Created by ThinkQuest Team C004404

When you want to build an ant farm , the first thing you’ll have to do is to get some ants.

You can either buy them or capture them yourself. Of course we’re going to focus on capturing the ants yourself since this is very easy and cheap.

 There are several ways to catch ants.

 You can catch them with your fingers :

- if you want to catch a small ant  you have to lick your fingers and pick up the ant by   pressing on its back

- if you want to catch a large ant you pick up the ant by pressing on its back and holding it between your index finger and your thumb. Be careful not to squeeze the ant!

When you want to catch a lot of ants it’s easier to collect them by using bait. This bait could be honey or a sugar solution. Put the bait on a sheet of paper and wait until many ants have swarmed onto it before you collect them.

It’s more difficult to catch wood ants by extracting them from the nest. So there is another way to catch them. These wood ants live under the skin of a decayed branch or tree. If you break off a branch and ants emerge, you can take the branch home in a bottle or bag. 

And a another option is to dig up a colony. 

Now we know how to catch the ants, we have to put them into a place where we can observe them. This is the easiest way to build an ant habitat :

 What you’ll need : 

• Black construction paper 
• Ants 
• A piece of sponge
• Soil or dirt

 Instructions :

When you’re using a glass jar. (This is best if you’d like to observe the tunnels the ants make)

1)   Put the can into the jar. The reason we put the can into the jar is that , since the ants can’t enter the can, they will have to build tunnels around it. This way it’s easier for you to observe the ants.  

2)   Fill the rest of the jar with soil and the ants.

3)   Moisten the piece of sponge and place it on top of the can. Keep it moist all the time.

4)   Seal the container with the piece of cloth and the rubber band. It ‘s not necessary to make air vents.

5)   To make sure the ants tunnel against the sides of the jar , you have cover the rest of the jar with the black paper .Within a week you should be able to see the tunnels develop.

When you’re using a flower dish.

1)   Put the ants and soil in the flower dish.

2)   Moisten the piece of sponge and place it on top of the can. Keep it moist all the time.

3)   Put the glass sheet on the flower dish.

4)   Cover the sheet with tape.