This type of setup is a perfect starter for your colony, it is basically 2 pieces of

glass which is filled with (in this case) sand, it allows your ants to dig tunnels

and chambers to live in. This particular farm is available from antstore.net. Ant

farms are also very easy to make, do a search of Google and you will find lots of

tutorials for making them, or visit the forum on antstore.net to get more info.

You will notice 2 tubes on the edge of the farm, these are used to connect extra

bits to your setup, like a small basin for feeding, or perhaps extra farms for

colony expansion (see section 4).

Please take note of section 3. Moisture and Humidity before fill your farm!

You will also need a feeding area, with a farm like the one above, this can

simply be a very small ‘aquarium’, about 20x10x10cm for a small colony,

specially made basins can be bought which have holes ready drilled to attached

tubing and connect your farm and basin together.

For a farm setup you will need…

Farm

Basin with Lid

Tubing

Rubber bungs to block holes

Sand/Loam mix or Soil

Clay Aggregate Balls (see section 3)

2 Small dishes for feeding and water

Decoration for the basin, e.g. plastic plants, stones (optional)

make a nest, essentially you cut out the tunnels and chambers from

the brick of Ytong and then place a piece of glass over the top, this

can be tricky to get right, but do a search of Google or Antstore and

you will find lots of tutorials about it. A Plaster nest is by making the

tunnels out of something like plaster sine on a piece of glass inside of a farm,

then pouring in plaster, once its set, the plaster sine can be removed to reveal a

ready made home for your ants, Plaster nests are not easy to keep moist

however and I wouldn’t recommend them

fish tank, this is easy to make, using Aquarium Safe silicon glue, you

just need to fit a piece of glass inside the tank, about 1cm from one of

the walls, to make a farm inside the tank, you then have a fully self

contained setup.

allot, its basically a tank with an upside down smaller tank inside it, so

that you have a panoramic farm, as well as a feeding area on top.

Lastly, keep your setup out of direct sunlight, just 15 minutes of direct sunlight

could cook your whole colony!

Persuading your colony to move out of the test tube can be a mission! But don’t

force them! The best way to do it, is to keep the test tube in bright light (not

sunlight) and keep the farm dark and moist, maybe using a Biro, u can make a

starter tunnel for them about 10cm into the sand, they may decide that would

be a good place to start digging their first chambers. Once the water runs out in

the test tube, your colony will move, but don’t worry to much if they don’t for

months on end, they will when they are ready.

2. Feeding

Ants are very easy to feed!

dish, you may wish to add some Fish Flakes for extra vitamins and minerals,

alternatively, one drop of honey and a couple of drops of water is a much better

option. Important: Place a small piece of cotton wool into the dish so that the

ants can drink from the cotton wool, they will easily drown if they get stuck in

the honey/sugar water otherwise!

particularly fond of Crickets, Spiders and some Moths. Important: Always drop

the insect into boiling water for a few seconds before giving it to your ants! (see

section 8. Disease, Mould and Parasites)

out an entire colony! Have a dish with fresh water and a small piece of cotton

wool available to your ants at all times, also pay close attention to section 3.

Moisture and Humidity. You could also use a small test tube for water, simple

half fill the test tube with water, then push a large piece of cotton wool inside,

see the test tube your colony arrived in for a reference on doing this.

least once a week, and check it every day and top up as needed.

3. Moisture and Humidity

Lasius Niger do not require any specific humidity levels, however the nest doest

need to be kept damp.

If you are using a farm, the best way to achieve this, is to put a layer of Clay

Aggregate Balls about 1-2cm deep in the bottom of the farm, then using a small

piece of cotton wool, bung up the end of a drinking straw and put it, cotton

wool end down, at the edge of the farm, then fill the farm with your sand/loam

mix.

Now you can easily top up the water in the farm using the straw, the balls will

soak up the water and slowly release it as the nest dries.

If your nest is not kept damp, your ants will die very quickly!

If you notice allot of condensation, then don’t top up the farm so much, on

average you should to up the farm with water about once a week, but be

careful not to flood them!

Get yourself a mister or garden spray bottle with a very fine settings, and spray

the basin every 2 - 3 days.

5. Expanding your setup

Lasius Niger can form very large colonies, after about 2 years you may well

have thousands of ants, so be prepared to add new farms and basins to your

setup so they have extra space.

Lasius Niger also like to form Satellite colonies, so don’t be afraid to experiment

with your setup, maybe have very long tubes running around your room with

farms in each corner and basins all over the place, they will happily setup home

metres away from the central nest.

6. Hibernation

Winter is a very important time for ant colonies in the UK, the queen ‘recharges’

ready for next year, and when spring comes, she will lay huge amounts of eggs

and there will be a massive population explosion in your colony.

You don’t have to hibernate your colony, but if you don’t, your queen will not

live as long, and your colony will not be as healthy, it will also be allot slower

growing and may never reach its mature size.

To hibernate your ants, you need to drop the temperature from room temp to

less than 10C over roughly 6 weeks, how you do this depends on your setup,

but if you have a shed, that is perfect, wrap your farm in a layer of bubble wrap

(to protect from frost, which will kill them all overnight!) and place your entire

setup in the shed from about the middle of September to October, keep

checking them and feeding them as you normally would, and once the

temperature drops they will eventually go into hibernation. During the winter

months, Late Oct - Late Feb., you will be unlikely to see any activity in the nest,

but check them once a week, as soon as you see them starting to forage start

feeding them again, and on a warmer day (probably sum time in March) they

will be ready to move back inside…be prepared, they will become very active

and will be very hungry!

7. Escape Prevention

There are many ways you can stop your ants escaping, from Water Islands to

PTFE (Teflon) to Vaseline.

I recommend 2 tier escape prevention system for the first year or so of the

colonies life..

1. Vaseline or PTFE, paint a strip of either substance, about 2cm thick

around the top of the basin, its not usually need in the farm, as it should be

sealed, but if you are worried then you can put sum in the farm as well. I

highly recommend Vaseline, as PTFE is very strong smelling while it is still wet,

and needs redoing every few weeks, but Vaseline will only require you to

run your finger over the surface of it to stop it drying out.

2. Water Island, using a large dish, pour in about 2cm of water, then

about 5mm of vegetable oil. Place something into the water that will raise up

the basin and farm out of the water when you place it into the large dish, you

now have an island! This can usually be removed after a year or so, once

you know for sure that your first tier escape prevention is working. If its not,

the ants will just wonder about on the out side of the basin rather than

raiding your kitchen!

8. Disease, Mould & Parasites

There are many different things which may kill off a colony, but by following a

few simple steps you can keep your colony safe from most things

1. Remove uneaten food after 48 hours to prevent mould growth, most

moulds are harmless, but sum are not and will infiltrate the nest and

wipe out the brood

2. Keep the basin ventilated, you shouldn’t need to do to much extra

work to ventilate your L.Niger colony, as they don’t need hot and

humid conditions, but make sure that the lid has a well ventilated grill.

This will help prevent mould growing.

3. Always drop insects in boiling water for 10-30 seconds before giving

them to your ants, they may be carrying Parasites which could slowly

(or quickly) kill your colony.

4. Before adding Sand or Soil to your setup, put it in the oven at 200C

for 30 minutes, this will kill any resident parasites or bugs.

If you find you have an excessive mould problem, have a look at the ventilation

for your setup, it may need improving, check the grills are not blocked, and if

needed install a small fan to suck air out of the basin.

harmless, in particular the small white mite, about the size of a grain of sand, is

a Food mite and will scavenge off any food left over by the ants. Some mites

will attack the brood and even the ants them selves, seek advice if you see

anything ‘hanging on’ to your ants!

If you have any questions, the Antstore forum is probably your best bet for

information and advice! My username is miszt.

If you find that your colony has grown to big, please don’t kill it off, put a post

on Antstore and you may find someone that wants it.

If you do have to kill your colony, the most humane way is to put them in the

freezer for about half an hour. Boiling water, contrary to popular belief is not a

good way to kill a colony, and will painfully kill only some of them, as well as

risking damage to your setup!

© 2007 John Moffatt and released as a freely distributable document as is and

as a whole, document must not be changed or edited without permission.

Farm image is copyright of Antstore.