Domestic anthill: the life of insects up close. How to make a good arena? Formicaria for ants

Contrary to popular belief, the arena is not just a box that ants use to get food and store garbage, the arena is a fairly important part of the formicaria that performs several functions. Which ones? This is what we will consider now.

What is an arena?

The arena is a space that simulates the terrain around an anthill. And if in nature ants have no boundaries other than natural ones, then at home they have to artificially restrain their movement.

What is the arena for?

The arena performs several functions at once. The most important thing is that it simplifies the care of the colony, facilitates feeding and cleaning. If your colony lives in a test tube, then every time you open the entrance, the ants will raise the alarm and try to go outside. And even if you manage to take out the garbage and throw food in its place before the workers come in, you still won't be able to remove all the small particles that the ants have dragged onto the cotton wool. And each such particle is a potential source of mold, the appearance of which is undesirable in any case.

If you attach the arena, the ants do the cleaning work on their own - they themselves collect food in the arena, take out the garbage themselves, and go to the drinking bowl for water if they need it. All this not only simplifies the care of the ants, but also gives the ants the opportunity to work with their own hands, stretch their paws and generally show activity.

In addition, a good arena also has an aesthetic function. When properly planned, the arena becomes a decoration for the formicaria and a place to observe the ants as they hunt and forage. A well-designed arena should provide good overview everything that happens on it, and not create additional obstacles for observation.

Another purpose that many keepers often forget is maintaining the microclimate. Very often the arena looks like simple box made of plastic with a hole on the side - ants carry food there and get food there. But keepers do not take into account that in nature ants often use the space near the anthill for their needs - ants can arrange solariums there and warm cocoons, dry seeds in the bright sun, or simply bask on their own to speed up their metabolism and digestion. Moreover, the farther south the ant lives, the stronger the sun influences its behavior, and the more important it is to imitate daylight hours and temperature drops.

How to make a good arena?

The ideal arena for ants is their natural biome, where this species lives in wildlife ... Whatever we do, we will never be able to accurately repeat all the factors that ants deal with in the wild, but we can try to get as close to natural conditions as possible, while not forgetting about the practical side.

The first is the size and height of the arena. The larger your colony, the larger size arenas are needed by ants. It is not necessary to make one large arena - you can connect several with the help of tubes, as is done, for example, for leaf cutters - in this case, you can disconnect one cleaning arena, and transfer the ants from it to the second. For each species, the recommended arena size will be different, you just have to study this empirically, observing the behavior of ants in the arena that you already have. At the same time, most ant species collect food on the ground, and only after aphids they climb plants or low bushes - therefore there is no need to make arenas more than 10-20 cm high. Tall arenas are only needed if your species lives and hunts on trees or plants - for example, crematogaster, glittering woodworm, weavers. Most ants generally do not climb tall plants, which means that there is no need to place them, as well as to make a high arena. However, there is one more exception - for mass and small species it makes sense to make an arena great height- but only in order to apply a wide layer of anti-escape in an attempt to contain this hungry horde.

The second item is ventilation. Most ant farms have one strong flaw- there is not enough ventilation in the arena. Small cuts in acrylic and thin cracks between parts are unable to provide normal air circulation. Ants feel this perfectly, so they do not perceive the arena as an open external space - for them it is a large, but closed place, like a hollow in a tree or a cavity under the ground. Therefore, being there, ants can often behave almost like in an anthill - they can drag brood back and forth, arrange seed depots under shelters, or even drag a queen there. To avoid this behavior, you need to provide good ventilation with a net or an open cover.

The third point is an overview. In pursuit of good level ventilation and imitation natural conditions, we must not forget that the arena is needed, among other things, for convenient observation of ants. Therefore, when planning or choosing an arena for your ants, consider which side you will be looking at the ants from and what will be in your way. See where the ventilation nets are located, where the ants will enter, where you can place drinkers and feeders, and make sure that no details and decorations will interfere with your observation.

The fourth point is convenience. The arena is useless if you can't maintain it properly. This means that you should be able to safely put feed, remove trash, disconnect and connect the arena, update the anti-escape, without performing any complex manipulations. How easier care- so much the better for you and for the ants. There are a few things to watch out for:
1) The hole for the cover is large enough to be able to manipulate the hand with tweezers
2) There are several holes for connecting modules, from different sides
3) There is a large enough rim to apply anti-escape
4) The surface of the arena is close enough to take macro photos
5) There is a place above the arena for a heating lamp

Despite the seeming simplicity, the organization of the arena should be approached wisely, and all possible nuances should be taken into account in advance. Even though many species can use the simplest arena without any problems, for a beautiful appearance you need to carefully consider the selection of both the scenery and the arena itself, so as not to face unexpected difficulties in leaving. But, if you do everything right, you can achieve not only functionality and convenience, but also a beautiful appearance - and your arena will delight you with its appearance, just like the ants that will use it.

For centuries, people have loved to observe the life of such tiny insects as ants. This is not strange, because their behavior is characterized by incredible hard work, responsibility and teamwork. The extraordinary world of these tiny creatures has their own orders, laws and relationships. However, if representatives of this species appear in the house, the reaction of a normal person is obvious - it is necessary to get rid of insects, since they will begin to harm food, get into clothes and bite family members.

True, not all people do this - even, on the contrary, some of them specially breed ants in domestic anthills. The question arises: for what? It's very simple - to follow the behavior, life and characteristics of these amazing crumbs. Ant farms will be especially valuable if there are children in the house. The fact is that kids are very interested in nature and are ready to study everything that surrounds them. For this reason, creating such a house with ants will satisfy the curiosity of every child.

Wondering how to do ant farm, pay attention to different types such structures. There are three main varieties in use today:

soil-sand;
gel;
mud.

Ant farm - description

The ant farm is home anthill, which consists of a container with a special gel, sand or other filler. This design allows you to easily monitor the behavior of the ant family. Scientifically, an ant farm is called formicaria. In the domestic space, similar exotic products appeared relatively recently. Nevertheless, they enjoy decent popularity and interest a large circle of people.

Ant farms are a kind of exotic pets that adapt perfectly to captive breeding and do not need special care. But following the life of tiny creatures is very interesting and funny. In addition, everyone will be able to see the development of the colony from the very first days.

Today, formicaria can be seen in offices and other institutions. Many modern people install trusses on work tables, since their dimensions remain very compact. Someone uses such structures as original gift for important people... In any case, formic the farm is a very interesting exhibit, and its inhabitants are the most amazing, beautiful and hardworking creatures that you can watch for hours on end.

Home anthill - a unique insect world in your home

In nature, you can find a wide variety of ant species, which are radically different from each other. external features and habits. For example, the Amazon rainforest is home to amazon ant colonies, who know how to rob and destroy anthills of other species, devouring their larvae. Captured insects quickly turn into slaves and spend the rest of their lives caring for the Amazons.

There is also leaf cutting ants who build their homes inside myceliums. With strong jaws, they freely cut the leaves into small pieces and bring them to the mycelium. They use cut leaves to build rooms for themselves and use greens as food. In natural conditions, there are real giants, the size of which exceeds 4 centimeters.

Mostly similar insects can be divided into two groups:

hunters;
collectors.

Representatives of the first group you need to constantly look for protein foods and carbohydrates, so they pay great attention to finding other insects. Animals spend a significant part of their lives hunting. With the help of special locators - antennae - ants pursue their prey by smell. If one ant from a huge colony finds syrup or fruit on its way back, it leaves marks with its abdomen so that other congeners can also find their way to fresh food. You can keep track of such unique moments in your home ant farm.

In turn, gatherer ants lead a completely different lifestyle. The main component of their diet is the seeds of plants such as poppy, rapeseed, millet. However, when they find foods high in protein, they will not pass by. For this reason, they can eat dead insects or boiled chicken(in case we are talking about a home anthill). They do not hunt living insects, and any attacks can be explained only by a defensive reaction. These animals are characterized by a unique colony structure. It consists of special warehouses where seeds and other food are kept, birthing rooms, canteens and nursery rooms for young animals. In combination, this design looks very funny.

Features of the life cycle of ants

Within the same family ants can be divided into several distinct castes. Among them:

scouts;
working insects;
soldiers;
nurse ants;
Queen.

A small percentage of the total colony population are scouts... Nevertheless, all species of ants have them, and their activity is very important and consists in the discovery of unfamiliar territories and the search for new sources of food.

Working class consists of the most hardworking individuals who lead construction works, move food, sort warehouses and carry out work to clean the anthill. The soldiers are characterized by larger sizes, a large head and a powerful jaw. The role of the nanny ants is obvious: they raise the young, feed the larvae and the queen.

The uterus is the main individual of the ant colony. Absolutely all inhabitants of one anthill are children of the same womb. That is, they are all brothers. The queen's main goal is to reproduce offspring. Other members of the species bring her food. Some colonies may have two or more queens.

Each ant farm has its own smells. Even each individual ant has a unique smell, so individuals of the same species can be at enmity with each other.

If you are going to make a formicarium - believe me, children will be delighted... They will examine the structure of the colony and quickly make insects their favorite pet. In addition, the presence of an anthill in the house will allow them to get to know nature better and for a while forget about harmful technological innovations. Observing the behavior of such tiny creatures, they learn a lot of fascinating facts about nature and the animal world. And for adults, formicaria will be an excellent way of relaxation, which will allow you to relax after a hard day at work.

What are the types of domestic anthills

There are a lot of varieties of formicaria... Among the most common:

vertical display;
horizontal;
volume;

There are also combined options.

In addition, ant farms that can be done at home can vary in filler. Sand, earth, clay, gypsum, aerated concrete and wood are used as it. Each material has its own advantages and disadvantages. The most suitable solution it is considered to be gypsum. Moreover, in Western countries ants are grown in aerated concrete filler.

An important component of a home anthill is the arena where insects spend a significant part of their aboveground life. There they look for food, water and organize landfills. As a rule, such a part of the colony is located in the farthest corner of the formicaria, where insects carefully lay out the garbage in one pile.

If you use ingenuity and imagination, you can make not just an anthill, but also a real work of naturalistic art.

In the presence of necessary experience, it is possible to implement the construction of a biomodule with a colony of aphids, where insects will lead life as if in natural conditions. Also, many people equip high-quality imitations of the forest, where animals will feel at home.

And even if the procedure for building a formicaria may seem too complicated, do not despair. Subject to the basic rules and subtleties, you will be able to make a truly elegant home anthill that will decorate your home.

Comfortable conditions for breeding ants: feeding features

In formicaria, it is necessary to ensure optimal temperature regime... It is important to maintain temperature indicators on level 22-26 degrees Celsius, while the humidity should not fall below 70-90 percent. It is also important to equip effective system ventilation.

Like any other insect, ants need two types of food: protein and carbohydrate. Forage insects (crickets, mealworms and others) can be used as protein food. You can buy them at any pet store. If insects are not found, you can replace them. chicken meat, egg white, fresh or boiled shrimp and other foods. When feeding, it is important to pay attention to the quality of the food. Outdoor insects can be poisoned by various chemicals, so it is best not to use them.

As for carbohydrates, then everything is very simple here. In their capacity, you can use ordinary sugar, previously diluted with water. Alternatively, you can give the animals fructose or glucose. With a special appetite, insects eat fresh fruits such as grapes, pears, apples, oranges and tangerines. An excellent solution will become marshmallows or marmalade, but experienced owners of home anthills do not recommend using industrial sweets.

It is important to note that representatives of certain species completely reject all of the aforementioned products and give preference to seeds. With them a little hassle - a pack of canary food will be the most suitable solution. In any case, you will always find something to feed your little pets.

It must be remembered that food for ants must remain fresh and nutritious. Everything else, including the amount of food consumed, insects will decide on their own.

When growing ants at home, it is enough to do basic rules care for these tiny creatures and monitor their condition throughout the natural life cycle... In this case, the home anthill will develop fully.

If you've ever looked at an anthill and imagined what is going on inside, creating your own ant farm will satisfy your curiosity and provide an incomparable experience in studying the life of ants. By launching ants on your farm, you will witness how tunnels and paths are built, and how important these little creatures begin to scurry back and forth, as if they are doing some kind of task. Read step 1 and you will learn how to build an ant farm using simple materials at hand.

Steps

Part 1

Preparation of materials and search for ants

Take two jars with lids. You'll need big jar and a smaller jar that will fit inside. The earth and ants will be located in the space between the large and small jar. A small jar is needed in order to leave space in the middle. This will allow the ant colony to build tunnels and lay eggs at the top edge, and the whole process will be clearly visible. If you skip this step, the ants follow their natural instinct to burrow deep in the middle of the jar.

Sealed containers are perfect for a project different sizes... This way you have more options when choosing your farm size.
Banks must be free of cracks, patterns, etc. A simple, clean jar is best for watching ants.
If you want a flat ant farm, go to your nearest pet store and buy a narrow aquarium. You can also order your farm aquarium online.

Prepare a mixture of soil and sand. Ants need to live in a humid environment that allows them to dig and dig tunnels. If you want to collect ants in your yard or nearby area, it is best to use the same land so that they live in their usual habitat. Dig enough soil to fill the space in the jar. Use a fork or your own fingers to loosen the soil. Now mix 2 parts earth with 1 part sand. If the soil is initially sandy, less sand should be added.
- If you want to find ants far from home, the ground won't work. You can buy sand and fertilized soil from the gardening department and mix them.
- If you are ordering special ants from a farm, they must come with the right mix for habitation.
- Your mixture should be moist, but not wet through and through. If it is too dry, the ants will dry out, and if it is too damp, they will drown.
Find an anthill. There are many species of ants, but most of them all live in the ground. Look for an anthill in your yard. You will recognize it as a volcano-shaped bump with a tiny hole at the top.
- You can also follow the ants to find the nest. If you see a bunch of ants, follow them.
- Explore the nest and make sure you are not dealing with biting ants. If you don't want to risk it, order ants online.
Collect the ants. Once you have found the ant colony, bring the pre-drilled jar at the top (not the jar you need for the farm) and a large spoon, place the ants in the jar. 20-25 ants - enough to start. Here are some things to remember:
- The ants may not breed until you put the queen ant on the farm. It is she who lays all the eggs. The bunch of worker ants on the surface are most likely sterile. So if you want to see the egg-laying process, you need a queen. In this case, you will most likely have to destroy the natural colony.
- If you are determined to study the reproductive cycle, it is better to order ants with a queen from a specialized farm. So, you do not have to dig deeply in the anthill in search of the right ant.
- If you create a queenless farm, the ants will most likely die in 3-4 weeks, which is their natural life span.

Part 2

Building a farm

Part 3

Farm care

Feed the ants and moisten the soil. Throw pieces of fruit, a few drops of honey or jam into the jar every few days - ants love sugar! Do not overdo it. Usually ants get the moisture they need from their food, but if you see the soil getting dry, dampen a piece of cotton wool and place on top of the jar for a few days.
- Don't give meat or any other cooked food to ants! Otherwise, your farm will attract other insects.
- Do not pour water into the jar. If it gets too damp, the ants can drown.
Close the jar when you are not watching the ants. Ants dig tunnels at night, in the dark. To recreate natural habitat, cover the jar with a black cloth or cardboard. If you forget to do this, the ants will be in constant stress and lose activity. In addition, they tend to be in the center of the jar most of the time, rather than near the glass.

Don't shake the can. Ants are fragile creatures, and rough handling can cause them to die from tunnel collapses. Handle your ant farm with care.

Store your farm in a warm room. Place it in a room with a constant temperature. Do not place the jar in direct sunlight, the glass of the jar may heat up and the ants will burn.

When you get the ants, distract them with sugar and water to relieve aggression while you search for the queen. Do not overdo it!
Red ants are usually very aggressive, while black ants are generally more passive.
You can also plant grass seeds on top for more effect. Water the grass carefully to avoid drowning the ants.
Do not tip the can in the house!
A toilet paper cardboard tube makes an excellent tube.
If you are away for a long time, it would be nice if you leave someone to look after the ants so they don't die of drying out or starvation.
Do not touch the queen, otherwise the rest of the ants will bite you.
Ants need the same care as cats or dogs. Pay attention to them!

Warnings

You can feed the ant to dead insects as long as you are sure they are not poisonous.
Never mix two colonies with each other, they can start fighting to the death. Therefore, if you are catching ants yourself, make sure they are from the same nest.
Do not cover the farm as the ants may suffocate. If you must cover them, use toilet paper, wrap an elastic band around the neck of the jar and poke holes with a pin or earring.
Watch out for bites. If you can use gloves, great! Use anti-bite cream to treat bites. Ask a pharmacist for help.
All ants bite, some less often than others. If you keep red ants, remember that they bite and can sting badly. Be careful. Use gloves.
Avoid ant species that are aggressive towards humans and whose bites can be painful or dangerous.

A charming ant with a furry belly and legs. Summer is the brightest and most expressive time, and every child with great pleasure tries to reflect the impressions received at this time of year in their creative works.

Therefore, children with great pleasure make a variety of summer crafts with their own hands, trying to preserve in them at least a small piece of sunny days and warm emotions.

As a basis for creativity, you can take the most different materials... In summer, during picnics and trips to the bosom of nature, they become especially relevant. If desired, they can be turned into interesting, unexpected, images.

One of the examples of such works is the "Ant" craft. A child of any age, including a younger one, can make it with his own hands.

What you need:

two disposable spoons of red (you can paint ordinary white spoons red with nail polish or paint for plastic);
black chenille wire;
eyes for toys;
polymer glue.

Let's get started.

We put the spoons together with the holders, while the wide part of each spoon should be turned to one side.

We fix the handles of the spoons with each other using black chenille, wrapping them.

For greater strength, you can pre-fasten the handles with polymer glue - then they will not slide relative to each other. We use several pieces of wire - at least three. You can use regular wire as well, or combine it with knitting yarn.

We glue toy eyes on the wide part of one of the spoons.

Before starting the question keeping ants at home, it is important to learn better about the features of such insects.

They live in their own "caste" society, therefore they are of interest not as separate individuals, but as representatives of the social structure.

Ants belong to the order Hymenoptera, their closest relatives are bees.

All ants are exclusively social insects, live in colonies and act as a large single organism.

Thanks to this, their evolutionary development has gone far ahead (in comparison with other insects), which allowed them to spread widely across our planet and have a dominant position among their fellow insects.

Ant colonies developed through the formation of various highly specialized individuals within one species. For example, soldier ants differ more large size and proportionally big head with powerful jaws.

In some species of ants, the soldiers have such large jaws that they cannot feed on their own! Working ants are smaller individuals without obvious morphological changes, but with different specializations.

Some hunt and search for food, others equip an anthill, nurse (feed and raise larvae) future ants. There are also ants-cooks or barrels-individuals with a large abdomen, they play the role of storage tanks for food.

The queen is the main ant in their entire society. ... This is the largest individual of the species, the main function is laying eggs, reproduction of ants.

It is the queen ant that monitors the ratio of individuals.

How many soldiers and workers there will be, it is up to her to decide. When males appear for mating and more queens that scatter and form new colonies, it depends on her decision.

Many ants are engaged in their own livestock raising: they grow aphids, protect herds from predatory insects are distilled to the more succulent parts of the plants.

Ants also have their own greenhouses, some species cultivate a fungus, for which the most suitable conditions in the anthill are chosen and, if necessary, transferred to new places.

Most ant species live in colonies on a permanent territory, creating large dwellings on and underground, there are also stray species. Ants are omnivorous, consume animal and plant foods, and often play an important sanitary role in the natural ecosystem.

Many types of ants can be kept at home.. If the goal is to recreate a full-fledged durable colony, then it is better to use tropical species.

Small flat helium nests are often on sale and are great for keeping a small group of any kind of ants. You can eat the gel in such anthills, the ants will eat up the winding passages in it until they swallow it all.

If you set yourself a more serious goal (to simulate a viable colony), then first of all you need to acquire a queen ant, it will give rise to the future goosebumps.

Nowadays, interesting ready-made options anthills (formicaria) made of glass, plaster and plastic.

You can create an anthill yourself.

Before you start contain ants, you should acquire in advance forage insects or find out the possibilities of their uninterrupted acquisition, since they are the main diet of ants.

Crickets and cockroaches, which do not have to be alive, are fine, but frozen ones are fine. You can also feed the ants with fresh fruit and boiled vegetables. Food for ants should be put in small portions as they are consumed.

In no case should the food stale, this will lead to the appearance of mold (and other unwanted organisms) and the extinction of the anthill.

It is sometimes necessary to spray ants a little, it is advisable to have a drinker with a small level (no more than 1 mm) of water so that it does not dry out. You can use foam rubber or cotton wool put in the drinker.

If you take responsibility for keeping ants, then, undoubtedly, a home anthill (carefully thought out formicarium) will not only be an excellent visual aid for novice entomologists, but also a decoration of any room.