Raising ants at home – how to get started?

Introduction to ant farming – overcome your fears

WWhether you are a parent looking for your child’s first pet or an adult looking for a distraction at your desk at work, ants are wonderful and interesting animals that will occupy your attention for a long time.

When visiting our trade fair stands at the exotic animal show, some of the same questions are repeated:

• What to do if ants escape?
• Won’t the ants bite?
• Do ants need a lot of care?

All these questions, and many more, are answered in this article.

In our shop, we mainly focus on species that do not require specialist knowledge, are not dangerous to humans or are not escape masters. They are great for starting a kennel for children.

How do you start raising ants at home?

The first choice facing a potential ant breeder is the species. And this is the most appropriate question. Unlike other animals, with ants, we always start by choosing a species. If you are a person who has never kept ants at home, Messor barbarus will always be a good option. They are ants with a very gentle attitude and no sting. Their biggest advantage, however, is the convenience of breeding. They feed mainly on grains, which means that we can give them grains once every 2-3 weeks, add water to the drinker and spend the rest of the time relaxing under the palm trees.

The Messor barbarus colony develops at a steady pace, so that it will not overwhelm the breeder with the constant need for nest changes.

The second species recommended for beginners is Camponotus nicobarensis. This is an ant native to southern Asia. This species is known for its incredible resistance to breeder error and its significant rate of colony growth. An interesting feature of this species is that there can be more than one queen in a nest. When we have such a situation, from the very beginning the queens work together to raise the offspring and the welfare of the whole colony. Later, as the colony develops, the queens diverge in different directions of the nest and, being away from each other, continue to work on increasing the size of the nest. Camponotus nicobarensis is known to be forgiving of many breeder mistakes. However, it has its own requirements – it loves to eat. The more food we give them, the faster the colony will grow. When we restrict their access to food, the growth of the colony will be severely limited or even stopped.

Where to look for ants for home breeding?

The base of every ant colony is the queen. She is the mother of every single worker. Without the queen in the nest, we only have a few ants that have no future. It is the queen who is the heart of the colony and it is the queen who guarantees the development of the colony. If we want to breed ants, we must have a queen who will take care of the future of our nest. We can get her in several ways:

• The first option is to find your queen during swarming. Swarming is the mating period of ants, during which future queens (princesses) and males (drones) take to the air at one time and make mating flights. When mating occurs, the future queen sheds her wings and looks for a safe place to establish her nest. This is the point at which we can look for running solitary queens to allow them to take off safely. However, this does involve some risks. The first is to turn up in the right place at the right time. Different species of ants, swarm in different months. It is very easy to find Lasius niger queens running alone on the pavement around August, even in the middle of the city. The other species, unfortunately, are no longer so easy to find. The second issue is the success of colony establishment. A lone queen is not a guarantee of success. There is always the risk that the queen will not succeed in bringing out her first offspring and we will have to start from the beginning.
• The second option is to find a suitable shop that specialises in ant breeding, such as ours. In specialist shops we can find both single queens and starting colonies that already have, for example, 5 or 10 workers. This allows you to start breeding ants already with less risk, because the queen already has the most difficult stage behind her – she already has her colony taking care of her. For this reason, we always recommend beginner breeders to buy a colony with workers. This way we have more confidence that the breeding will be successful.
• The last way is to find a local breeder. As with the specialist shop, this option has a much higher probability of success. Remember, however, that private individuals do not have as much responsibility for the colonies they sell. There is therefore a risk that you will come across a dishonest seller who will sell you a colony e.g. infested with mites, or even artificially ‘fueled’ by tossed pupae.

What equipment for ants?

At the beginning of ant breeding, we don’t need much. There are many species of ants that we can successfully keep in a starter test tube for several months to over a year as our colony grows. At the next stage, when feeding the colony becomes challenging, a test tube portal comes in handy. This is a very simple yet incredibly helpful type of first nest that allows us to care for our colony without the risk of ants escaping. The test tube portal allows us to connect two test tubes to one tiny arena, giving the ants their first formicarium, consisting of a nesting part (test tube) and an external part (arena).

Depending on the species and its size, the next stage is the formicarium, commonly referred to as an ant farm. For smaller species, this could even be the stage of 200 workers, while for most species available in our store, it will be 20-50 workers. At this point, feeding our charges in a test tube or even in a test tube portal will become problematic, and we will need a real ant farm. As mentioned earlier, a formicarium consists of an arena and a nesting part. For the first formicarium, our Combo type formicariums work perfectly, such as the Combo “M” formicarium. It is the ideal combination of an arena and a nest, safely connecting these two elements without the risk of escape.

For our growing colony, we will also need feeders and waterers. The waterer will provide our charges with the necessary water for survival. The feeder will serve to provide food in a way that helps maintain the cleanliness of our formicarium. We never place food directly on the arena, as this would create a lot of cleaning work for us. Leftover food can attract unwanted mites. Using feeders allows us to clean up the remnants of food left by the ants effectively.

To care for our charges, additional accessories such as:

• Pipette – for watering the ant nest
• Syringe – for administering liquid food
• Tweezers – for removing food debris and dead worker bees
• Wadding – for a number of tasks, such as preparing a tube drinker or plugging an unnecessary hole in the kit

What conditions do ants need to meet?

The basic condition you need to provide for the ants is tranquillity! The temptation to look into our colony every five minutes is incredible, everything is new and interesting and every move the queen makes makes us excited. That said, the worst thing we can do is peek in on them every now and then. Ants, especially in the initial phase, need as much peace and quiet as possible. Any vibration in the nest can result in fewer eggs in the nest. So if you want your colony to grow as quickly as possible, be patient and look into them initially, as rarely as possible. Loud music (especially bass), stomping or jumping around the room will make our ants stressed and not interested in increasing the population.

Another element is temperature. Here the issue is much more complex. Each species has its own specific requirements for the optimum temperature. Most of the species in our shop, however, are used to so-called room temperatures. This means that you do not have to worry about whether the temperature in your home is right. The vast majority of colonies thrive perfectly at 21-26 degrees. This means that if you are comfortable in your home, the ants are also perfectly comfortable 😉 There are of course exceptions, such as Camponotus maculatus, which requires reheating to 28-30 degrees. However, such cases are few and far between and the temperature of your environment will be ideal for ant breeding.

Humidity, on the other hand, is a river subject.
Most ants require a little higher humidity than in our natural environment. This is why each of our nests or formicaria are equipped with irrigation systems. Simply adding a few drops of water to a special sponge with a pipette once or twice a week is enough to increase the humidity in the nest to optimum levels. A huge exception to this rule, however, is Messor barbarus, which is a semi-arid species. This means that it does not tolerate too much humidity in the nest. Therefore, if we over-hydrate the nest for our harvestmen, they may move out of the nest into the arena and make their nest there for a period of ‘aeration’ 🙂 So we encourage you to contact us to make sure your ants have exactly what they need.

Nutrition of ants

If you have ever wondered what ants eat, here is a handful of information on the subject.

In terms of food, we can divide ants into 3 types.

Harvester ants – Ants of the genus Messor

Messor is characterised by a predilection for grains. The basis of their diet is grains, which the ants crush and make into ant bread. Especially in the early stages of the colony, the popular Messors will not be interested in either food insects or sugars. It is possible to successfully run a colony that will feed exclusively on grains for its entire life. Only after the colony has reached a size of 100 workers will our harvesters want to try new things. Then we can provide them with a previously killed whitefly or cockroach. Providing Messorkas with ant nectar or honey diluted with water will be an added bonus and add variety to their diet. Remember, however, that any viscous liquid can ‘drown’ our ant. It is therefore worth pouring the viscous liquid onto a cotton pad or into a special feeder so that nothing happens to our ants.

Fungus ants nutrition

They are very specific ants that feed on the fungus they grow. During swarming, the queen carries a bit of fungus from her colony into her first nest, in a special pocket, which she later develops. It is this fungus that is the food for the fungus ants. In order for this fungus to feed our colony, it has to be taken care of. The ants ‘rub’ cut parts of green plants into the fungus. As the plant decomposes, it feeds the fungus, giving the ants something to eat. This is not a self-same process, but an extremely difficult one. Fungus ants, are only recommended by us for advanced growers.

What do the other ants feed on?

All other ants can be categorised nutritionally into one group. All other ants need two things to live:

• Carbohydrates
• Protein

Carbohydrates are nothing but sugars. It is mainly the worker ants that need sugars to get energy to keep going. We can supply carbohydrates with ant nectar, with honey with water or, as a last resort, with sugar dissolved in water (although this way is not recommended).

Protein supplied in the colony is needed both by the queen to produce more eggs and by the larvae to grow big and strong. Protein is supplied to the colony in two ways. The first and most natural way is through feeder insects such as whiteflies, cockroaches and woodlice. The second way of supplying protein to ants is through protein food, available in our shop. This is a food of natural origin that can be stored in any conditions before being mixed with water.

How do you look after ants?

The day-to-day care of ants is limited to a clique of activities.

The first of these is feeding. On this topic, we recommend feeding on a 2*2 system. This means that on the first day we give carbohydrates, then two days break, we give protein and again two days break. We repeat this process without interruption, except for the holiday diet, which both us and the ants deserve 🙂 As I mentioned earlier, in the case of harvester ants, feeding is much easier. We sow the grains and forget about breeding.

The second issue is the question of cleanliness. To prevent most ant diseases, it is enough to keep the formicarium clean. This means that at least once a month, we should grab a pair of tweezers and pull out all the impurities that are in the arena. Ants are very clever animals and will find a place in the arena for any circumstance. They will organise a place for a rubbish dump or even a graveyard for workers that have died. We, as keepers, have to remove all these things from the arena during routine cleaning. In addition, we clean the feeders and drinkers at each feeding. This routine will help us avoid diseases that can decimate our colony.

And let’s not forget the safety of the ants and ourselves! During each week, or at most every fortnight, we must renew the barrier! All formicaria, ant farms in our shop, are equipped with a special rim. This allows, lubrication on the inside of the surface of the rant, which prevents ants from passing through it. This barrier, however, is not permanent. Once a week, or once every two weeks, we soak a cotton swab in the ant barrier and lubricate the inside of the rim of the arena. In this way, we can safely open the lid for the duration of our care, confident that the ants will remain in place.

All the above tips, will make caring for ants purely a pleasure. When we let them steal our hearts, instead of bread crumbs, you will give yourself the chance to admire the most complex culture that treads this earth.