Different-sized canning jars are perfect for this project. But, if you want your ants to be happy, then buy a larger container. Look for jars without etching, print or raised numbers and letters. Plain, clear glass will give you the best view of the ants. If you’d prefer to have a flat ant farm, check out your local pet store and purchase a skinny aquarium. You can also order an ant farm setup from online retailers.
If you aren’t planning on getting your ants from a nearby location and the dirt you have on hand doesn’t seem suitable, you can buy potting soil and sand from a gardening store and mix it to serve as your substrate. If you order an ant farm kit, it should come with the right mixture for those particular ants. You want the mix to be slightly moist, but not soaking wet. If it’s too dry, the ants will dry out; if it’s too wet, they’ll drown.
Tracking ants is another good way to find an anthill. If you see a group of ants walking, follow them back to their nest. Observe the anthill to make sure you aren’t dealing with fire ants or another type of ant that bites or stings badly. Brown field ants are a good bet. If you want to be on the safe side, order your ants online as part of an ant farm kit.
The ants probably won’t reproduce unless you include a queen in your ant farm. An ant colony’s queen lays all the eggs, and a group of worker ants - those you’re likely to see close to the surface of an anthill - are likely to be sterile. Therefore, if you want to see ants go through the process of laying eggs, you’ll need to get a queen - which can be tricky and would require destroying the natural ant colony. If you’re set on seeing the reproductive cycle, a better bet may be to order a kit that comes with a queen ant. That way, you won’t have to worry about digging deep into the ant’s nest to get what you need. Another method is to catch a queen during its nuptial flight and raise a colony from just a queen. If you create a farm without a queen, the ants will probably die within 3 - 4 weeks, which is their natural lifespan.
You will now have created a layer of dirt that will serve as the ants’ home. The inch of empty space will keep the ants from climbing up the glass and out of the jar when you need to open the lid.
Make sure not to punch the holes too large, or the ants will escape and build a nest elsewhere. Don’t cover the jar with cloth, as ants will be able to chew their way out.
Don’t give the ants meat or other cooked food. This will attract other types of pests to your ant farm. Don’t pour water into the jar. It’ll get too wet, and the ants could drown.
