You need about 100 ants for your ant jar. You’ll probably find all the ants you need in your own back yard. Use a pencil to collect the ants. They will easily climb onto the tip of the pencil and you can transfer them to your new ant jar. Unless you are able to find a small, active ant mound where you can collect an ant queen, your ant jar will last from four to six weeks, the average life span of worker ants. A word of caution about collecting your ants; ants are territorial and if you collect ants from 2 different colonies they will fight and kill each other. Stay in one part of your yard once you begin collecting your ants.
If you do find an active ant mound, you can collect it. Collecting an ant colony is easiest after a rain shower, when the soil is moistened. To collect a small ant colony, use a garden trowel to cut a circle around the mound approximately the same diameter of the jar you are going to use. Fold a section of newspaper into a cone shape and fold up the bottom of the cone. Dig out a cylinder of dirt and carefully move it into the newspaper cone. Transfer the soil and the ants into the jar.
When you collect an ant mound, you may also collect the queen. You will recognize her by her significantly larger size, large abdomen, and the additional three eyes between the normal two eyes on her head. If you are fortunate enough to have a queen, your ant jar colony will have a significantly longer life span.
Once the ants are in their new home, you should begin to see tunneling activity within 2 or 3 days. Look close to the bottom of the jar for the first tunnels to appear. The soil will be dampest there.
Feeding the Ants
Make a simple feeding chart to help your child keep track of when to give the ants water and new food. Be careful not to overfeed or water. It is best to water on one day and then feed 2 days later. Ants like variety in their diet. Tie the string to the pencil and attach food for the ants onto the string. Lay the pencil across the top of the jar to suspend the food just at soil level. Good food choices for ants are slices of soft fruit such as apple or banana that have been dipped in honey or sugar water. They also eat bits of meat, cheese, bread, and candy. Feed the ants once a week. Ants also need water. Add a teaspoonful of water to the soil jar every third day. Be careful not to make the soil too wet.