First ant colony for 10 year old

[antmama]

Hi all! My 10 year old son would very much like an ant colony. We have been watching tutorials together and I have some questions. If anyone can help us get off on the right foot I would appreciate it!

- Lasius Niger seems to be the most available ant species in our area, offered by GAN ant keepers. Is This a good first species?

- would you recommend starting from the beginning with a fertilized queen with brood in a test tube? Or should I try to find a more established colony for him? We both think it’s kind of cool to start from the beginning, but I’m not sure how high the failure rate is for your first time…

- what kind of home would you recommend? We were planning on purchasing from the AntsCanada store. I like the idea of a terrarium type home because I love plants and think it would be fun to make it into a little ecosystem, but it seems like this is a more advanced option. Is that true? Should we try a tower type instead? He doesn’t want the open type because he wants something closer to how ants build nests for themselves.


- how likely am I to have ants all over my house?????!!! I’m not quite sure I understand the idea of baby powder as a barrier. Does this mean that there is no lid on the outworld? There is a museum near us with a really beautiful ant display surrounded just by water, no walls and lid - I would love to keep the ants in a more open set up
Because I feel like it would be less likely to get moldy, but I am also not so keen on ants all over the place.

- I’m also not really sure how you keep the ant farm moist without it getting moldy. Does anyone have advice on this?

- will we need to grow our own food for these ants? Or can we purchase insects for them to eat?

I never in my life thought I would be getting an ant farm, but my son is a little budding zoologist and I want to support him in getting started qith this hobby. Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated. Sorry if the questions have already been asked 1000 times

[Antloverhuman]

Yes, lasius niger is a great beginner species. They dont sting or bite, are territorial and you will see some nice ant action of them interacting with things.
You are trying to get a colony from gan project so you can choose pretty much any colony but i would suggest getting just the queen in a test tube with brood because then your son would be able to understand their behavior and you will also be able to get a farm according to their speed of growth and size
Terrarium are hard to maintain and you cant see the chambers and tunnels and nest activity ( taking that you fill a box with soil and plant stuff) but it will be more natural for ants and you and you will also be able to see some features of them that they would do in the wild. Tower is also great because you can see tunnels, chambers and nest activity and the ants will be able to dig the nest themselves so you can see what type pf nest lasius niger makes. But you cant plant big things in that and also it wont have enough foraging space. You will end up attaching another outworld or more towers. You can technically plant plants in the outworld but then you will have to water it and the ants might start to live in the outworld.
Baby powder and rubbing alcohol mixed together creates a slippery path which ants cannot climb. You can use water by placing the setup in a tub and filling it with water but the ants you are housing might be able to swim and if not, alot may drown trying to escape. If the ants are smart enough, they might put stuff in the water ot make a path and run over. I have used the baby powder method and dont need to put a lid but you can just to be safe just make sure that it has alot of ventilation holes wich are small enough to not allow the ants to pass through.
Well mold will inevitably come and you can simply attach another house for them.
You will need to buy insects and sugers like honey and fruits for them. You can try to see if they like the stuff you eat( boiled eggs or meat) .
Hope this helps answer your questions. Good luck

[antmama]

This is really helpful! Thank you!!

[AntsLuxembourg]

- Lasius Niger seems to be the most available ant species in our area, offered by GAN ant keepers. Is This a good first species?

- would you recommend starting from the beginning with a fertilized queen with brood in a test tube? Or should I try to find a more established colony for him?

- what kind of home would you recommend?

- how likely am I to have ants all over my house?????!!! I’m not quite sure I understand the idea of baby powder as a barrier. Does this mean that there is no lid on the outworld?

- I’m also not really sure how you keep the ant farm moist without it getting moldy. Does anyone have advice on this?

- will we need to grow our own food for these ants? Or can we purchase insects for them to eat?

Hey,

- Lasius Niger is a good starter. Mostly because they are very common.

- I would recommend to first try with a colony that is definitely fertilized and got some workers. Trust me, there is nothing worse than waiting for the first workers (nanitics) to hatch and then to wait for them to get active. Plus you can observe them right away. You can of course always try and catch a queen ant yourself but until then a starter colony is the right thing for you to get some experience.

- At the beginning I would start with a normal setup where you keep the colony inside of a testtube and expand them either with tubings or with a new setup.

- If you keep them inside of a testtube, they will not be able to escape unless you leave the cotton open or you don't add enough cotton so the ants can dig a cotton tunnel. The second is very unlikely but can happen. So in general very unlikely.
For the baby powder barrier you just take baby powder and rubbing alcohol. Mix both together until you get a paste and then you apply it on the surface. If correctly applied it will keep the ants from escaping until the barrier is gone. You can also use a setup with a lid. I myself bought an aquarium, drilled a hole on one side and then I made sure they cannot escape via the top or the corners. But I also bought a lid with a grid for air so they cannot escape.

- You could provide them with water only from testtubes and if you give them enough space, then they can just have their babies in there. However it's also good to keep your outworld a bit moist.
For the mold, ants usually take care of it but it's also good to have cleaner insects like springtails.
I can explain you some more later on if you like.

- You can buy insects at the store.

[SolenopsisKeeper]

- Lasius Niger seems to be the most available ant species in our area, offered by GAN ant keepers. Is This a good first species?

- would you recommend starting from the beginning with a fertilized queen with brood in a test tube? Or should I try to find a more established colony for him?

- what kind of home would you recommend?

- how likely am I to have ants all over my house?????!!! I’m not quite sure I understand the idea of baby powder as a barrier. Does this mean that there is no lid on the outworld?

- I’m also not really sure how you keep the ant farm moist without it getting moldy. Does anyone have advice on this?

- will we need to grow our own food for these ants? Or can we purchase insects for them to eat?

Hey,

- Lasius Niger is a good starter. Mostly because they are very common.

- I would recommend to first try with a colony that is definitely fertilized and got some workers. Trust me, there is nothing worse than waiting for the first workers (nanitics) to hatch and then to wait for them to get active. Plus you can observe them right away. You can of course always try and catch a queen ant yourself but until then a starter colony is the right thing for you to get some experience.

- At the beginning I would start with a normal setup where you keep the colony inside of a testtube and expand them either with tubings or with a new setup.

- If you keep them inside of a testtube, they will not be able to escape unless you leave the cotton open or you don't add enough cotton so the ants can dig a cotton tunnel. The second is very unlikely but can happen. So in general very unlikely.
For the baby powder barrier you just take baby powder and rubbing alcohol. Mix both together until you get a paste and then you apply it on the surface. If correctly applied it will keep the ants from escaping until the barrier is gone. You can also use a setup with a lid. I myself bought an aquarium, drilled a hole on one side and then I made sure they cannot escape via the top or the corners. But I also bought a lid with a grid for air so they cannot escape.

- You could provide them with water only from testtubes and if you give them enough space, then they can just have their babies in there. However it's also good to keep your outworld a bit moist.
For the mold, ants usually take care of it but it's also good to have cleaner insects like springtails.
I can explain you some more later on if you like.

- You can buy insects at the store.

I would agree with this, depending on how patient your child is. Due to the lack of checking on a queen during founding, your son could kill her with over checking on her. Also, feeding these L. niger sugary foods is their favorite, as they are commonly found on extra floral nectaries.