CATDOLL : CATDOLL: How to make an ant farm (How to make an ant farm)

1. Homemade Ant Eco-Box?

Get two glass jars with lids. You will need a large jar and a small jar that fits inside the large jar. The soil and ants will be placed between the large and small jars. The small jar will take up space in the middle so that the ants will build tunnels and lay eggs close to the outside edges, making it easy to watch. If you skip this step, the ants will build their nests deeper in the middle of the jar, which is their natural need.

Several canning jars of different sizes will fit perfectly in this design. You can make your ant farm as big or small as you like.

Look for bottles that have no patterns, prints, or raised numbers or letters. Smooth, clear glass will give you the best view of the ants.

If you prefer a flat ant enclosure, check your local pet store for a small glass aquarium. You can also order a custom ant enclosure from an online retailer.

2. How to make an artificial ant nest?

First of all, the artificial ant nest must meet three aspects. Only when these three elements are met can it be a real artificial ant nest, not a small toy.

~1. Meet the needs of ants for healthy and comfortable reproduction.

(Comfort)

2. Meet the needs of human observation.

(Observational)

3. Reasonable space control and feeding convenience. (Management)

Now we are discussing how to harmonize these three and achieve a satisfactory combination.

The first one is the premise. Only when people build a platform for raising ants can they observe the behavior of ants and get what they want from it~!

The second is the main purpose. The reason why people raise ants under artificial conditions is for observation. The observation here can be divided into two aspects. One is the observation of the nest part, which is mainly to observe the social life inside the ants. The other is the observation of the activity area, which is to observe the behavioral patterns of ants outside the nest.

The third is the art of solving limiting factors. The number of individuals in a mature ant colony varies, from millions to dozens. If you raise an ant species that can reach millions, then the ant nest will be very large, which will bring many secondary troubles, such as replacement, insulation, moisture retention, escape prevention, etc.

The third point of space control is to ensure the rationality of the space design of the ant nest! In addition, if you are an ant fanatic and have dozens of ant nests at home, like me, how long will it take to add water, clean and feed food every day?

The third point emphasizes the convenience of breeding, which is to allow you to save more on convenience when designing the ant nest, so that you can raise ants more comfortably on the basis of satisfying the first two points.

3. How to make your own ant nest?

Ant nests can be made from fast food boxes;

2. Make a few small holes in the ant box to facilitate the ants' entry and exit, reproduction and nesting;

3. Put some dried grass into the ant box and keep it loose. The amount of grass should be flush with the box mouth, not too much or too little. At the same time, be careful not to cut the grass in the box;

4. How to make an ant breeding box?

Get two glass jars with lids. You will need a large jar and a small jar that fits inside the large jar. The soil and ants will be placed between the large and small jars. The small jar will take up space in the middle so that the ants will build tunnels and lay eggs close to the outside edges, making it easy to watch. If you skip this step, the ants will build their nests deeper in the middle of the jar, which is their natural need.

Several canning jars of different sizes will fit perfectly in this design. You can make your ant farm as big or small as you like.

Look for bottles that have no patterns, prints, or raised numbers or letters. Smooth, clear glass will give you the best view of the ants.

If you prefer a flat ant enclosure, check your local pet store for a small glass aquarium. You can also order a custom ant enclosure from an online retailer.

5. How can you make your own nest to raise ants (preferably pavement ants) and prevent them from escaping?

Students, using gypsum to make a plaster ant nest is more professional. You'd better search "artificial ant nest" on the Internet. As for preventing escape, you can put the ant nest in a large glass tank and put the glass tank in a shallow basin of water.

6. How to raise ants?

1. Breeding site: Build a circular water tank around the breeding pond, about 50 cm wide and 10 cm deep, and fill the pond with water to prevent ants from escaping. Build a simple wooden frame on the island, which can be layered, with each layer about 25 to 30 cm, connected from top to bottom, and 5-10 nests can be raised per square meter.

2. Environmental temperature: The growth and reproduction of drug ants are closely related to the control of temperature and humidity. The normal temperature is 10℃-38℃, the best reproduction temperature is 25℃ to 30℃, and the environmental humidity is maintained at 80% to 90%. The humidity of the breeding soil is about 20%, and it can be sprayed with clean water several times a day. In winter, cover the shed with plastic sheets or use light bulbs and coal stoves for heating.

3. Feeding ant bait: Ants are omnivorous insects, and they must be fed with sufficient and delicious bait when raised artificially. They can be fed with corn flour, watermelon rind, rotten pears, non-alkaline food, leftovers, rice bran, etc. They can also be fed with insects with high protein content, such as flies, and dead insects and mice.

4. Daily management: The bait that ants eat should be hygienic, the water they drink should also be hygienic, and the ant house should be cleaned regularly. The light should be kept for 15 hours a day and night, and direct sunlight should be avoided in summer. A 15-watt light bulb should be used for lighting at night. The air in the ant house should be kept circulating and fresh. The ant nest should not be turned over at will to avoid affecting reproduction.

7. How to find the queen ant in the wild and feed it to build an artificial ant kingdom?

Just pick the entire nest of ants from the tree, and then raise them in the space you have prepared. You just need to feed them regularly. The queen ant is generally not easy to find!

8. How to raise ants?

1. Site selection:

It should be determined according to the size of the breeding population. Whether indoors or outdoors, there must be sufficient light, no clutter, and no bad odors.

2. Breeding facilities:

Use bricks (or plastic film) around the site. Build a 25 cm wide and 5 cm deep water tank. The inner edge of the water tank should maintain a certain inclination to effectively prevent the seed ants from falling into the water. When building the water tank, leave a drainage hole that is convenient for changing water. Build a frame 20-25 cm away from the inner edge of the water tank. The materials can be bamboo poles or wooden sticks, arranged side by side in a track shape. The first shelf is more than 30 cm above the ground, and the distance between the shelves is more than 35 cm. Place 10-15 cm thick humus sand at the bottom of the shelf.

3. Production and arrangement of breeding boxes:

Homemade feeding boxes are usually paper boxes that have been used to store food and clothing, and are generally 35-40 cm long, 20-25 cm wide, and 10-15 cm high. Place the Masson pine, which is the favorite nest for ants, in the box, followed by leguminous plant straw such as red beans, soybeans, and broad beans. Wild plants include small-leaf camphor, large-leaf camphor, and old grass. All need to be dried to prevent mildew. The tightness of the straw should be appropriate, neither too tight nor too loose. This is very important. Ants do not differentiate and build nests on straw that is about to mold or has already molded. Put the straw together with the seed ants that have been divided into nests into the box, seal it with adhesive tape on all sides, and drill a small hole at one end of the box. The arrangement interval of the ant box should not be less than 60 cm. If the interval is too close, it will easily cause ants to fight with each other.

4. Feeding and Management

Ants have a wide variety of food, and they like to eat anything sweet and animal. They can be divided into two categories: A. Animal bait: such as meat residues and thick blood of cattle, sheep, fish, pigs, chickens, etc. Various insects are also good food for ants, such as beetles, maggots, silkworm pupae, earthworms, etc. B. Food with sweet taste, such as brown and white sugar, watermelon, honey, pear cores, apple cores, etc.

Ants have a very small appetite, about 0.1 mg per ant per day. 100,000 ants require about 100 grams of food a day (different species have different values ​​depending on their body size). They are generally fed once every 3-5 days.

When feeding, a food bowl and a sponge for absorbing water should be placed on the top of the feeding box. To prevent the food from spoiling, the food should be fed in the same way as before. Feed and clean frequently. Feed as little as possible and point as many as possible to avoid fighting over food. In addition, the types of food should be changed frequently to prevent the ants from losing their appetite.

If you raise them outdoors, in the hot summer, you should plant some vines around the ant box to block the strong sunlight to avoid high temperatures in the ant box. The most suitable temperature for ants to grow and reproduce is 22℃-37℃, the air humidity must be controlled at around 81%, and the soil humidity should be kept at 10-15%. If the air is too dry, you can use a sprayer to spray the ant box and the ground frequently to maintain the normal activities and reproduction of the ants.