![\"Keeping](\"https:\/\/keepingbugs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ant-vs-dog-as-pet.jpg\" "\\"Keeping")
Housing an ant colony<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The housing of an ant colony highly depends on which species you want to have, and it needs. These types of housing for keeping ant colonies is called formicarium (formica<\/em> means ant). So, how do we house an ant colony?<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are many different types available to keep ant colonies, but they can broadly be divided into three types: Basin or arena, islands, and farms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The basin or arena<\/strong> is a cube-like enclosure, sometimes also called ‘tank’. This enclosure type looks much like aquariums or plain glass terrariums. The difference between a formicarium and an aquarium is that a formicarium has holes in its sides, so that you can connect multiple elements on each other. Often they have overhanging edges, and some are adapted with separations or double bottoms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The island<\/strong> type is a low glass container that must contain water and to build up an island for the ants. It is an open-top enclosure, but because of the water, it prevents ants from escaping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The most typical type of housing ants is an ant farm<\/strong>. This type contains two glass plates that are parallel at each other with a narrow space in between. They have connection high on the top so that it can be filled with a form of a substrate, and ultimately ants can dig into it to build a nest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are other types of enclosures possible. You can keep tiny ant colonies, for example, in a large glass jar. Another popular housing type is based on Ytong \u2014 a lightweight concrete where the nest shapes are carved out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although there are different types of enclosures, connected together with tubes, creates the living space for the ant colony. You combine the different housing types and sizes to create one large enclosure (what ultimately is the formicarium). How you set it up depends on the species and the size of the colony, but almost always consists of a basin and an ant farm connected to each other. One thing that different types of formicarium have all in common: Prevent ants from escaping, provide oxygen and ventilation, and some way or opening to be able to feed and provide moisture to the ant colony, and of course to remove dirt out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I personally prefer the formicarium designs of antstore.net<\/a>. Their product line has a large variety of different types of glass and acrylic housing that all can be connected to each other. Although there are many suppliers of pre-build enclosures, you can also build enclosures yourself or re-model an old aquarium into an enclosure suitable for ants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One size fits all doesn’t apply here. Every ant species have different demands on the size to house them. For example, with the care of our leaf-cutter ant colony of over 1 million ants, we have multiple ant arena’s (six connected enclosures in total) with sizes between 30cm x 30cm x 30cm up to 30cm x 60cm x 60cm. But when you keep an ant colony for Messor barbarus <\/em>(harvester ant), you can keep them in a much smaller formicarium. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To give you a bit of guidance, I created this table onto what sizes you must think of at different ant colonies. It is an indication, and you should always check the needs of the specific species. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The substrate is an essential part of the habitat of the ant colony. There are many different types of substrates you can choose from. Besides using it as a substrate, it is also a crucial part in the nest-building of the ant colony. Thereby it serves more than only a material laying on the bottom. For this part, we focus on the most common materials used for nest-building. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Other types of materials that are used as a common substrate in basin enclosures are sand, vermiculite, pebbles, gravel, granulate, hummus, coco-peat, bark, leaf-litter. In these cases, the substrate is mostly used to keep up the humidity in the enclosure, and for nest building too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n All ants need proper temperature and humidity in their environment. Depending on the species, most ant colonies need a nest that is a bit higher than room temperature. You can heat the nest area with a heating pad or a heat cable. You can use regular light bulbs when you cover the nest from any light. Ants won’t accept light in their nest, or they will try to move to another area where it is darker. You can also you a ceramic dark heater. This produces the heat but not the light. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With many ant species, the basin or arena needs to be warmer than the nest area. For the basin or arena, it is sufficient to use a regular light bulb. Up to 30W should be enough to heat for most species. When you have a large enclosure, it is better to use multiple light bulbs instead of one very strong heat source. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When heating the nest, be careful about overheating. If the nest has not enough ventilation or air circulation, the temperature can rise pretty quickly too deadly levels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Humidity in the nest chamber needs to be for almost all species to be higher than the arena. Often, the arena or basin needs a humidity of 30% up to 50%. For the nest chamber, a humidity of 50% up to 70% is enough. If you make the housing too humid, especially in the nest chamber, it can become mouldy, or the moisture will accumulate in the enclosure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Many species hibernate during the winter months (around November to April, but can slightly differ depending on the species). The ideal temperature for hibernation should be around 5\u00b0C and 8\u00b0C. You can achieve this by putting the ants (mostly they are all in the nest chamber) in the fridge, or if you have a cold cellar or crawl space, you can place the ant colony there. Be aware that during hibernation, ants still need water to survive. So provide some moisture once a week or two weeks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want to know more about temperature and humidity, read the articles in the basics guide about ‘temperature and heating<\/a>‘ and ‘humidity and drinking<\/a>‘. <\/p>\n\n\n\nEnclosure type<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Keeping](\"https:\/\/keepingbugs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/keeping-ant-colony-as-pet.jpg\" "\\"Keeping")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nEnclosure size<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Ant species<\/th> Type of formicarium<\/th> Needed size<\/th><\/tr><\/thead> Messor ssp.<\/td> Farm + basin<\/td> Medium<\/td><\/tr> Camponotus spp.<\/td> Farm + basin<\/td> Medium – large<\/td><\/tr> Lasius spp.<\/td> Farm (+ small basin)<\/td> Small – medium<\/td><\/tr> Tatramorium spp.<\/td> Farm (+ small basin)<\/td> Small – medium<\/td><\/tr> Myrmica spp.<\/td> Farm + basin<\/td> Small – medium<\/td><\/tr> Pheidole spp.<\/td> Arena\/basin<\/td> Small (- medium)<\/td><\/tr> Serviformica spp.<\/td> Farm + basin<\/td> Medium<\/td><\/tr> Atta spp.<\/td> At least 3 basin\/arena<\/td> Extra large<\/td><\/tr> Acromyrmex spp.<\/td> At least 3 basin\/arena<\/td> Large – extra large<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table> ![\"A](\"https:\/\/keepingbugs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/large-connected-formicarium-atta-sexdens.jpg\" "\\"A")
Enclosure substrate and furniture<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Ambient environment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Ants](\"https:\/\/keepingbugs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/tumblr_da1354b3e5f45c0fd756a8bd66a711a5_c941f0eb_400-rotated-1.jpg\" "\\"Ants")
![\"An](\"https:\/\/keepingbugs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/feeding-ants-fruit.jpg\" "\\"An")
![\"An](\"https:\/\/keepingbugs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ant-colony-nest-entrance.jpg\" "\\"An")