 | This article contains instructions, advice, or how-to content .(February 2022) |
Ant-keeping (or ant keeping) is a hobby involving the capture, care, and observation of ants and ant colonies. [1] It is a form of lay myrmecology. The trend toward keeping ants as pets has increased exponentially over the past decade. [2] [3]
Keeping ants as pets have been a common hobby since the mass-marketed Uncle Milton's Ant Farm achieved commercial success in the late 1950s, though these ant farms did not include a queen ant for legal reasons. With the exception of Pogonomyrmex occidentalis , U.S. Federal law restricts shipping live queen ants of other species (and other “plant pests”) in interstate commerce.
Ant keepers may choose to keep ants in captivity to document ant behavior (in the case of an ant species which is difficult to observe in the wild). This field of study is called myrmecology. Ant keepers may also choose to keep ants as a casual hobby; i.e., as pets. People who keep ants may also keep them for scientific purposes and experiments. Furthermore, ants require less involvement from human keepers to breed, as long as the proper conditions are met, as opposed to other species. [4] [5]
There are differing methods of starting, caring for, and housing an ant colony. In the United States queen ants can be bought from vendors provided that the seller meets state and federal requirements, including USDA permits. If you are in the UK or in any other European country, most exotic species of ant can be purchased legally through vendors though it depends on local laws.
The first step involved in ant keeping is capturing a fertilized queen ant. [6] Ants engage in nuptial flights during spring, summer, and some species have also been recorded to have their nuptial flights during winter. After these flights a fertilized queen ant will land and remove her wings before locating a spot to found her new colony. Nuptial flights often happen after a heavy rain or a drastic seasonal change. If a queen has already chewed her wings off, she is likely (but not certainly) fertilized. If a queen ant on the ground still has her wings, she is likely unfertilized. [7]
A queen ant can be distinguished from an ergate (worker ant) by the relatively larger size of the thorax (which at this point contains the wing muscles of the queen), and the enlarged abdomen which contains eggs. Beware that certain species have large workers similar in size to a queen; Pheidologeton diversus , for example, possesses several castes of dinergates (soldier ants). If the possible queen you are looking at has marks on either side of the thorax (wing scars, where the wings of the queen were) it is a queen. If not, it's a supermajor; a larger worker of the colony. [ citation needed ]
For fully claustral species, the queen should be sealed in a dark, aerated small container with access to water. One way to provide this environment involves using a test tube, some water, and two cotton balls. One cotton ball is pressed against the water, the queen is inserted, and the other cotton ball is used to plug the end of the tube. This nesting chamber should be kept in the dark for one month while the queen lays her eggs and tends to them until they hatch. A claustral ant species need not be fed during this period, as a queen ant will digest her now-useless wing muscles to provide her with the necessary energy until her first generation of workers emerges. But feeding a small drop of honey energises the queen ant and reduces the chances of her eating her own eggs.
For a semi-claustral species, which will require food during this nesting phase, protein rich foods should be provided intermittently during the pre-worker phase, with the frequency and type of food determined by the specific species of ant.
If successful with feeding the first generation of workers, the queen ant should continue laying eggs. Eventually (at about 25 worker ants), the colony should be moved into a larger housing such as a formicarium to allow continued growth of the colony. If you wish to put your ants into a setup before this 'worker limit', you may purchase a 'test tube outworld' which will allow them to be fed more easily, while still inside the test tube.
An ant's diet should consist primarily of sugars/carbohydrates (such as fruit, sugar water, raw honey, or honeydew) and proteins (such as mealworms, cockroaches, or bits of egg). The sugars are necessary to provide the ants with energy, and the proteins are necessary for the growth of the colony. Uneaten food should be removed to prevent the growth of mold in the formicarium.
Besides the obvious need of a formicarium and outworld (A separate container, often decorated to resemble the outside world, in which the ants forage for food.), ants require certain conditions to thrive. For one, almost all ants, save for a few twig nesting species, will not survive without a source of humidity in their nest. This can be accomplished in many ways; some nests are made of a naturally absorbent material, such as plaster, some contain a sponge or cotton ball which is watered when need be, and others still contain a reservoir of water which evaporates over time. Most ants also appreciate a heat source; as ants are cold blooded, their colonies develop faster the warmer their nest is. A heating cable is the preferred method of many antkeepers, but heat lamps, heating pads, and un-air conditioned rooms are all worthy alternatives. Many antkeepers keep their ants in a dark area to avoid stressing them (Ants usually live underground and flee from light in their nest, which would indicate a breach.), though most species become desensitized to light after being exposed to it frequently. While light-aversion can be a useful tool when moving colonies to new habitats, the benefits of having ants both indifferent to observation and more easily monitored far outweighs this, especially when more effective alternatives, such as physical disturbance to or partial disassembly of the formicarium exist.
The legality of intentionally shipping reproductive ants (usually a mated queen or whole colony) across state, provincial, or international borders varies substantially by country. In the United States, it is illegal to ship live queen ants across state lines without a license or explicit permission from relevant state or federal entities. As of 2019, however, at least one species ( Pogonomyrmex occidentalis ) is legal to ship within the United States, with the exception of Alaska, California, Florida, and Hawaii. In Europe, some domestic species (such as Formica rufa ) are protected, and it is illegal to own, keep, buy, or sell these ants, or to damage their nests. However, unlike for reptiles and spiders, there are no rules for owning, keeping, buying or selling non-protected species inside the EU and many other countries. [ citation needed ]
Over the years ant-keeping has become more normalised through the internet. Ants Canada and Ants Australia are both some of the key influencers in ant-keeping culture.
The black garden ant, also known as the common black ant, is a formicine ant, the type species of the subgenus Lasius, which is found across Europe and in some parts of North America, South America, Asia and Australasia. The European species was split into two species; L. niger, which are found in open areas; and L. platythorax, which is found in forest habitats. It is monogynous, meaning colonies contain a single queen.
A formicarium or ant farm is a vivarium which is designed primarily for the study of ant colonies and how ants behave and for the enjoyment of ants as pets. Those who study ant behavior are known as myrmecologists.
An ant colony is a population of ants, typically from a single species, capable of maintaining their complete lifecycle. Ant colonies are eusocial, communal, and efficiently organized and are very much like those found in other social Hymenoptera, though the various groups of these developed sociality independently through convergent evolution. The typical colony consists of one or more egg-laying queens, numerous sterile females and, seasonally, many winged sexual males and females. In order to establish new colonies, ants undertake flights that occur at species-characteristic times of the day. Swarms of the winged sexuals depart the nest in search of other nests. The males die shortly thereafter, along with most of the females. A small percentage of the females survive to initiate new nests.
Pogonomyrmex barbatus is a species of harvester ant from the genus Pogonomyrmex. Its common names include red ant and red harvester ant. These large ants prefer arid chaparral habitats and are native to the Southwestern United States. Nests are made underground in exposed areas. Their diets consist primarily of seeds, and they consequently participate in myrmecochory, an ant-plant interaction through which the ants gain nutrients and the plants benefit through seed dispersal. Red harvester ants are often mistaken for fire ants, but are not closely related to any fire ant species, native or introduced.
Atta sexdens is a species of leafcutter ant belonging to the tribe Attini, native to America, from the southern United States (Texas) to northern Argentina. They are absent from Chile. They cut leaves to provide a substrate for the fungus farms which are their principal source of food. Their societies are among the most complex found in social insects. A. sexdens is an ecologically important species, but also an agricultural pest. Other Atta species, such as Atta texana, Atta cephalotes and others, have similar behavior and ecology.
Nothomyrmecia, also known as the dinosaur ant or dawn ant, is an extremely rare genus of ants consisting of a single species, Nothomyrmecia macrops. These ants live in South Australia, nesting in old-growth mallee woodland and Eucalyptus woodland. The full distribution of Nothomyrmecia has never been assessed, and it is unknown how widespread the species truly is; its potential range may be wider if it does favour old-growth mallee woodland. Possible threats to its survival include habitat destruction and climate change. Nothomyrmecia is most active when it is cold because workers encounter fewer competitors and predators such as Camponotus and Iridomyrmex, and it also increases hunting success. Thus, the increase of temperature may prevent them from foraging and very few areas would be suitable for the ant to live in. As a result, the IUCN lists the ant as Critically Endangered.
Iridomyrmex is a genus of ants called rainbow ants first described by Austrian entomologist Gustav Mayr in 1862. He placed the genus in the subfamily Dolichoderinae of the family Formicidae. It has 79 described species and five fossil species. Most of these ants are native to Australia; others are found in Asia and Oceania, and they have been introduced to Brazil, New Zealand, and the United Arab Emirates. Fossil species are known from China, France, and the United States.
Nuptial flight is an important phase in the reproduction of most ant, termite, and some bee species. It is also observed in some fly species, such as Rhamphomyia longicauda.
A queen ant is an adult, reproducing female ant in an ant colony; she is usually the mother of all the other ants in that colony. Some female ants, such as the Cataglyphis, do not need to mate to produce offspring, reproducing through asexual parthenogenesis or cloning, and all of those offspring will be female. Others, like those in the genus Crematogaster, mate in a nuptial flight. Queen offspring ants among most species develop from larvae specially fed in order to become sexually mature.
Solenopsis molesta is the best known species of Solenopsisthief ants. They get their names from their habit of nesting close to other ant nests, from which they steal food. They are also called grease ants because they are attracted to grease. Nuptial flight in this species occur from late July through early fall.
Technomyrmex albipes, commonly known as the white-footed ant, is a species of ant first described in 1861 from Sulawesi, Indonesia by the British entomologist Frederick Smith. Invasive pest ants in Florida, previously identified as T. albipes, have now been separated as Technomyrmex difficilis, both forming part of a species complex with a worldwide distribution.
Carebara diversa is a species of marauder ant widely distributed throughout Asia.
Pheidole megacephala is a species of ant in the subfamily Myrmicinae. It is commonly known as the big-headed ant in the US and the coastal brown ant in Australia. It is a very successful invasive species and is considered a danger to native ants in Australia and other places. It is regarded as one of the world's worst invasive ant species.
Pogonomyrmex occidentalis, or the western harvester ant, is a species of ant that inhabits the deserts and arid grasslands of the American West at or below 6,300 feet (1,900 m). Like other harvester ants in the genus Pogonomyrmex, it is so called because of its habit of collecting edible seeds and other food items. The specific epithet "occidentalis", meaning "of the west", refers to the fact that it is characteristic of the interior of the Western United States; its mounds of gravel, surrounded by areas denuded of plant life, are a conspicuous feature of rangeland. When numerous, they may cause such loss of grazing plants and seeds, as to constitute both a severe ecological and economic burden. They have a painful and venomous sting.
Myrmecocystus mexicanus is a species of ant in the genus Myrmecocystus, which is one of the six genera that bear the common name "honey ant" or "honeypot ant", due to curious behavior where some of the workers will swell with liquid food until they become immobile and hang from the ceilings of nest chambers, acting as living food storage for the colony. Honey ants are found in North America, Australia, and Africa. Ant species belonging to the genus Myrmecocystus reside in North America. M. mexicanus in particular is found in the southwestern United States and parts of Mexico.
Liometopum apiculatum is a species of ant in the subfamily Dolichoderinae. Liometopum apiculatum ants are found in arid and semi-arid regions of southwestern United States and Mexico to Quintana Roo.
Formica pallidefulva is a species of ant found in North America. It is a red to dark brown ant with a shiny body, and varies in shade across its range. Colonies of this ant are found in a variety of habitats, where they excavate underground nests with galleries and chambers. In some parts of its range, the nests may be raided by slave-making ants, most notably Formica pergandei and Polyergus montivagus.
Novomessor cockerelli is a species of ant in the subfamily Myrmicinae. It is native to the deserts of the Southwestern United States and Mexico. It lives in large underground colonies in which there is a single queen. The worker ants leave the nest daily to forage for seeds, plant material and dead insects.
Pogonomyrmex badius, or the Florida harvester ant, is a species of harvester ant in the genus Pogonomyrmex. It is the only Pogonomyrmex species found on the east coast of the United States and the only one in North America known to be polymorphic. The Florida Harvester ant is commonly found in Florida scrub and other similar habitats within the Atlantic coastal plain.
Technomyrmex jocosus is a species of ant in the genus Technomyrmex, and one of the species referred to as the white-footed ant.