Homemade Ant Farm vs. Purchased One: Key Differences
Ants are one of the most amazing creatures of the world, and they fascinate us and entertain us with their ever so simple way of life. As a kid, we grow up watching ants and try and understand the ecosystem around us.
To some people, ants are so enthralling that they start their own ant farm. Are you one of these people? I’m sure you are, and thus you need to figure out how to build your perfect ant farm, and whether you should buy one or build one. Here are some things that will help you in this case.
Structure
It is very obvious that in a homemade ant farm you will need to build a structure on your own, while in a purchased one the structure will be provided to you.
For homemade ant farms, you can start from something as simple as a CD case and you can go up to something like jars or lids, or even you can build up to a formicarium by yourself.
In the case of purchased ant farms, you will have a lot of freedom in deciding which type of environment for your ant farm you would like. You will have options gel ant habitat environment, interactive ant farm, tree house ant habitat, etc. Purchasing the structure suits you the most when you want it to be easy and quick.
Food and Care
In most purchased ant farms, nourishment, lights, foods, and shelter will be given to the ants by the purchased one itself.
The same thing can’t be said for the homemade ones. In the homemade ant farms, you will have to provide foods for the ants yourself, and you will have to look after them once in a while.
So if you’re that type of person who has a problem with keeping up to date and remembering things properly, you should opt for a built-in food and nourishment system for your ants. Otherwise, you may as well enjoy doing it on your own to get the real experience.
Queen Ants
If you’re starting your own ant farm, the most important thing that you will be concerned with the catching a queen ant. Although this process is not that hard, it surely takes a lot of time and patience. Most of the people also don’t know how to identify and catch a queen and get frustrated in the process.
Instead, if you’re looking to purchase an ant farm, you should look forward to buying a queen ant also. This will reduce the time required to start your own ant farm, but it will deprive you of the pleasure of catching the queen ant and starting your own ant farm by yourself.
Worker Ants
Here’s another critical prospect of starting an ant farm which is worker ants. If you’re building an ant farm for a project, or only to enjoy the beauty of the ecosystem, you should purchase an ant farm without the queen ants itself.
However, if you’re thinking to start your own ant colony rather than purchased one, you will need to capture a queen ant and get workers ants from it.
Now, you must be wondering about the reason why we are avoiding using a queen, and the answer is very simple. A queen ant lays eggs continuously for 15 years which can hamper the ecosystem if it is used in a farm only and not in the wilderness. It also hampers the reason for taking it in the first place.
Final Words
There are some significant differences between a homemade and a purchased ant farm. However, the major advantage with a purchased ant farm is that you can use it to customize your ant farm and even use it to build and start your own ant farm from the position you would like to.
Moreover, a purchased ant farm also saves time and effort. On the other hand, with the homemade one you will get the pleasure of doing everything by yourself. After that, you will get to see them grow and that will fascinate you and also will save you a lot of money.
So go ahead and make your pick!