Ant Farms

if one wants to set up an ant farm, what do they need to know? i mean usually (as far as i know) ants colonize underground, so will putting them in a transparent, narrow box with it (the box) being exposed to light, have a negative affect on them in some way or another, be it in their life span and/or ability to properly colonize?

An ant colony is a great project and very interesting. To avoid disappointment it is best to by the terrarium and colony from either a scientific supplier or a pet shop that handles them. It is essential you have a queen ant. The colony will only survive as long as the queen is alive. To be certain you have a gravid queen it is best to buy the colony.

Keep in mind in a colony with the exception of the queen most of the ants will only live a few days, but are continuously being replaced by new hatchlings.

To get the most buy a complete kit from any of the source type I mentioned. A few good sources I had experience with:

http://www.antfarmu.com/

http://www.nature-gifts.com/1512-ant-farms-for-sale.html

The gel type is the easiest and requires the least care, but it does not look natural. The traditional sand type looks best, but it is easy to accidently kill the colony with them and they do require some daily care.

wa alaykum us-Salaam
so placing a jar with a bit of sugar on the bottom and putting it in the ground isn't going to help to collect ants?

Keep in mind in a colony with the exception of the queen most of the ants will only live a few days, but are continuously being replaced by new hatchlings.

Click to expand...

and that will happen as long as there is a queen right?
and if i wanted to collect ants myself, is getting the queen ant likely?

The traditional sand type looks best, but it is easy to accidently kill the colony with them and they do require some daily care.

Click to expand...

can you expand on that? what type of care.

and ant farms are kid friendly, right? like a child could run his/her own ant farm no worries?

Ummu Sufyaan said:

wa alaykum us-Salaam
so placing a jar with a bit of sugar on the bottom and putting it in the ground isn't going to help to collect ants?


and that will happen as long as there is a queen right?
and if i wanted to collect ants myself, is getting the queen ant likely?



can you expand on that? what type of care.

and ant farms are kid friendly, right? like a child could run his/her own ant farm no worries?

Click to expand...

Trying to collect the ants yourself will most likely result you only getting the food gathering workers; Ant colonies are highly specialized each type of ant has it's own role.
the food gathering ants can only gather food, they can not even eat unless feed by a nurse ant. They can not dig tunnels either, another ant type does that.

The quess ant never leaves the nestdeep which will be in the deepest chamber of the colony. She does not look much like an ant after she begins laying egges and looses use of her legs. She spends her entire life laying eggs, about one a second for her entire life.The queen can live anywhere froma year to over 10 years depending on the species of ant.

Most ants are not aggressive, however some species are notorious bitters, such as the fire ants we have in the Southern US, the Army ants of South America which are the most feared creature in South America.

In a sand type terrarium some of the dauly care is tobe certain the all waste and un eaten food is removed from the surface daily and to be certain there is only sufficient water to last the day. Too much water can cause mildew to grow in the sand, too little and the Queen will die of thirst very fast.

For the most part ants are harmless to children. But if you live in an area that has any aggressive species you have to be certain of the species you gather.

To gather your own ants you need to be certain you get some of each type of worker ant needed for the colony such as the tunnel diggers, the food gatherers,soldier ants, nurse ants, cleaning ants, etc. Otherwise you end up with just some ants on the surface with no tunnels dug and all dieing in a few days or less.

The food gathering ants, which are the ones we most often see on the surface can not build tunnels, all they can do is find food and carry it back to the colony. They are not even capable of eating the food they gather, They have to bring it back to the colony where the nurse ants will process it and feed it to them.

Most of the ants in a colony never leave the tunnels and except for ant farms are seldom seen by people. About the only ones who leave the tunnels are the food gatherers, soldier ants and if a new queen is born her and the accompaning winged drones will come to the surfice and fly off. The queen looses her wings as soon as she begins laying eggs in a new colony, All of the winged drones die outside the colony and no more winged ants are born until the queen lays the ggs fora new queen and her drones.

All ants in a colony have the same mother and all except the queen are sterile females. The nurse ants actually have control over what type of worker will be hatched from the eggs laid by the queen.

^interesting.

instead of disturbing the ants and taking them from their natural environment, is there some way i could connect up the ant farm to the ground (for human display). so they colonize in the box, but they aren't deprived on their natural habitat either... they come and go as they please. i was thinking if that is possible to, i would somehow have to lure them in the box with something? but what could i use that would gather all types of ants?

sometimes if Im weeding i find that i have accidentally dug right into a colony, so i have a rough idea on where and how to find all the ant necessary to run a good farm if. so if i did collect them myself, how efficient would that method be?

so basically say i was to put a jar in the ground to collect them, i would have to frequently collect new ones becuase they would constantly die because 1) they have no food and 2) there is no queen?

and what are solider ants? am i right in thinking that they protect the queen? also i remember when we were kids, in the summer there would be like a swam on ants on the pavement. why do they do that?

Ummu Sufyaan said:

^interesting.

instead of disturbing the ants and taking them from their natural environment, is there some way i could connect up the ant farm to the ground (for human display). so they colonize in the box, but they aren't deprived on their natural habitat either... they come and go as they please. i was thinking if that is possible to, i would somehow have to lure them in the box with something? but what could i use that would gather all types of ants?

sometimes if Im weeding i find that i have accidentally dug right into a colony, so i have a rough idea on where and how to find all the ant necessary to run a good farm if. so if i did collect them myself, how efficient would that method be?

so basically say i was to put a jar in the ground to collect them, i would have to frequently collect new ones becuase they would constantly die because 1) they have no food and 2) there is no queen?

and what are solider ants? am i right in thinking that they protect the queen? also i remember when we were kids, in the summer there would be like a swam on ants on the pavement. why do they do that?

Click to expand...

You could build a box over the ant colony actually a 4 sidded frame with one glass or plexiglass side. Add about an inch of soil to the box daily until the box is full of soil and be able to see much of the activity and new tunnels on the glass side.

Otherwise your option would be as you mentioned, having to add ants daily.

The soldier ants are the ones who protect the colony. They are biters and have larger mandibles then the other ants. If you poke a thin straw or small stick into the opening hole of an ant colony you will very rapidly see it covered with 2 types of ants one type will be trying to bite the straw,those will be soldier ants another group will be trying to push the straw out of the hole those are cleaning ants whose job is to push debris out of the tunnels. If you try to move the straw up and down you will soon find a lot of resistance in pushing it into the tunnel. Another type of ant whose purpose is similar to being corks will come in masses and attempt to form a stopper preventing anything from entering the tunnel.

The swarms of ants you see are the mating swarms in the spring a colony will produce one or two new queens who in this stage are active and have wings. They will leave the colony and each fly as high as she can. The colonies will also produce many thousands of males who will also be winged after the queens fly out the drones(winged males) will follow by the thousands. Only the one that can reach the female will mate with her, the rest will return to the ground and loose their wings. They will not be permitted back in the colony and wander around in a large swarm until they die usually in just a few hours. The now impregnated queens will land and immediately dig into the soil and begin laying eggs, forming a new colony. She will bite off her own wings as soon as she lands and soon after she begins laying eggs she will loose all use of her legs and begin looking more like a worm than an ant. She will grow to nearly 100 times the size of the other ants as her daughters grow and take care of her. From that single mating she will begin laying about one egg per second for the rest of her life which can be several years, some species in the tropics the queen will live over 10 years.

Termites are also considered to be a species of ants. Ants are also very close relatives of wasps however except for the fire ants we have in the Southern USA and a few mostly tropical species they do not have stingers.

Ants are very complex and have a very intricate social system the colonies are very much like cities, with specialized workers for each task. The largest part of an ant colony stays under ground and is seldom seen. A colony can actually cover several acres under ground and extend to 30 feet deep. The colony can have hundreds if not thousands of openings at the ground surface. If you see numerous ant hills near each other they most probably are all part of the same colony.

There are a few species of ants that do not live underground mostly in the tropics best example being the notorious Army Ants. (Marabunta) Nice link here about them:

http://www.insecta-inspecta.com/ants/army/index.html

wa alaykum us-Salaam
why arent the males allowed back in? and how do they keep them out?

Ants are very complex and have a very intricate social system the colonies are very much like cities, with specialized workers for each task. The largest part of an ant colony stays under ground and is seldom seen. A colony can actually cover several acres under ground and extend to 30 feet deep. The colony can have hundreds if not thousands of openings at the ground surface. If you see numerous ant hills near each other they most probably are all part of the same colony.

Click to expand...

is that dependent on the specie? and do larger ants have larger colonies or are their tunnels just larger/wider?

sorry for all the questions...

Ummu Sufyaan said:

wa alaykum us-Salaam
why arent the males allowed back in? and how do they keep them out?


is that dependent on the specie? and do larger ants have larger colonies or are their tunnels just larger/wider?

sorry for all the questions...

Click to expand...

No problem about the questions. I miss having my grandson with me constantly asking questions. Trying to answer question helps keep what remains of my memory active.

The male ants serve no purpose to the colony after one has mated with a queen. They are then a burden as their only purpose is to mate. They serve no other function. They can not feed themselves or even drink water without the assistance of the nurse ants. After the nuptial flight the ones who were unsuccessful in breeding , which will be all except one, are of no use to the colony. The colony will now treat them as invaders if they try to return and the soldier ants will kill them. The ones who wander around in a swarm,since they cannot even drink water, die very fast.

Some of the larger ants such as the "Leaf Cutters" have very large colonies. Yes, it does seem the larger ants do have larger colonies. If memory serves me right some of the larger ants will have several queens in the colony which means all of the ants in that colony are not sisters with the same mother. But, most ant colonies just have one queen.

One of my favorite ants is the "Honey-pot" ants found in the American desert regions. They look like little fat light bulbs. They are actually filled with honey and were a favorite snack of the Navajo and Paiute Children. No I never tried eating them, but have been told they taste very sweet.

hmmm if you want to collect ants come to my house they're invading my living room, I can't even eat peacefully cos I have to watch out for ants No idea where they're coming in from. Woodrow do you know an effective way to rid them from the house? Is there a way to kill the queen so they all disperse from my house?

squiggle said:

hmmm if you want to collect ants come to my house they're invading my living room, I can't even eat peacefully cos I have to watch out for ants No idea where they're coming in from. Woodrow do you know an effective way to rid them from the house? Is there a way to kill the queen so they all disperse from my house?

Click to expand...

To eradicate ants is almost paradoxal. To eradicate them you need to kill the queen. To do that you have to become their major food supplier. Not as easy as it sounds to get the poison down to her. You have to remember your house is just one source of food for them, they will have thousands of food sources much of it is out doors such as in trees, shrubs, even in the soil and grass.

Now to get the queen you have to become the majority food source. Got to the hardware store and by several pounds of ant bait. You will probably need at least 10 pounds of it if you only have one colony near you. (The one colony can have very many hills outside.

Now daily go out in your yard and place about a spoonfull of the ant bait about one to 2 inches from each hill you find. Do this daily for as long as you keep seeing ants. Although you will not know when the Queen is killed as the colony can survive for about a week without the queen.

Be certain you are getting ant bait and not a contact insecticide.

squiggle said:

hmmm if you want to collect ants come to my house they're invading my living room, I can't even eat peacefully cos I have to watch out for ants No idea where they're coming in from. Woodrow do you know an effective way to rid them from the house? Is there a way to kill the queen so they all disperse from my house?

Click to expand...

you might need to check that you don't have any type of food that would attract them, exposed such as anything sugary (eg honey, sugar, etc). follow their trail so that you can see if there is a hole anywhere that they maybe coming in from.

Now daily go out in your yard and place about a spoonfull of the ant bait about one to 2 inches from each hill you find. Do this daily for as long as you keep seeing ants. Although you will not know when the Queen is killed as the colony can survive for about a week without the queen.

Click to expand...

can another queen join the colony and take over if she see's that the other queen is absent?

Woodrow said:

To eradicate ants is almost paradoxal. To eradicate them you need to kill the queen. To do that you have to become their major food supplier. Not as easy as it sounds to get the poison down to her. You have to remember your house is just one source of food for them, they will have thousands of food sources much of it is out doors such as in trees, shrubs, even in the soil and grass.

Now to get the queen you have to become the majority food source. Got to the hardware store and by several pounds of ant bait. You will probably need at least 10 pounds of it if you only have one colony near you. (The one colony can have very many hills outside.

Now daily go out in your yard and place about a spoonfull of the ant bait about one to 2 inches from each hill you find. Do this daily for as long as you keep seeing ants. Although you will not know when the Queen is killed as the colony can survive for about a week without the queen.

Be certain you are getting ant bait and not a contact insecticide.

Click to expand...

hmmm but I can't see any hills or nest. In the back garden I saw one ages ago in the grass but it's no longer there. Apart from that I haven't seen any other hills. What do I have to do, leave some food out for an ant to pick up then follow it back and see where it goes? that way it will lead me to it's base right? then I can put the ant bait down.

Ummu Sufyaan said:

you might need to check that you don't have any type of food that would attract them, exposed such as anything sugary (eg honey, sugar, etc). follow their trail so that you can see if there is a hole anywhere that they maybe coming in from.


can another queen join the colony and take over if she see's that the other queen is absent?

Click to expand...

Usually ants are not in the house looking for food. They come in looking for water or moisture. They can pick up even very small almost microscopic droplets of moisture such as what will form around the cold water pipes in a house. The food they find is secondary and can be considered a bonus. Some of the most clean houses with no loose food have the worse ant invasions.

No a new queen can not take over an existing colony. If it is apparant a queen is dying the nurse ants will begin feeding enzymes to all of the embryonic ants that are developing. Resulting in one becoming a queen and the rest male drones. But, these will fly off and the new queen forms a new colocny the old colony dies off.

squiggle said:

hmmm but I can't see any hills or nest. In the back garden I saw one ages ago in the grass but it's no longer there. Apart from that I haven't seen any other hills. What do I have to do, leave some food out for an ant to pick up then follow it back and see where it goes? that way it will lead me to it's base right? then I can put the ant bait down.

Click to expand...

It is possible you have a very newly formed colony that is just now growing. The darn queen mayhave settled into the walls of the house. Usually it will be the basement walls.

Since it is neither wise nor desirable to dynamite the house. Try to set the bait in the corners of each room.It can be in any small container even soda bottle caps. Just be certain no children or pets can get it, it is usually sugar based and small kids especially like the taste of it. When you first set the bait out and for nearly a week it will appear that all you did was make the colony grow as you will see many more ants as since there is an easy food source, the colony will begin producing a lot more food gathering ants. This is a good sign as each food gathering ant means one less tunnel builder is produced.

since you are not seeing any outside hills, it sounds like this is still a new colony and still small. I am assuming these are the very small red ants often called sugar ants.

Woodrow said:

It is possible you have a very newly formed colony that is just now growing. The darn queen mayhave settled into the walls of the house. Usually it will be the basement walls.

Since it is neither wise nor desirable to dynamite the house. Try to set the bait in the corners of each room.It can be in any small container even soda bottle caps. Just be certain no children or pets can get it, it is usually sugar based and small kids especially like the taste of it. When you first set the bait out and for nearly a week it will appear that all you did was make the colony grow as you will see many more ants as since there is an easy food source, the colony will begin producing a lot more food gathering ants. This is a good sign as each food gathering ant means one less tunnel builder is produced.

since you are not seeing any outside hills, it sounds like this is still a new colony and still small. I am assuming these are the very small red ants often called sugar ants.

Click to expand...

I think she has settled somewhere in the kitchen because I put some contact insecticide on the door frame that separates the kitchen from the living room and now we're no longer finding ants in the living room. Another thing, they only come in the summer time, we don't have this problem in the winter at all. Anyway I will give it a try, how does it kill the queen anyway? do they carry the bait back to the nest and when the queen eats it she dies?

The creatures in the ant family which includes, ant, bees, wasps, hornets and termites are among the most wonderous of all creatures. The social species such as Bees, most ants and termites have a life system that is beyond belief.

The entire colony acts and behaves as if it were one organism with the queen being the central nerous system and the other ants being specialized cells of a single organism. Each has a very specific job and each has a body designed for doing that single role.

The queen never leaves the colony and the rest of the ants act as her body, being her arms, legs etc. The communication in a colony puts the internet to shame. It is so complex you can not think of a colony as being a group of creatures, it is as if the entire colony is each a part of one large organism

One of the most baffling and complex of Allaah(swt)'s creation. Since these are among the most ancient and unchanged forms of life on earth, I can not comprehend how anybody can be an atheists and not see the complex planning that went into the creation of an ant colony.

There is no king just the queen. The male ant dies shortly after mating and the queen only mates once in her life. Until a new queen is formed (That is so complex it would take me days to explain the small amount we humans know)There will never be a male in a colony. Every individual is a genetic sister of all the others and each came from the same queen.

The word queen is almost an oxymoron, she is actually a prisoner and can never leave the colony and is 100% dependent on the colony for all of here needs, including eating. She can not even digest food, it has to be predigested by other ants before it is force feed to her.

There is no king just the queen. The male ant dies shortly after mating and the queen only mates once in her life. Until a new queen is formed (That is so complex it would take me days to explain the small amount we humans know)There will never be a male in a colony. Every individual is a genetic sister of all the others and each came from the same queen.

Click to expand...

so all the worker ants (and the same in bees) are all females?

Salam Alaikum:

WOW, what an amazing topic!! Thanks Brother Woodrow for sharing so much of your knowledge and thanks to all those asking the questions....it has been so interesting to read! I'll never look at an ant hill in the same way.

Wa'alaikum salam,
Hana