Why Ant Keeping Might be Your Next Hobby

The perfect hobby for pandemic isolation!

When most people think about keeping ant’s, they immediately envision the old Uncle Milton’s Ant Farm. The ubiquitous green extruded plastic “toy” with optically clear plastic sides, green trees, a barn, and even a windmill. Underneath this portrayal of a farm, the included light-colored soil appears to be the perfect habitat to place ants you collect in your back yard, or — if you could wait long enough, use the included coupon to get ants delivered by mail.

One of the biggest failures of keeping an ant farm-like similar to Uncle Milton’s is that worker ants have a relatively short lifespan. Ant’s you receive in the mail are hopefully going to live their entire lifespan, but at that point, your ant farm has no chance of sustaining itself.

Unfortunately, successful mass marketing misses out on one of the most awe-inspiring and fascinating reasons to keep ants… a queen.

While your nostalgia kicks in, I want you to avoid purchasing this in favor of more modern nests and formicarium. Newer nests not only allow a more transparent window into the world of your colony; it provides a better habitat for the absolute best care of your ant colony.

Ant-Keeping is Easy (and Educational)

Starting and keeping your ant colony is a far cry from the day of Uncle Milton’s misguided mass marketing. The internet provides a wealth of information on collecting and keeping ants. Anyone can start keeping ants and learn more about the tiny worlds in your backyard or local park.

You can start a colony by collecting a queen ant in your yard or neighborhood sidewalk.

A newly “hatched” (eclosed) Lasius brevicornis worker, about 2mm. Photo Credit #Otters_inverts

For instance, my home state of Ohio alone has over 130 different species of ants you can find keep. Don’t let fancy terms or expensive look nests dissuade you. MOST hobbyists use containers and Tupperware to keep their ants happy and healthy!

The Monarchy

In the ant world, a majority of colonies are made up of entirely female ants. Male ants, always winged and smaller than females, are raised and live only long enough to mate with a future queen and die shortly after.

Dozens of winged male Prenolepis imparis “drones” preparing amongst their sisters for the season nuptial flight.

The entire rest of the colony depends on the livelihood of the queen, or in some species, multiple queens. Queens mate once in their lifetime during the nuptial flight and then produce young for the remainder of their lifespan, 5 to 10 years for most species.

Ant colonies depend on a queen. Without a queen, most colonies won’t even survive 12 weeks.

Ants do everything for the greater good of the colony in mind, geared explicitly toward rating brood, and new “princesses” to start new ant colonies. All of the interactions support colony growth and brood production. These interactions are what make keeping and fascinating. They continue to move and evolve their habitat to best support the future of brood into new ants who will replace their sisters in supporting the colony.

Where Do You Get a Queen?

So all this talk about how important a queen is, but how do you get a queen?

The best way to do it by FAR is by collecting a queen near or around your home. The best time to do this is by finding a queen during its nuptial flight before it has found a place to hunker down and start a new colony. The timing of this varies from species to species, but it’s quite likely you have seen a queen ant with wings and never thought twice about it.

Annually new unmated queens emerge from their nests in early spring to late fall in the midwest. Hundreds of queens will fly from nests and mate with males from another nest while in the air. When they return to earth, they begin the hunt for a location to start their new colony.

A winged “Princess” Prenolepis imparis preparing to fly her only nuptial flight. Photo Credit: Mike McBrien

During this searching period, the newly mated queens will scurry around the ground, looking for a safe place. Some will choose to rip off their wings while others look for a home first.

With the benefit of being the least expensive way to collect your queen, it is also one of the most significant benefits of the hobby. The ability to get out and explore the nature around you that you will find captivating and relaxing.