How to Catch and Care for your Ant Colony and picking out your first ant farm!

Make sure you give them 2 or 3 small pieces of food once a week.

There are ants like this Leaf Cutter 🐜🐜 Picture shown are fungus that give nutrition and feeding the larvae egg. The leaf cutter ant cut down oats, dry rose petal, detritus, coconut fiber, dried strawberry, almond chips, apple jacks, orange peel, nectar, insects frass, grass, seed, leaf, and plants based to grow fungus to provide for their colony.

There are ants like this Argentine ants. in this picture below that feed on a wide variety of foods, unsalted cracker, bread including sweet drinks, cakes, pet food, meat and insects.

We will have ants that eat honeydew that they collect from aphids and other plant-feeding insects for honeydew.

Water are a important part of the ant colony to have to drink. Make sure you give two to three water droplets. Collect water from a bottled spring water every 2 day.

I highly recommend the new version ant farm from Uncle Milton they come with sand and tube OR you could buy a already tunnel made or build your own Formicarium! The reason I love those uncle milton ant farm is because when the ant dig on the right or left corner side you can actually see them!! unlike all the other ant farms I tried when they were dig to the corner side of the ant farm it would be hard to see what they doing. I also get a clear container to make as a outworld and make a hole to put the funnel tube in it to connect to the ant farm! That way you can put food and water in the outworld and easy to clean. Building your own formicarium is fun too! I will post a update on my formicarium once it done.

How do I catch them!? Well come on outside with me!! Here are the following to have with you.

Materials you need:

1. Jar with led, Vaseline or butter (to the smear around the top led of the jar so they cant get out, they fall down) or a jar with led and put a small hole in to be connect with a funnel tube to and a cotton to cover the hole to prevent escape. Pictures shown.

2. Food in the jar to draw the ants to it.

3. Spoon and Stick for them to climb on and shake them gently into the jar.

4. Straw to blow inside hole get them to bring eggs out and possibly a queen ant!

5. shovel or backhoe.

6. Test tube for the queen ant ( queen ant like to be in a tight space and dark place).

Looking for the ants colony! I catch ants in many different way depending on what kind of ants they are and what ground they live in hard surface or soft surface.

Alright we have everything we need so come with me let go outside!

If you are at a right timing for nuptial flight season in the late spring or early summer time. They come out at the right temperature sometime in the afternoon after it has rain. Be watching on the ground for queen ant! (Read young queen ant you just caught) or we could go find a colony with the queen ant! If you want fire ant you will see big mound hill (picture shown) but be careful they sting! Best way to catch them is to let them climb onto stick or spoon and careful gently shake them into the jar or put food in the jar with the plastic funnel tube that allow the ants to craw in and leave it sitting there for a little while if you can and come back and you will see a bunch of ant in there! if you like to collect ant that don't sting like leaf cutter ant or sugar ants, orange sugar ant, you will have to look closer to the ground to find small mound of ant nest (picture shown) a good way to find a ant colony you like, if you cant find their nest, follow a ant and see where it go to find the ant colony nest and when you find their nest (Depend on what species they are: Sugar Ant or Orange Sugar Ant) if you want put a straw into the hole and blow in it hard to disturb them to come out and do it a couple times, don't get dizzy! haha They'll start to bring their eggs out and possibly maybe a queen ant! Sometime it work, sometime it doesn't. But that how I found mine or if I couldn't wait and wanted to I'll start digging with a spoon since the ground they build in is hard, ( I treat it kinda like if I was looking for a dinosaur bones), when I don't see their hole I take my straw to blow to try to find their tunnel hole and then I wait to see if I see any ants come out of that tunnel and start digging more and blow more to find the tunnel, I sometime come across their eggs nest and collect them and keep digging and blowing till I find their queen ant. OR I did wait till it has rain so the ground is softer to dig, sometime the queen/colonies will bring the eggs/queen ant closer to the surface where they can be more dry making it easier it grab them! You can grab a shovel/backhoe to dig for ant colony deeper and spoon to dig into small chamber,, and go through the dirt to try and find the queen ant( that what I did to collected 2 Leaf Cutter Ant colonies with queen ants). If you like the wood ants, Carpenter Ants likes to live in rotten wood depend on the tree/stump you find. If the wood is rotten it should be easier to get to the capenter ants colony but if they live in a hole of a tree that not completely rotten it maybe harder to get to the queen ant. Once you caught the Queen Ant make sure your collects some of the worker ants with her as she is a queen ant that already started her colony. A QUEEN ANT IS IMPORTANT TO THE COLONY! If you wish to raise a colony. If not worker ants live for a week, month or a year. If you ever want to add more ants, Make sure that the ant you have are from the same colony nest you found them at. Never mix two different colony together cause they will fight.

Or if you would like to order ants please go to the buy ant section. Keep in mind the harvest ant you order will not come with a queen ant.

Young Queen Ant You just caught:

If you caught a single or bunch of young queen ant wandering around the yard after a nuptial flights season. Grab a test tube (16mm x100m or 18mmx150)or more and put 1/2 spring water bottle inside first then place a pva spong or cotton ball tight inside to hold the water and then gently have her crawl into the test tube and put a cotton ball as a led replacement so she can have valitate air to breath then place her in a dark place and check on her every now and then and watch the colony grow. After she have her first few workers (maybe about 25 or 30) hatch them move them to the ant farm.

How to tell I caught a Queen Ant?

Queen Ant will either be brighter or darker color then the worker ants and they are

a lot bigger then the worker ant and their stomach will be bigger. They also have a larger bulker throax where the wings are attached on. Also look at her throax and see if you find she has wing or shed its wings. You may see small bump or small part of wing on her throax.

You will need test tube (16mm x 100m or 18mm x 150m) Plastic or Glass. Pva spongs stopper and Cotton Ball Organic and a long stick.

Wash Your hand before handling the stuff, because you don't want bacteria and mold inside.

1. A pva spong call saugwunder off of Amazon! Link: SAUGWUNDER Cleaning Sponge Super Absorbent Water Durable ^~ You Know 17.5×7.5×3.5 cm[6.9 x 3 x 1.38 inches] Use for Household Clean Cars/Boats The dust and Dirt on Furnitures,Bathtubs&etc. (Blue) (amazon.com) or you can use cotton ball organic from any store.

2. Rise the test tube off with water. Let it dry out.

3. For pva spong if bought off amazon: Open the wrapper and rise it off with spring water bottle or distill water only (No Soap) to make sure dust or anything is off and drain off. Squeeze water out to dry before cutting it to fix inside the test tube. or if you bought a already made pva spong for test tube just rise and squeeze water out dry.

4. Add spring water bottle or distill water about 1/2, then add the pva sponge or cotton inside all the way to the water till it is just completely wet, so it will keep moisture and for you queen ant to drink. You dont want the spong/cotton to accidently get too far into the water or it will cause the water to come into the chamber.

5. Gentle let the queen ant climb in and once she inside the tube, add the cotton ball in tight as a led, the cotton ball has a sufficient airflow ventilated so they can breath! (I replace the white led with cotton, I didn't have cotton on me when picture was taken)

6. Wrap the test tube with dark paper so she'll feel safe in the dark and create a flat test tube holder with boxes or form board like this! Will update pic soon.

7. If you ever mess up or want to get the spong out use a stick (I had my green stick from uncle milton ant farm and bent it) go inside and move it back and forth kinda fast so it will come out quickly. Or if you have a cotton ball in it fill it up with water to soak it then take a stick or twizer to get it out easy.

You caught them and Let bring them inside.

This is what I buy for my ant farm shown in pictures..

• Coconut Fiber

• Sandtastik Play White Sand / Ant Farm Kit Fine Perlite Sand

• Natural Spring Water Bottle

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I put a little bit of Coconut Fiber in the ant farm first at the bottom so it will hold more water as a moister for the ants. Then I get a small container and grab a small mug cup, I add 2 cup of sand, then I add a cup of coconut fiber and mix them up to get a good blend. Then I added a little more coconut fiber in it just to get enough good blend while there still a little more sand so that when I add the water bottle in it. I have the coconut fiber mix in with sand so it hold the water for moisture as well and keep their tunnel from clasp if sand get too dry. When adding water bottle make sure to not overly fill it, you dont want the sand to be soggy, you want it to be damp. If you accidently overly water it, you can let it sit to dry for couple day or dump the dirt out and start over. Then I take my green stick and make a starter tunnel for them and I also get a clear container and make a hole to put the funnel tube in it to connect to the ant farm! That way you can put food and water in the outworld and easy to clean.

How to put ant into the ant farm?

Ants are cold blooded so they slow down when they get cold. Place the ants in the refrigerator (NOT FREEZER!) for about 10 or 15 minutes to slow them down before you remove the lid to gently shake them into the ant farm or remove cotton and place the plastic funnel tube into the ant farm. Picture shown. It will make it easier and safer for you and the ants while the ant find their way into the ant farm. Carefully place the ant farm in a room where they won't get disturb much. Leave them in there for a little and check back for some hard working ant building tunnels!

Make sure the Ant are in the right temperature!

Ants life can get shorten if kept in a High temperatures room. Ants will live longer in a cool room at temperatures of 60 to 70 degrees. Don't keep the ants where they are hit by direct sunlight as this will cause the temperature inside the ant habitat to rise high. You can also put dark paper and tape it the the ant farm to cover up to keep them in the dark so they busy digging tunnels. You can use a Red clear wrapper for ant farms as they can't see red and think its dark and it also protect them from lights.

Is Gel Ant Farm safe for my ant?

No, Gel are 100% toxic to ants! I do not recommend using a gel ant farm at all! They get mold pretty quickly which hurt the ants.

100% Natural Play Sand are best mix with loam, perlite sand and coconut fiber!

I have never try loam yet but I read other people do mix it with 100% natural sand. The reason why I recommend mixing perlite sand, coconut fiber with 100% natural play sand because sand tends to dry out faster and won't hold the tunnels strong and will clasps and trap the ants in the tunnels. Using coconut fiber and perlite sand or loam helps hold humidity and moisture and keep the tunnels strong. Please read how to in the (Setting up your ants farm section.) Located in the Ant Care/Ant Farm page.

Formicarium!

Formicarium are a type of ant farm where people buy already made that has a tunnels built in them or they make it themselves. I have something in mind that I'm going to try to build a formicarium as a big ant farm (10gal terrarium) with the stuff I mention in (setting up your ant farm) or try wood shed with clay in it for carpentered ants. Playsand, etc for the ants that build nest in soild/dirt while woodshed for carpentered that build nest in wood. but I have never try formicarium with clay hand made tunnel built, they seem odd to me lol. Formicarium with tunnels are easier to clean though! But really to me I'm the type of person that like to watch them dig, build and work together as teamwork to build the tunnel and nest. But I can understand if it carpentered ants as they live in wood and yes how would you see them inside the wood! lol Now that where I can see where formicarium with tunnels made come in handy for carpenter ants but not the other ants that live in dirt. 🤷‍♀️ This is my personal preference but everyone has their own personal preference! lol Once I build my formicarium I will post a update on how I did it!

Do not mix two different species or two different colonies of the same species together, they will fight. You will need to collect ants from the same location ant bed you found them at.

Example: I have two different colonies of the same species of trachymrymex septentrionalis I kept them in two separate ant farm so they are not together, because I know they will fight.

They are very territorial and protected of their colonies.

Workers ants will live for a week, a month to 4 month or a year.