants that will use it.
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 make an ant farm yourself, involving a 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 has absorbed room temperature and can be run in 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 gypsum block 2 cm thick 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 dipped in water will be enough, which is changed once every 2-3 days.
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 matter, 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 house. 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 
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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
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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! 
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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 :) 