Starting Your Ant Colony

Keeping ants is a fun experience and very rewarding but it can also be difficult to start one. This instructable will teach you a simple but very good trick to starting your ant colony.

• A glass test tube
• cotton wool
• a queen ant
• A pipette
• some sweet substance e.g. honey

To start your colony you first need to find a queen. In the ant world, the queen lays the eggs which starts the colony and sustains it throughout life. It is the most important member of the colony. However, you can find the queen only once every year (unless you dig up a nest and find it by hand) in an event called a nuptial Flight. This is when every colony makes their queens and kings who fly and mate together. The king then dies but the queen has to find a place to nest. This is when you have to go out and find as many as you can. However, this does not have to happen at the same time with every nest. Different species and different regions have different times when this occurs so research the species in your area and their nuptial. When it does happen in your area it will be pretty hard to miss finding a queen ant. They are the largest ants in your area and if fertilised have a swollen abdomen (see figures). they might have wings but they usually remove those after mating.

Find as many as you can and bring them in.

Now you have to make a container for your queen to start her colony. it has to be long-lasting and satisfy all of your queen ants need to make eggs. This is where the Ant Tube comes in.

You first have to get a preferably glass test tube so you can see inside. I found using a 13cm long by 2cm wide is a good size for most ant species (in this example we use the Lasius Niger ant or the common black garden ant)and retains water well. Be careful not to make the test tube too wide or small otherwise the water will quickly evaporate and the ant will dehydrate and die. Now after cleaning the test tube will to avoid disease fill 1/4 of it with water as shown in the figure above. Then separate the water from the rest of the tube with a cotton cloth. If you want to give your ant the best start put a small droplet of honey ( or see this great instructable where you can make your own ant food) into the tube with the pipette. Carefully put in your queen and block the whole Ant tube with cotton. the ant should have at least 2/4 of the ant tube herself even if it usually huddles up to the wet cotton at the bottom.

Let the ant decide where it's best to lay her eggs. The ants should put in a stable, warm (20 degrees or more) environment that is not too loud. The test tubes themself should be put into a dark container for the queen's maximum comfort (remember they usually nest underground where there is no light anyway).

Though the setup may be long lasting regularly check up on it to clean the honey, fill up the water level using a burette or pipette if it is too low or just see if your ant is alright. Our Lasius Niger ants are already producing a large clump of eggs (see figures above) which will develop through the stages to produce worker ants. After the first ants (Nanitics) you can easily transfer the tube to a larger container due to its simplicity and size. It is a great way to start your colony.

Of course, there are other ways such as an ant farm (In the figure above we used a kit ant farm that I put a link to in the references) which can allow the ants to have a larger starting ground and allow them to build tunnels but without properly disinfected ground they are more likely to get infected and are also harder to see.

To help with transferring and maintaining ants after the Nanitics have hatched we have made a 3D printable gateway device for transferring a small colony of ants from one test tube to another.The device has two opposite holes to securely hold the test tubes in place, allowing a controlled environmentfor the ants to move between the two tubes. Additionally, there is a smaller lateral hole to connect a flexible tube, which can be used to link the setup to another environment or chamber. It can also be used to feed your starting colony with the easily removed lid (you will have to make a covering for the lid in this case we used plexiglass to see inside) allowing you to put pieces of food and honey inside. The files above come in two different size holes for the test tubes because those were the sizes we had, however I have also attached the openscad code where you can change the size of the opening to suit your test tube. We have called the ant gateway because that is what it is: a portal to other setups and the future success to your ant colony.

Openscad script

$fn=100;

module Gateway() {
    difference() {
        // Main body structure
        union() {
            // Main cube body
            cube([60, 77, 35]);
            // Middle connection section
            translate([0, 32.5, 0]) cube([60, 10, 35]);

            // Support structures on the left side
            translate([-18, 42.5, 0]) cube([20, 30, 15]); // Top left support
            translate([-18, 3, 0]) cube([20, 30, 15]);   // Bottom left support

            // Support structures on the right side
            translate([58, 42.5, 0]) cube([20, 30, 15]); // Top right support
            translate([58, 3, 0]) cube([20, 30, 15]);    // Bottom right support
        }
        
        // Cutouts to create the top openings
        translate([5, 5, 5]) cube([49, 28, 35]);  // Top left cutout
        translate([5, 42, 5]) cube([49, 30, 35]); // Top right cutout

        // Border trims at the top
        translate([2.5, 39.5, 33]) cube([55, 35, 10]); // Right border trim
        translate([2.5, 2.5, 33]) cube([55, 33, 10]);  // Left border trim

        // Ant tube holes (left side)
        translate([1, 18, 15.5]) rotate([90, 90, 90]) cylinder(2.7, 12.5, 12.5); // Tube hole (left side top)
        translate([1, 5.5, 16]) cube([2.7, 25, 20]);                             // Rectangular hole connector (left side top)
        translate([-20.5, 6.5, 16]) cube([24, 23, 20]);                          // Main connector (left side top)
        translate([-26, 18, 16.5]) rotate([90, 90, 90]) cylinder(100, 11.5, 11.5); // Large cylinder cut (left side top)

        translate([1, 57, 15.5]) rotate([90, 90, 90]) cylinder(1.8, 12, 12);  // Tube hole (left side bottom)
        translate([1, 45, 16]) cube([1.8, 24, 20]);                           // Rectangular hole connector (left side bottom)
        translate([-19., 46.5, 16]) cube([21, 21, 20]);                       // Main connector (left side bottom)
        translate([-24.5, 57, 15.5]) rotate([90, 90, 90]) cylinder(100, 10.5, 10.5); // Large cylinder cut (left side bottom)

        // Ant tube holes (right side, opposite of left side)
        translate([55.5, 18, 15.5]) rotate([90, 90, 90]) cylinder(2.7, 12.5, 12.5); // Tube hole (right side top)
        translate([55.5, 5.5, 16]) cube([2.7, 25, 20]);                             // Rectangular hole connector (right side top)
        translate([56.5, 6.5, 16]) cube([24, 23, 20]);                              // Main connector (right side top)
        translate([40.5, 18, 16.5]) rotate([90, 90, 90]) cylinder(100, 11.5, 11.5); // Large cylinder cut (right side top)

        translate([56.5, 57.5, 15.5]) rotate([90, 90, 90]) cylinder(1.8, 12, 12); // Tube hole (right side bottom)
        translate([56.5, 45.5, 16]) cube([1.8, 24, 20]);                          // Rectangular hole connector (right side bottom)
        translate([56.5, 46.5, 16]) cube([21, 21, 20]);                           // Main connector (right side bottom)
        translate([34.5, 57, 15.5]) rotate([90, 90, 90]) cylinder(100, 10.5, 10.5); // Large cylinder cut (right side bottom)

        // Hole for connecting to a clear flexible tube (for an external environment)
        translate([31., 60, 11.5]) rotate([90, 0, 0]) cylinder(50, 6, 6);

        // Cut the structure into two sections for easier 3D printing or assembly
        translate([-30, 37, -5]) cube([100, 1, 100]);
    }
}
Gateway();

I have found great joy in keeping ant colonies because they not only are a pleasure to see grow but constantly require you to innovate to accommodate them and hone your skills. I highly recommend keeping them and the ant tube will give you the best possible start.

Here are some useful websites and kits to continue your ant passion.

• My living world: Ant world ( A good starter kit for keeping ants)
• Ants Canada (a website and shop dedicated to ants. This is where you can start to raise ant colonies professionally)
• Antwiki (website explaining ants and all their curiosities)
• Hölldobler, B. and Wilson, E.O., 1998. Journey to the ants: a story of scientific exploration. Harvard University Press. (an excellent book about ants written by a famous Entomologist dedicated to studying ants. highly recommended for understanding ants)