How to Make an Ant Farm

Nutella Bread Recipe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eHPkpCGdEY Watch more How to Do Fun Tech & Science Projects videos: http://www.howcast.com/videos/222184-How-to-Make-an-Ant-Farm Why buy an ant farm? It's simple and fun to make one from a few items you have lying around the house. Warning Do not put fire ants in an ant farm! Step 1: Prepare your containers Cut the mouths and necks off both bottles. Wrap the outside of the smaller bottle in black construction paper, and secure the paper in place with tape. Put Blu-Tack on the bottom of the wrapped bottle, and place it in the middle of the larger one. Step 2: Add the dirt or sand Pour the dirt or sand through the funnel into the space between the containers. Stop about a half inch before you reach the top of the 1-liter bottle. Tip To make your ants more visible, use dark soil for light-colored ants and sand for black ants. Step 3: Choose your ants Decide what type of ants to keep. The best source is your own backyard. If you can’t find suitable ants, order some from a mail-order supplier. Step 4: Capture the ants Put on the gloves and use a shovel to transfer part of an anthill to a jar, or place the jar near the anthill with a bit of fruit inside. Capture 50 to 80 ants, and try to capture a queen; without one, your farm will only last a couple of months. The queen is larger and longer than the other ants, and will be surrounded by many other ants. Tip Wear gloves: Ants will bite to protect their queen. Step 5: Add the ants Pour the ants from the jar into the soil in the 2-liter bottle, and quickly cover the top with a paper towel or old nylons. Secure the lid with rubber bands. Poke air holes in the larger container's cover with a pin or needle, making sure they are too small for the ants to crawl through. Step 6: Wrap it up When you're not looking at the ants, cover the outside of the farm with another piece of black construction paper, secured with tape, to simulate an underground environment. Don’t keep the farm in direct sunlight. Tip Move the ant farm as little as possible, or else the tunnels the ants will begin to build could collapse. Step 7: Care for your ants Once a day, soak a cotton ball in water, take the cover off, place the cotton on top of the dirt, and cover the farm back up, allowing the ants to get drinking water. Feed ants small pieces of fruit and breadcrumbs dipped in sugar water or honey. A teaspoon of food is enough for 20 to 40 ants every two or three days. Did You Know? The queen of one African ant species enslaves another species' colony by tricking them into capturing her.

Comments

1. I have 2 JARS of them!
   They are cool!
2. This time I'll use Stodoys instructions to learn about it more :)
3. 1. Queen ants drop off their wings before founding a colony (usually) and 2. You NEED a queen not just some workers.
4. "do not put fire ants in an ant farm" clearly you've never seen an ant farm made by ants canada that contain solenopsis geneta. one of the most beautiful ant farms ive ever seen.
5. The thing is, how do you get all the ants etc...try putting a black ant with a red ant...see what happens lol
6. I can not cut it
7. can you use a 1.5L
8. buying all those materials might as well buy my own lol
9. When it's finals week and you're procrastinating by watching how to make an ant farm.
10. big tip guys, the queen wont have wings <3
11. I got bit on my foot by a fire ant and my foot was stinging like hell for a couple of hours
12. No I'm kidding
13. Thanks now i now how i ben wanting to now
14. if your not sure what ants or spiders are dangerus just get some danish animals. theres no such thing as venomes animals in denmark
15. iv been told never to catch the queen unless in spring and summer wen they are in flight
16. My Backyard Lots Ants But Its Colony i am Aint Diging it Attack
17. Don't dig up queens please please. If you do that entire colony will collapse meaning potentially thousands of ants dying without being able to care for their queen. Wait for the species of ant you would like to keep to start their annual nuptial flights and then you can catch your own brand new little queen and give her a much better chance of founding a colony. Check out Ants Canda for loads of content on the caring of queens and the colony as a whole.
18. Never use a queen with wings. That usually means she's infertile. And never use paper for the top. The ants will chew through it. If you want a good colony then get a formicarium with a foraging area. I have a grout formicarium and a dirt one.
19. Chances are they will escape by biting through the paper towel. Its better to use a solid lid with tiny holes.
20. why brother poking holes when ants doesn't even breath oxygen they don't have lungs