Data sheet ants
German name:
ants
Scientific name:
Formicidae
Origin:
spread worldwide
Body length:
0.7mm – 20mm
age expectation:
3 months to 20 years
Behave
Lining:
Honey-water mixture, sugar water, fruit, small insects
Behave:
The ant is a colony-forming insect with a strict hierarchical order: the queen produces the offspring, the workers build the nest, take care of food and water and fight invading enemies. In a few species, the latter is taken over by so-called female soldiers.
Number:
Difficulty level:
Beginner Richard Bartz, Munich Makro Freak, Camponotus sideview 2, CC BY-SA 2.5
Some people may consider it improper, even completely absurd, to keep ants in the terrarium. Compared to exotic lizards, brightly colored fish and other fascinating creatures, an ant is actually rather – boring.
In this article, we will explain why this ordinary, six-legged insect is becoming increasingly popular and what is important when it comes to keeping and caring for it.
Before you trudge blindly into the forest, pick up a few ants and add them to your old aquarium along with some soil, you should first know which ants are particularly suitable for beginners and how a formicarium, a terrarium for ants, is actually structured.
Species that are characterized by their long life expectancy, their slow reproduction and their low comparatively low willingness to break out and aggressiveness are, for example Lasius niger, Myrmica rubra and Messor barbarus. These ant species are also particularly easy to handle thanks to their low requirements for temperature and air and soil humidity.
Requirements for the Formicarium
A formicarium is constructed as follows: The feeding arena is an expansive, rectangular glass box with a removable lid, a wafer-thin layer of sand or earth on the floor and optionally a few small twigs or pebbles. In this room the ants get food and water. The feed arena is connected to the via a hose ant farm connected, the abode, if you will. Usually, the farm is a flat cuboid, a narrow gap of no more than two centimeters between two sheets of glass, which is filled with a mixture of sand and clay. One of the glass plates is foiled in red, so your ants, who cannot see red light, have the feeling that they are underground and you can still observe them.
acquisition and maintenance
It is quite possible to catch a feared queen ant yourself, and it is also possible to build the two glass chambers that form the formicarium yourself. However, it is much more time-saving and safer to get ants and formicarium from one of the many online shops to order. There you will not only find a wide selection of species and associated formicaria; special food and water vessels can be bought there as well as live food and good soil material.
If you have finally bought a formicarium after intensive consideration and decided on an ant species, the following should be observed:
The ants, a fertilized queen and maybe some workers too, come in a test tube. If necessary, set the optimal temperature and humidity in the Formicarium. Then place the rain glass in the feeding arena, cover it slightly if necessary and ensure sufficient food and water, otherwise leave the ants alone. It could be that the workers seal the opening of the test tube with sand for fear of possible enemies. After a few weeks at the latest, however, their curiosity will win out and the ants will thoroughly inspect their new territory. First tunnels are dug into the soil of the dwelling; soon the queen will take up residence here and the colony will continue to grow. After a few months and several litters later, your colony may number several hundred workers.
feed and nutrition
Basically, make sure to serve varied food that meets the daily needs proteins and carbohydrates covers: honey, sugar water, the occasional grape or apple, flies, spiders, mealworm larvae, cockroaches, crickets; they can feed all of this without any problems. In addition, find out about more specific eating habits of your species.
If you put the water in an open bowl or something similar, there is a risk that the ants will drown in it. So fill the water in a test tube and put something in it cotton into the opening. The cotton gets soaked and the ants can drink without risk.
The hibernation
Most Central European species keep one hibernation; activity in the nest is drastically reduced from November to March. During this period, place the formicarium in a cool place, around five to eight degrees, to ensure an almost natural way of life and optimal development.
Some southern European species also keep one diapause, a kind of weakened hibernation. Other species are used to constant temperatures and are therefore active all year round. Find out in good time what your species prefers!
Fascination ant
It is the interplay, the power of the large mass that makes keeping ants so attractive: once an ant colony has reached a stately size, it is truly a magnificent sight: ants working their way tunnel after tunnel into the earth, ants, who procure food or even fight a living insect, ants, who protect the queen and her eggs; the beautiful hustle and bustle has something slightly hypnotic…
It’s almost like watching complex machinery at work.