I raised ants at home and witnessed the rise of an empire

Many of us' first encounter with nature begins with observing ants on the roadside.

If you have a pair of eyes that are good at spotting, you can always find a medium-sized dark red ant running quickly on the road. After finding sweets, they will quickly run back to the inconspicuous but deep ant nest on the side. This is a common ant in North China - the burrowing ant (Formica cunieularia).

At the same time, if you are in Guangdong, you may see some leaves on the trees glued together to form a bulge. That is the "leaf nest" connected by the silk spit out by the larvae of the yellow ant (Oecophylla smaragdina).

Portioid / Wikimedia Commons

From the primitive wasps that walked down the ground in the Jurassic period to the approximately 15,000 species around the world today, ants' ability to evolve and adapt to the environment is undoubtedly successful.

Nowadays, many people keep ants as exotic pets at home, observing their life history, and through their own efforts, they gain the joy of turning a lonely queen ant into a prosperous ant empire.

Before feeding

After a rain with suitable temperature, the reproductive ants in the ant nest will walk out of the nest, spread their wings and complete the "nuptial flight" in the air, and then the wings will fall off. The male reproductive ants have completed their life mission and are heading for death. After the queen ant actively sheds its wings, it will look for a suitable place and dig a not too deep cave to lay eggs. In the following time, the queen ant decomposes the tissue at the base of its wings to provide energy and feed the first batch of larvae. It was not until the first batch of skinny worker ants broke out of the cocoon that the ant colony passed the most dangerous stage and began to operate normally. This is the story of the queen ant.

Japanese Camptostomidae | Entomology Fish

If you are a novice raising ants, you can directly purchase a small ant colony, which consists of about 1 queen ant + more than 20 worker ants. I personally think this is the stage where you can experience the most fun and is also the least likely to fail.

Ants may seem to have strong vitality, but they are not easier to keep than other pets. Wild ants can adjust the temperature and humidity of their living environment by the depth of their holes in the ground. However, the nests of domestic ants are artificially provided, so there is no way to do this. Therefore, there are four variables you need to adjust: temperature, humidity, light, and food.

Choosing the type of ants to raise

Different ants have different feeding habits. For example, ants in the subfamily Myrmecinae are purely carnivorous, such as the Harpegnathos venator in southern my country and the Ectomomyrmex spp. in northern my country; while ants in the genus Messor spp. will eat seeds.

Different ants prefer different nests. I once kept the tree-dwelling yellow ants mentioned in the previous article at home. As a result, they held hands and built an "ant bridge" across the water to "escape" and ran all over the house. Although ants with particularly strong escape abilities are special cases, it is generally right to choose an airtight ant nest as much as possible.

Jailbreak master yellow ant builds "ant bridge" | Wikimedia Commons

Here are some ants suitable for beginners:

First of all, there are the Central Asian bow-backed ants (Camponotus turkestanus) and Fedtschenko (C. fedtschenko, trade name: black gold Turkey, all yellow Turkey) of the Camponotus genus. In addition, Nicobar bow-backed ants (C. nicobarensis) are also a species worth raising. Many people recommend Japanese bow-backed ants (C. japonicus), but they are easily affected by vibrations when in small groups and "explode the group", so they are not recommended here.

A group of Central Asian camptostomes that I have been raising since July last year | Yuanxia

The reason for recommending these types of bow-backed ants is that they are not easily affected by the environment and have a relatively high tolerance rate. Moreover, for bow-backed ants that like sweets, you can put a small piece of rock sugar in the feeding area to achieve "hang-up feeding". As long as the temperature is right, the queen ants will reproduce quickly, and even novices can enjoy the feeling of having a large ant colony.

The craftsman harvester ants (M. structor) of the leaf-cutter ant subfamily can also be "fed on the go" as long as a small amount of bird seeds or millet is placed in the feeding area of ​​the ant colony. However, do not put too many seeds, otherwise the worker ants will easily die from repeatedly carrying them (harvester ant breeders have found that if there is too much "stored food", the harvester ants will move it in and out of the nest, repeating this process until they are exhausted to death. They are simply misers).

A nest of artisan harvester ants at home. Did you notice the half-eaten millet in the ant nest? | Yuanxia

But whether you are raising harvester ants or camptostomes, if you want the ants to reproduce quickly and well, proper protein supplementation is necessary, such as a little fresh shrimp meat or chopped mealworms, which are good sources of protein for ants.

Ant nest selection

The blue gel-like "ant workshop" on the market is not suitable for ant colonies to survive, so it can be ruled out first. For small colonies, a low-cost test tube for laying the ground is very good. If a colony develops to more than 20 worker ants, you need to consider changing to a larger nest for them. Ant nests come in many forms, such as gypsum, aerated bricks, acrylic glass, 3D printing, test tubes, etc.

An ordinary test tube for laying the ground, as long as it is fixed well, is the best home for the new ant colony | Yuanxia

For a long time in the past, there were not many choices. Everyone used plaster nests to raise ants. Nowadays, most of the ant nests I use are 3D printed, and there are also various new ant nests. Different ant nests have their own advantages and disadvantages, but you must abide by a general principle: don't move the ant colony to an ant nest that is too large! Too large an environment will make the ants too stressed and reduce reproduction. The most suitable ant nest is slightly larger than the current ant colony capacity.

As long as you control the temperature, humidity and food, ants are not difficult to raise. However, when observing them, remember to reduce vibrations and other disturbances to them.

As long as you are willing, it is easy to witness the growth of an ant empire in your own home.

Author: Yuan Xia

Editor: pee pee shrimp

This article comes from the Species Calendar, welcome to forward

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