Short answer: on a budget, start with the Worker Ant's Founding Starter Kit. For a real nest from day one, the Soldier Ant's Founding Starter Kit. For the best long-term setup, the Down The Ant Hill Starter Kit. Every kit comes with a live colony of your choice, or a voucher to redeem one later.
The kits compared
Worker Ant's Founding Starter Kit: the budget option
- What's in it: a test tube outworld, a micro feeder, 10 ml of Fluon (escape barrier), featherweight forceps, and an ant colony of your choice.
- Best for: small and young colonies. This is very close to how we keep ants in-house.
- Price: from about $61, or about $100 with a heat cable (at the time of writing).
Soldier Ant's Founding Starter Kit: adds a nest
- What's in it: everything in the Worker kit plus a 3 ml pipette and a Ytong nest.
- Best for: colonies with 25+ workers that are ready for a nest.
- Price: from about $120, or about $160 with a heat cable.
Down The Ant Hill Starter Kit: our own formicarium
- What's in it: the Down The Ant Hill ant farm and outworld, a micro feeder, 10 ml of Fluon with a wand applicator, featherweight forceps, and an ant colony of your choice.
- Why it's different: it's our first fully in-house-designed formicarium, designed and made in Canada. Three independently controlled nesting sections let you adjust the space as the colony grows, and slide-and-click connections make expansion simple.
- Best for: keepers who want one setup that grows from a small founding colony to a large, mature one.
- Price: from about $130.
Which colony should you choose?
- Pavement ants: hardy and can eat seeds, but small.
- Black garden ants: hardy and lively, and do better with a winter dormant period.
- Hercules carpenter ants: large and produce soldiers, but need a dormant period of 3–4 months.
- Chestnut carpenter ants: large, produce soldiers, and are active year-round.
Colonies with more workers are more active and easier to care for.
Colony or voucher?
Every kit can come with an ant colony voucher instead of a colony, and we highly suggest it. You set up the kit first and redeem the colony when you're ready. The voucher is for a colony larger than those listed in the budget kits. It's also the best choice for gifts and in winter.
Do you need a heat cable?
It isn't required, but a heat cable under part of the setup makes colonies grow faster and more active. It's especially worth it in a cool house or for warmth-loving species.
What else will you need?
- Sugar: sugar water (1 part sugar to 4 parts water) or byFormica Sunburst Ant Nectar.
- Protein: small pre-killed insects, such as fruit flies.
- Somewhere cool in winter for native species that need hibernation.
See all our ant farm kits, or read the Ultimate Ant Farm Guide for Grown Ups.