CATDOLL : CATDOLL: What are the precautions for raising ants? (What are the precautions for raising ants?)

1. Introduction to raising ants?

The specific steps are as follows

1. Collect ants.

Ordinary ants will not reproduce unless you place a queen ant in your ant farm.

2A place where ants are raised.

Find a glass bottle of suitable size. Glass bottles are more convenient for observation. Remember to leave air holes on the bottle cap.

3Fill with soil.

Make sure the soil is loose so the ants can move around, and leave some space at the top to prevent the ants from climbing out of the jar.

4. Provide food and water.

Do not feed ants meat or other cooked foods, as this will attract pests to your enclosure.

5. Warmth.

Keep it in a room with a stable, comfortable temperature. Keep it out of direct sunlight, or the glass will overheat and kill the ants.

6Shake the bottle.

Shaking the bottle or handling it roughly can cause their tunnels to collapse, killing them. Be careful with ant farms.

7. Reduce light.

Ants like to be active at night, and they will dig ant holes at night. When you are not observing the ants, try to cover the black cloth.

2. How to raise ants yourself (without using Ant Workshop)?

1. Preparation: Open the lid of the Ant Workshop and use the small stick provided with the product to poke four holes in the gel that are roughly evenly distributed and about 20 mm deep to prompt the ants to dig holes here; although they may not necessarily dig according to your prompts.

2. Put the ants in: For the delivered ants, insert one end of the tube containing the ants into the plug hole on the lid and wait for the ants to crawl in by themselves. For the ants caught in the wild, let the ants climb onto the grass sticks or small sticks, and then shake them into the ant workshop. Do not catch ants directly with your hands, as they are very small and easily injured. If you are helpless with the ants, you can put the container containing the ants in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes. Ants move more slowly at 15-18°C. Be careful not to let the temperature be too low and the time be too long to prevent the ants from freezing to death.

3. Daily feeding: About 7-10 days, when the ants are resting, gently open the lid to give them fresh air. While the ants are working, you can use the provided magnifying glass to observe the secrets of their life more closely.

4. Notes: Do not feed the ants anything, because the gel in the Ant Workshop contains the nutrients and water that the ants need. Do not place the Ant Workshop in direct sunlight. This is a device for raising ants called "Ant Workshop". The blue jelly-like substance in the container is a transparent resin containing the nutrients needed by the ants' bodies. It is introduced on the Internet that this is a by-product of the US space program. NASA designed this product to observe how ants work in a weightless environment.

3. 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.

4. What are the 12 taboos of raising ants?

1. The activity area where ants carry domestic garbage must be cleaned in time, otherwise it is easy to grow mites (garbage mites and ant mites)

2. Small groups must not be placed in a large nest, otherwise they will be frightened and die.

3. Some ants have requirements for humidity and temperature, so they must be kept in accordance with the standards.

4. If you apply anti-escape liquid, there is no need to cover the lid, otherwise the humidity will easily rise and mites will grow.

5. If the bow-back ant lays eggs, do not disturb it or it may eat the eggs.

5. What should you pay attention to when raising ants?

1. Ants can grow normally within 15-40℃, but the optimal temperature is between 25-35℃. They hibernate in winter when the temperature is below 10℃.

2. The soil moisture for ants should be controlled between 10% and 20%; the relative humidity of the air should be controlled between 70% and 90%.

3. Ants are social insects that live in groups and are very nest-loving. Most species build nests underground and have a mixed diet, usually a mix of plants and meat. Like other ants, the black spiny ant generally regards a nest as a family. There are one or dozens of king ants (male ants) and queen ants (female ants) in a nest. Worker ants specialize in building nests, foraging, raising young, etc., and are the largest in number;

Soldier ants protect the safety of the masses. The ants in the nest of leaf-weaver ants, which are smaller in number, communicate by the smell of secretions. Since they usually live in an ant nest, this method of communication is better developed than that of other Hymenoptera insects. If an ant finds food, it will leave a smell along the way home, and other ants will follow this route to find food and continue to strengthen the smell.

6. How to raise ants?

The question of raising ants is not limited to how to raise them, but how to raise them well. With the prosperity of the pet industry, ants have also appeared in people's vision as a novel pet. Here are some pictures of pet ants.

Camponotus agate

Golden big-headed ant

Camponotus jinshaensis

Big-headed ant

The ants above may be the first time you have seen them as pets. Ants have their own advantages. They take up little space, are small, and have beautiful and diverse colors. The key is that they are unique! People usually ignore them and think they are just black. In fact, different species have different characteristics. You can't raise such beautiful ants in a pile of soil. It's not beautiful. Here are some nests for raising ants.

The concrete three-dimensional nest is highly reminiscent of a natural ant nest, has a good ornamental effect, and gives a sense of beauty that allows one to peek into the underground world.

In recent years, 3D printing has become popular and has also been used to make flat nests. The choice of ant nests is simple and beautiful, easy to observe, simple and generous, and fully reflects the God's perspective.

The advanced "cabbage nest" looks very high-end. It is not only convenient for observation, but also improves your hobby to a higher level.

ps: The above pictures are from the forum "Ant Bar"

7. How to raise ants?

1. Site selection: Choose a site that is ventilated, dry and has sufficient light.

2. Breeding facilities: Use bricks (or plastic film) to build a circular water trough around the site, ensure that the water trough has a certain inclination, use bamboo or wooden sticks to build a frame, arrange it into a track shape, and place humus sand at the bottom.

3. Making of breeding boxes: Shoe boxes, food boxes or clothing paper boxes can be used as breeding boxes.

4. Feed: small animal carcasses, plants, fruits and vegetables are all fine.

5. Feeding and management: Take measures such as escape prevention and cleaning.

8. What do ants eat and how to raise them?

Ants have a wide range of feed. Artificially cultivated ants such as the Pseudo-Black Polyrhachis ants are mostly omnivorous and can be fed with rice bran, bran, bean cake, bean dregs, chicken feed, honey, various fruits and animal feeds such as fish meal, silkworm pupa meal, bone meal, eggs, insect carcasses, etc.

When raising ants, pay attention to the following points:

1. New and old ants cannot be raised together. They must be raised in separate groups to avoid killing each other and causing the death of all ants in a nest.

2. Ants have a strong ability to escape, so the breeding tank should be flat, smooth, and seamless. A water tank should be set up around the breeding room to prevent ants from escaping.

3. Ants are sensitive to low temperatures. When the temperature is below a certain level, their growth slows down. Therefore, in winter or in low-temperature weather, artificial heating should be used to increase the temperature of the breeding environment to accelerate their growth and development.

4. The natural enemies of ants include woodpeckers, anteaters, pangolins, etc. When breeding ants in the wild, it is important to take appropriate measures to prevent harm from enemies.