I want to start a ant farm, just to have something to look in my boring job.
I have a old aquarius, what do i need? What's the best way to get a ants? They need much space? They overpopulate?
Bumping because I am also interested
>>2137143
find a queen during a nuptial flight. go look up antscanada on youtube if you want specifics
>>2137164
Double bump
>>2137196
Thank you
>>2137143
What's the appeal to ants? Anybody got a farm they wanna share?
>>2137248
An ant farm is pretty obscure and maybe a bust...maybe u should get a fish instead if u want something to look at, or a lizard of some kind
>>2137143
Some people sell ants online, I don't know if they sell queens.
I say find a queen flying around and place her in your tank.
>>2137196
this desu. If you live in north america june is a great time to find new queens. I'm sure you can find some info on the sorts of species you have around you and some specifics on when they have their flight.
simply put, you just need to go hiking a few times and be observant. If it's mating season, you'll want to look for some giant ass ants that are crawling around on the ground.
The males and queens both have wings, but the males are very small compared to queens. The trick is in finding a queen that's already been fertilized. If she's still flying around, chances are that she hasn't. They normally land and lose their wings after mating, so best bet is on the ground.
I'm building a new formicarium this summer, going to buy an old 20gal aquarium and convert it into a two nest setup. Still looking for some cheap ytong bricks if anyone has tips, plaster and gel have not been kind to past attempts.
>>2137248
I don't have a farm but I've been pondering and researching ant keeping for a while.
The appeal for me was that they were quiet and easy to care for, but can be neat to watch when you want to, like fish I guess. It's neat that a colony can have emergent behaviors without central control - there's no overmind or direct orders from the queen, it's just all their pheromones and instinct put together. I also respect the fact that they have been around for 50 million years without changing much. If I do get a formicarium put together I want to have an ancient ant fossil in there as decoration.
