ANT KEEPING

CHEAT SHEET
BY DAVID FOO, ANTSDIY

© 2022 AntsDIY. All rights reserved.

Foreword
Hello adv-ANT-urer! Welcome to the adventurous journey of ant keeping.

My name David Foo a.k.a "DavFoo" in the ant and tarantula hobbyist
community. Ever since I started my ant keeping journey in 2017, I have had
the opportunity to kept over 40 species of ants, ranging from the common
Nylanderia kraepelini to the legendary Dinomyrmex gigas (biggest ant in
Asia). I also kept other pets such as tarantulas, scorpions, and leopard
geckos. But none of it is as satisfying as keeping ants and all of these
different animals that I got originated from my interest in keeping ants.

Ants are amazing creatures, intelligently designed by an Intelligent

Designer. There are over 14,000 species of ants documented since ants were
first documented in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus, the Father of Taxonomy. Until
today, new species of ants are still being discovered all around the world,
this includes extinct ants from fossil records. Ant keeping started in the
1950s with the mass-marketed Uncle Milton's Ant Farm. But today, ant
keepers have gotten so good at ant keeping that even myrmecologists seek
help from ant keepers.

If you're a new ant keeper, this simplified eBook will help you to have a
smooth kick start for your ant keeping journey. If you are a seasoned ant
keeper, I hope that this eBook will bring new light to your ant keeping
experience as well. This is not an eBook where you will find all the boring
literature stuff. You can find that on google. Every single word in this eBook
are the basics that you need to know about ant keeping compiled from our
ant keeping experiences to help beginners get a hold of the basics so that
you can explore more on your own. I hope to see you enjoy this hobby as
much as all other ant keepers do.

Happy adv-ANT-uring.

David
Founder of AntsDIY

ANTSDIY
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About us

Pioneering Ant Keepers First Ant Kit Original Design

in Malaysia Manufacturer in Malaysia
The ant keeping hobby started in Malaysia back We have been producing ant farms since late
in 2016. We started our ant keeping journey in 2017. We have a constant R&D process going on
mid 2017 and had been keeping ants until today. to ensure the best ant keeping experience for you
In 2022, we have experience in keeping over 40 and the best environment for your ants.
different species of ants and still counting.

New Discoveries We Educate & Inspire

We were the first to successfully raise a Being the first to successfully raise a Tetraponera
Tetraponera rufonigra colony in Malaysia without rufonigra colony from a single colony, what did
brood boosting nor replacing a new queen to the we do with our discovery? We give it out for free
dead one. on Facebook and YouTube. We do educational
ant talks in schools too.

Contact us
Email: [email protected] Book a session with us for your
school (Malaysia only).
Address: Taman Mesra 3A,
41000, Klang, Selangor, Phone: +60 16-202 8606
Malaysia

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 Table of Content

Foreword i

About Us ii

Table Of Content iii

The Circle Of Life 1

How Do Queen Ants Look Like? 2

What Do Ants Need? 3

Ant Keeping Basics 4

Ant Keeping Secrets 6

Ant Keeping Checklist 10

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 The Circle of Life
- Ant Edition -

Drone

Larvae Pupae Queen

Eggs

Worker
Fig. 1: Life cycle of ants. (Featured sp: Iridomyrmex anceps)

Ants undergo complete metamorphosis. Starting

from an egg that hatches into a larva (worm),
grows and molts until it becomes a pupa
(cocoon). Some species of ants have naked
pupae, as shown in Fig. 1. These pupae then
enclose into worker ants.

A lot of people thought that worker ants grow

into queen ants. That's a myth! Worker ants are
born as a worker and will die as a worker. Only
specialized eggs will develop into bigger larvae
and grow into princes (drones) and princesses
(gynes). Fig. 2: Ants nuptial flight.

At their designated time, these gynes and drones

will fly out of their colony and mate with other
colony's gynes and drones, as shown in Fig. 2. The
drones will die after passing on their genes to the
gynes. Being newly mated queen ants, these
gynes will usually detach their wings and find a
new place to start their own colony by laying
their own eggs. Then the cycle repeats.

Fig. 3 shows a founding ant colony of the species

Dinomyrmex gigas , where there's an egg laying
queen, newly enclosed workers, new clutch of Fig. 3: Dinomyrmex gigas colony
eggs, small and large larvae, and lots of pupae. with eggs, larvae, and pupae.

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 How do queen ants look like?
Check these photos out and compare it yourself.

As ant keepers, we start our colonies from a

single queen ant. How did we collect these queen
ants? From their nuptial flight, of course. But
what does a queen ant look like? Many people
mistake termite alates for queen ants.

Queen ants are larger in size compared to the

workers. They have an elongated abdomen (butt)
and huge thorax (middle body segment). Queen
ants have wings but they usually detach after
they are mated. If the wings were detached, look
out for the wing scars. But not all wingless queen Fig. 4: Queen ant (top) and
ants are mated nor all queen ants with wings thermite alate (bottom).
aren't. They might detach their wings later or just
keep them all their entire lifetime.

Wing scar

Fig. 5: Nylanderia kraepelini colony. Fig. 6: Wing scars on queen ants.

Fig. 7: Winged Oecophylla smaragdina queen Fig. 8: Iridomyrmex anceps gyne (bottom)
ant (left) and O. smaragdina worker (right). and drone (top).

One more thing, not all winged ants are queens. Some could be drones. Drones look more like wasps than
ants so it should be very easy to tell them apart.

Now you know how a queen ant looks like, you can go queen ant hunting now.

Be our Queen Ant Farmer!

Earn money by selling queen ants to us.
https://antsdiy.com/qaf-project/ 2
 What do ants need?
Water, sugar, protein, and space.

Water source Protein Source

If your ants are still in a test tube setup, you don't Ants need protein to feed their young and the
need to give them water for drinking anymore. queen for brood production. Ants are scavengers,
The ants will drink from the water reservoir. But if so any dead and decaying animals will be a feast
your ants are kept in a formicarium, you will need to them. But most of the time, they prey on other
to give your ants water via water towers. There insects.
are various water towers available commercially.
Just find the one that suits your requirements.

Fig. 12: Ants hunting activity.

Fig. 9: Water tower variations.
In captivity, ants are fed with pre-killed insects,
such as mealworms, superworms, crickets, and

Sugary source roaches. You can get these from your local pet
stores or from roach breeders.

Ants need carbohydrate from sugary sources for

their activities. The direct way for an ant to get
access to this sugary source is honey and sugar
water. Some ants like Polyrachis dives (golden
weaver ants) get their sugary source from fruits
too. In nature, ants have a symbiotic relationship
with aphids. They milk aphids for nectar. In
return, the ants protect the aphids from Fig. 13: Protein sources.
predators.

Formicarium & Outworld

Finally, ants need two spaces; one for nesting and

another for foraging. The nesting space is the
formicarium and the foraging space is the
outworld. The formicarium needs to be humid for
Fig. 10: Ghost ants drinking honey. larval development and dark for privacy, while
the outworld is indefinitely the most important
component of an ant setup because ants don't
just forage there, they also hunt, feed, drink,
throw their trash, and bury their dead there. An
outworld must be escape-proof by applying anti-
escape, and also well-ventilated.

Fig. 11: Symbiotic relationship between Learn more about ant keeping tips on
ants and aphids. https://antsdiy.com/blog/

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 ANT KEEPING BASICS
Something you must know.

Catching a queen ant Make a test tube setup

You can get a queen ant or a colony from your The most important skill in ant keeping is know
local ant seller. Or you can catch your own queen how to make a test tube setup. All you need to
ant and raise them to a colony. After a rain, have is a test tube and a cotton ball.
queen ants and drones will fly out of their colony
and have their nuptial flight at night. That is Step 1) Fill the test tube half full with drinking
when you can catch your first queen ant. water (don't use tap water because the chlorine
will kill the queen slowly).
Places for queen ant hunt:
- Park Step 2) Push in the cotton ball gently until just
- Under a spotlight before it touches the water.
- A bright white wall
- Places that has a lot of trees Step 3) Push the cotton ball quickly into the
- Dark places with a lot of lights water until the cotton ball is fully wet then stop.
Note that there are no water coming out from the
After you found a queen ant, don't put the queen cotton.
ants together because they will fight each other
till death. Keep each queen ant in their own You may watch this video from this link
plastic vial. If you don't want to carry too many (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEsDmKgL-
small vials, then use a bigger container with a lot AU&t=10s).
of tissue paper in it. This way you can keep all the
queen ants together. The tissue paper will act as
hiding places for the queen and they will not
fight each other this way.

Fig. 15: Test tube setup.

Knowing how to make a test tube setup is very

important because you can make a lot of things
out of it. You can use it in a tub-n-tube setup as a
temporary formicarium, use it as a water tower,
and you can fill it up with sugar water and feed it
to your ants.

After putting your queen ant into the test tube

setup, use another cotton ball to seal it up. Then
leave the test tube setup in a dark place and
don't disturb the queen for 3~4 weeks until the
first nanitic emerge. If the species you caught is a
semi-claustral species, then you will need to feed
the queen ant every 2~3 days.
Fig. 14: Secret queen ant hunting technique.

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 Feeding routine

You don't need to feed ants too frequently.

Depending on the species and colony size, you
can feed your ants once or twice a week. As
mentioned earlier, you just need to feed them a
Fig. 16: Anti-escape on the interior edge of an
protein source and a sugary source. If you are not
outworld.
keeping your ants in a test tube setup, then you
will need to give them a water source via a water Besides powder barrier, you can also use Fluon. It
tower. is transparent and effective for certain ant
species. But it became ineffective when the
How much food do they need to eat? Depending humidity is high. Also it is hard to apply and very
on the colony size. A small colony will usually expensive.
take 1 small Turkestan roach nymph. While a big
colony can take up to 10 adult Turkestan roaches
or 2 adult dubia roaches. If your ants are not
Don't give up
finishing the food you feed them, just feed lesser
in their next meal.
Ant keeping is a hobby. it means that it is not a
plug and play thing, instead it requires some
experimentation and trial-n-error. You will fail in
Apply anti-escape ant keeping and you will learn from mistakes. If
you are faced with a problem, then try solving it
Anti-escape is the most important part of ant with the most creative solution you could ever
keeping. Without anti-escapes, you are basically think of. Let your imagination run wild.
letting your ants run wild in your home. That's
why you need anti-escape to keep the ants in. It is normal for ant keepers to lost ant colonies.
Don't be sad nor discouraged. Try finding out
Applying anti-escape is easy but crucial. One what caused the ant colony to die, then learn
wrong move and your ants will be gone over from the mistake and don't repeat it again.
night. Mix 1 part baby powder to 2 parts rubbing
alcohol. Mix it well making sure the consistency is I have lost numerous ant colonies myself. Some I
watery, not muddy. Then apply it onto the inner don't even know what is the reason it died, while
edge of the container with a brush. some died because I didn't take good care of
them. I had a super rare Polyrachis sp died
You don't need to periodically apply the powder because under my care because I did not know
barrier. You just need to apply it when the enough about that species. I had my
powder is getting lesser on the applied surface. Paratrechina longicornis colony died because I
But do need to check it every week because some didn't give them water. I got my super colony of
ant species are able to breach the powder barrier Solenopsis geminata died because I added
within a few days (depending on the colony size). baking soda in their formicarium. And the list
A good anti-escape will give you a peach of mind goes on and on. It's not the dead colony you need
for more than 6 months of effective period. to focus on. Instead, it is the knowledge that
you've gained from the experience that matters
the most.

Learn more about ant keeping tips on

https://antsdiy.com/7-deadly-mistakes-even-pro-ant-keepers-do/

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 ANT KEEPING SECRETS
Here comes your cheat sheet.

Get loads of test tubes

Nothing is more important than this in ant keeping. Test tubes save the day.
You need test tubes to keep your newly caught queen ants, raise your colony
until about 30-50 workers before moving them into a formicarium, hydration
tower for formicariums, water tower, and as alternative nesting space for
formicarium.

Use aquarium filter mat instead of cotton

The conventional way of making a test tube setup is by using

cotton to block the water in the test tube. But cotton molds fast
which makes the water in the reservoir grow bacteria, especially
when your ants decide to pee on the cotton or pile up trash on it.
Ever since I switched to using a filter mat, my test tube never
grows any mold, and I can reuse the filter mat over and over again.
Very sustainable.

Brush

You may have seen someone else using cotton to collect escaped ants. That method may be effective if
the ants are big in size. When it comes to small ants, the ants always get stuck in between the cotton and
some even get crushed in it. Using a brush, on the other hand, doesn't have such issues. You can brush
escapees into a container and then pour them into the outworld again, or transfer them directly with the
brush into the outworld. You can also use it to sweep off any stinging ant species that are crawling onto
your tweezers when you are doing maintenance to the ant setup. That's how good it is.

Get two pairs of tweezers. One long and one short.

Using two pairs of tweezers means you don't need to pre-kill your feeder insects with your hands. Just
grab one with the long tweezers and kill it with your short tweezers.

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 Talc Powder Anti-Escape

I have tested all sorts of anti-escape and only one type rises above all the others, that is talc powder anti-
escape solution. Not just any talc powder, but the one of the finest grain size #1250. Talc powder is not
your ordinary baby powder, it is the raw material used to make baby powder. I have tested it with all any
species including the notorious Paratrechina longicornis (black crazy ants), tiny Pheidole parva (big-
headed ants), invasive Monomorium pharaonis (pharaoh ants), and the most hated Tapinoma
melanocephalum (ghost ants). I applied it to my Carebara diversa super colony as well. Single application
lasted more than 6 months.

But this doesn't mean the other anti-escapes are not good. It's just probably the humidity in Malaysia is
very high compared to the humidity of other countries, which caused Fluon to be ineffective here. Many
ant YouTubers use Fluon because it is transparent and effective. But it's not that effective here in Malaysia
if we use it.

Use Tub-n-Tube Setup

If you do not have the enough money to buy a

formicarium, get a tub (rounded edges for best effect)
and some test tubes instead. Apply some anti-escapes
around the brim of the tub, make a test tube setup,
then put it into the container. The test tube setup
serves as the formicarium while the tub is the
outworld. This setup is so versatile that you can use it
for almost all ant species regardless of the size of the
colony. if the test tube's water reservoir dried up, just
add in another test tube setup into the tub. For ant
species that don't need a lot of humidity, you can even
add in empty test tubes without any water. But still
one of the test tubes must have water in it.

The only disadvantage of this setup is that it's ugly and ants
tend to pile up their trash on top of the test tubes. But I got no
complaints using this as a temporary formicarium. Even my
Carebara diversa (marauder ants) super colony is still being
kept in a tub-n-tube setup. Eventually I will still move them into
their permanent setup for display. Like I said earlier, this is only
a temporary setup and it's ugly.

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 Breed your own feeder roaches

If you have only one or two colonies of ants, you can get
mealworms or superworms from your local pet store. They
are very cheap and easily available. But if you have tons of
ant colonies, and also keep other pets that are insectivores,
you will want to consider breeding your own feeders.

Breeding mealworms is easy and they grow fast. But unless

you get about 1000 heads for startup and leave them for 3
months, your mealworm farm will not be sustainable.
Breeding superworm is troublesome and very slow, and
isn't worth the hassle at all. Breeding dubia roach is slow
but can last for an extended period of time. Breeding
Turkestan roach is super easy and super fast. If you don't
mind your roach being able to climb smooth surface and
looks a lot like American roach, you can get lobster roach
which is meaty like dubia but breed faster than Turkestan
roach.

Don't use formicariums from China

I know it's cheap and a lot of people are selling it. But unless you are keeping big species such as
Camponotus sp , you will regret keeping your ants in it. There's a 0.5mm gap in between the lid and the
wall. Ants as small as Solenopsis geminata (red tropical fire ants) and Carebara diversa can fit through
the gaps without any issue. That is how my Solenopsis geminata colony escapes once a week.

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 Beware of gel ant farms

Uncle Milton’s gel ant farm was designed for the experiment conducted by NASA to study the effect of
gravity on ants in space. The gel contains all the required nutrients so no food nor water is needed. The gel
also contains fungicides in it that prevents mold outbreak. Steve Foster from School of bugs said in his
article that “if NASA used it in space … it has to work well.” But is that really so?

No! Ever since I started ant keeping, I’ve been hearing from a lot of experts saying that “don’t use gel ant
farms unless you want to kill your ants.” Now, here’s why. The gel is just to ensure that the ants that were
sent to space doesn’t die halfway before NASA manage to do any experiment on them. It was never meant
for long-term keeping as the nutrients from actual food is always better than man-made food. The gel ant
farm only gains popularity because the experiment carried out by NASA was successful. But if you check
Uncle Milton’s website, they don’t sell any gel ant farm now. So I doubt those gel ant farms out there are
the real thing.

Someone in the formiculture forum described his experience of using a gel ant farm in detail. As I read, I
was horrified by it. It says that ants that died in the ant farm doesn’t mold but the ant farm started to
smell weird. The queen ant also died later on. When he took out the dead queen ant 4 years later, he
described the dead queen ant as “well preserved, flesh and whole, still could move her limbs a bit, and her
exoskeleton practically melted (it was moldable and dented).” That’s pretty disgusting. If ants are to ever
have a movie as entertainment, this scene will definitely be a horror film.

So whatever you do, don’t keep your ants in a gel ant farm. There are plenty of formicariums available
commercially nowadays. You can get plaster, concrete, wood, acrylic, plastic, and 3D printed formicariums
easily. Get those instead.

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 Are you ready for ant keeping?
Make sure you get all these things first before you get a colony.

5 test tubes (You can get more)

Outworld
2 tweezers (straight and curved)
Brush for ants
Brush for anti-escape
Anti-escape (Powder solution, Fluon, petroleum jelly)
Honey
Feeders (Mealworm, superworm, cricket, roach, ant food, etc)
Formicarium (Optional)

Don't know where to get all these stuff?

Just get it from our shop at antsdiy.com/shop. Lowest price guaranteed.

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