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Do-it-yourself simple ant farm

Hello dear readers andthe inhabitants of our site!
Many of you have children of school or preschool age, and they are very fond of having different home pets. Usually these are all kinds of hamsters, parrots, cats. But all these animals are very noisy, and require careful care for them.

But what about insects, for example, ants? Yes, they are quiet, like fish, but how can we trace their life and the development of the colony?
In this article, the author of The Q, a YouTube channel, will tell you how he made a special ant farm.

This homemade product is quite simple to manufacture, and can be repeated at home with a minimum of tools.

Materials
- Plexiglass
- sheet plywood
- Acrylic glue
- Screws and nuts M2
- Bottle caps, bandage
- masking tape
- Sandpaper
- A sheet of paper A1.

Instruments, used by the author.
—  Electric jigsaw
—  Screwdriver, drill
—  Crowns
- Vise, hacksaw
- Ruler, pencil, marker, compass.

Manufacturing process.
First you need to mark out the main drawing of the future farm. Its size and shape can be selected individually. The author puts a picture on a sheet of paper of A1 format (841 × 594 mm). This will be the outer contour.


Now, a sheet of plexiglass is placed on the sketch, protected on both sides by a film. Contours are transferred using a marker.


For this farm, two such plexiglass sheets will be required. They need to be connected together by masking tape at the edges.

After that, the master begins to cut parts along the contour with an electric jigsaw.


Since it has long and narrow segments, their edges need to be additionally fixed.


Then he transfers the outer contour to the plywood sheet.


The internal structure of the farm will have a fairly complex shape, and many small details. They should also be marked.


After cutting, all edges of the parts are processed with sandpaper.


Plexiglass blanks are disconnected, and only one protective film is removed from one of them.


Now, using acrylic glue, plywood blanks are attached to plexiglass.


As sides, the author will use thin strips of plywood. They should also be pre-marked and cut manually. It is important to make corner joints correctly by cutting the edges at an angle.


The beads are ready and can be glued to the base. Slots and openings are not permitted.



Small blocks are glued between the sides, which form separate sections.

After the glue dries, without removing the protective films, the author attaches a second blank, and marks the places for the connecting screws. Also marks the center and perimeter of the circumference of the main hall.


The holes for the connecting screws are drilled immediately through both sheets of plexiglass.

Then the top sheet is removed, laid on the substrate, and the hole in the main hall is drilled with a crown.


Now one protective film is removed from the lid, the truss body is assembled, and tightened with M2 screws and nuts. Moreover, the author uses fairly long screws that play the role of legs, lifting the entire structure above the table surface. It is advisable to put silicone pads on their tips, or apply a couple of drops of hot glue. This will prevent damage to the surface on which the farm will stand.




All drilling work has been completed and the remaining protective films can be removed from the bottom and cover.

The master made the farm very large. And in order to populate it gradually, he blocks a large section with the help of such a round of plywood. Such a stub can be made of another shape, the main thing is that there are no gaps.

Tanks with feed are installed in the main hall, a drinker will also be required.

To make the dome of the main hall, he made such a cylinder. It is necessary so that when feeding the colony, and adding water, to minimize the possibility of escape of the inhabitants.


Everything is ready, and ants can be populated. Do not forget about the cover, it can be cut from the remains of plexiglass.


Gradually, the ants scout the territory, and begin to develop a colony.




Once you see that the population has begun to increase, you will need to open the stub, giving residents access to the rest of the farm.

This home-made farm can be made from several sections of any shape. Also note that some types of ants can gnaw plywood boards, and escape.

Therefore, it is possible to make inserts and boards not of wood material, but of the same plexiglass, only of greater thickness. To facilitate manufacturing, you can draw all the contours of the project in any vector editor, and contact the advertising agency for cutting.
Thus, the quality of the parts will be very high, you just have to assemble them together.

There is another weakness in this particular design, namely, the connection of the “paws” and “torso”. They should be reinforced on the underside with an additional frame or sections.


Thanks to the author for the simple design of the ant farm. Such an interesting homemade product can please both kids and adults!
All good mood, good luck, and interesting ideas!

Author video can be found here.
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9 comments
Guest Andrew,
Yes, even on the ceiling, the ants are on the drum. I wrote here how they lived in my shaving brush, and in a VHS video cassette.
Guest Andrew
Interesting .... and if you hang on the wall? Is it possible in this case .... life to ants?
Also note that some species of ants can gnaw plywood boards, and escape
Yeah, they’ll bring homies and pile such people. xaxa
Author
And when winged ants begin to fly - is that the uterus chtoli? read
I recalled the case. That was a long time ago.

In the old apartment, I got small red ants.And they ... tucked sugar in the kitchen. The most interesting. they didn’t live directly in sugar and near and in the kitchen, I say for sure. I just saw how they go in chains to packets of sugar from them. Where are they dragging ?! I decided to follow. Tracked down for about two months xaxa No, well, not always, of course, I didn’t forget to go to work, and so on .. I still didn’t understand where they had a nest.

And then, once I decided to shave in the bathroom. I myself shaved reusable machines Gillette. And the father in an old-fashioned manner shaved blades of Neva. And the brush, respectively, was.

And then I ran out, unexpectedly, reusable. But it was urgent to shave, a meeting with the girl. I decided the old fashioned way. He took a brush, began to soap and did not believe his eyes. Ants live in this brush. This is not nonsense. It’s a pity that I didn’t have a video camera yet, I would have filmed this miracle. But he showed it to father, mother and brother.

The fact is that the shaving brush was quite voluminous, hollow. And there was a hole in it, apparently a technological one, for molding from plastic. So they used it as input and output. xaxa

And you ask. how did they find this shaving brush, they used it, rearranged it. So the ants have an excellently developed orientation in their tracks (smell). After this incident, I re-read the mountain of literature and know a lot about them.

Here are some interesting creatures, these ants.
Author
Ha, why climbing, just beat the bottom with dermantine or cork. dance3
I agree, fun done. It would be even more interesting to hang the farm on the wall, but then ants need climbing equipment.
By the way, ant farms, in the form of small cubes, pyramids, etc. already ten years in the store sold.
Author
Another trick is that it does not tweet, does not croak, does not bark, does not crap, does not fart, and does not scrape wallpaper with sofas. Anyway, slipping into slippers is incapable. xaxa
And the children’s tears from a dead ant will be an order of magnitude less, if any, (as far as I know, the workers will eat their own corpses). cray
Yes, cool homemade. I am sure that not only children, but also adults will observe the life of the colony of ants.
It is correctly indicated in the article that attention should be paid to cracks so that ants do not crawl out.

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