Hi everyone!
I'm from St Louis, Missouri and very recently got into ant keeping. For the past few weeks I've been reading up and absorbing everything I can find on the subject. Sadly I think it's a bit late in the year to try to find a queen and start a colony, but that may not be a bad thing. Instead I thought I might get some practice by caring for some workers. I looked at some simple types of formicaria and settled on a variation of the jar within a jar setup. Luckily I work at a company that produces clear plastic tubing, so I was able throw something together pretty easily.
The outside tube is about about an inch around. I cut another tube, sealed it with some plugs, and put it inside the larger one so that I would be able to see their tunnels. There's about 1/8th of an inch space on each side. I filled it with dirt until the smaller tube was completely covered. I started with 12 workers. They're small black ants, approximately 2-3 mm, that I caught in my backyard, so I'm assuming they're probably Tetramorium. It's been about a week and I have no idea how many are still alive. There's usually four or five on the surface, but they've dug quite a few tunnels, so it's hard to say. Overall it's been very enjoyable to care for them and watch them work. I'm quite excited for next year when I might be able to start a real colony.
I have made nests similar to this before.
