Feb 12
15
If you are thinking of getting an ant farm, there are a few things that you need to realize about keeping ants before you set up or at least populate your farm. In fact, even before you buy your ant farm, you should look around for which varieties of ants you can get hold of and then read up on what kind of nests those ants create.
Do they build nests above and below ground or only below ground? Most regular ant farms are not designed to handle anthills, although some, shaped like a flat-bottomed egg are constructed to deal with a small anthill.
Once you know what kinds of ants you can have, you can select the variety and acquire the appropriate shaped ant farm. Most novices begin with harvester ants, which will live very happily in a normal ant farm. Your colony may grow to a few thousand members, so the next thing to think about is food for them.
Harvester ants will eat a range of different kinds of food, but it is easier and cleaner if you feed them sweet, crunchy vegetables and fruit. For example, bits of carrot, celery and apple are very good. They are readily cut up and transported by the ants, they are nutritious and they will not rot down or begin to smell bad quickly.
You will have to weigh up for yourself how much food to put down, but it is far better to put out fresh food every day, than leave a large lump of something lying in the farm for days on end. If you notice that food is being left, cut back a little.
On the other hand, if the colony is increasing in number and the food is vanishing put a bit more down. Working this amount of food out is part of your job. Mold is a health hazard to ants so be on the look out for it on the food at all times.
Ants will get a lot of the moisture that they should have from the food that you provide them, but they do require water as well. Not much admittedly, but you need to drip two or three drops – literally only two or three drops of water – onto the soil every day. Whatever you do do not tip so much water that a puddle forms, even a very small one.
If you want to give your ants a real delicacy, put a few granules of sugar into half a teaspoon of water and tip that onto the soil. They will love it and it will also give them a shot of energy, just as if you were to eat a chocolate bar.
Owning an ant farm should be educational and enjoyable. Watching the ants work together to make a nest and rear their young will teach adults and children alike a lot about how insects live. It will also help remove some of the illogical fear that many people have for insects in general, including ants.
Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on many topics, but is currently concerned with how to kill fire ants. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at Killing Carpenter Ants.
Related Reading:
How to Design a Deck (How to Design Your Garden Series)How to Design a deck is a step-by-step guide to planning the perfect deck, quickly and easily. The book will show you simple techniques that will enable you to design a deck that enhances your home, looks great all year and suits your lifestyle needs. You'll learn really simple techniques to make sure your new deck looks great with the rest of your garden, whether your garden is established or a completely blank canvas. These low cost solutions are highly effective and will help give your garden the 'WOW' factor.
The book is perfect for complete beginners and covers how to:
• avoid the most common deck design mistakes
• choose the best location for your deck
• plot your deck and garden onto paper
• properly plan your deck to get the right size, shape, and style of deck to suit your home.
• make the deck area look and feel longer or wider
• design a deck that works with the whole garden
• effectively tackle changes in level
• design a beautiful garden on a budget
• make the most of the available space using cunning design tricks
• successfully incorporate built in planters, seating and lighting
• choose the right building materials from sustainable sources
• double check you've got everything right before your deck is built
• choose the right professional to construct your deck
Also includes access to an online deck ideas picture gallery
A little bit of time spent planning your deck is a very valuable investment. It takes as much time and money to build a poorly or non-planned deck as it does a well designed deck. The visual difference, though, is enormous. The book's main focus is on design and how to make your whole garden look great. It does include some basic construction information but this is not meant to be a DIY guide on deck building.
You don't need to be a great artist to design a great looking garden. The design tricks and techniques you'll learn in this book are simple yet highly effective.
About the Author
Rachel Mathews has been a garden designer for 20 years. She has designed hundreds of beautiful gardens in the UK. She has also designed gardens in the USA and Spain. As well as designing, Rachel now teaches garden design and has written a series of ‘how to’ garden design books and online courses. She teaches a very simple method that enables anyone to create a stunning garden.
