Ant Farm Nests & Formicaria – Professionally Expand Your Ant Colony
A complete ant farm setup consists of at least two parts: the outworld (arena) where the ants forage and dump their waste, and the sheltered nest area (the formicarium). In the initial phase, the test tube in which the colony is delivered serves as the safest nesting environment. As the queen lays more eggs and the colony grows (usually from around 40 workers), it becomes time to connect a larger, separate nest section. Here you will find all professional nest options to expand your ant city!
Choose the Right Type of Formicarium for Your Ant Species
Each ant species has unique requirements regarding nest humidity and structure. Within our assortment, you will find high-quality nests made from various materials:
- Plaster Nests (Master Series): Fully handmade nests equipped with an ingenious central moisture reservoir. Perfect for species that require precise humidity gradients, such as the popular harvester ant (Messor barbarus).
- Acrylic Nests (Universe Collection): Sleek, laser-cut nests with unparalleled crystal-clear 360-degree views of the queen and brood. Very hygienic and escape-proof.
- Sand Nests: The most natural form of ant keeping. Fill the nest with our special sand-loam substrate and watch live as the ants dig their own chambers and tunnel systems.
Do you want to see quick digging activity immediately without the responsibility of a queen? Then choose one of our ready-to-use gel ant farms, including an active group of workers (ant family).
Need Advice on the Right Nest?
Choosing the correct size and material for your formicarium is crucial for the success and health of your ant colony. Are you unsure which nest best suits the current size or the specific needs of your ants? Feel free to contact our team of specialists for expert advice!
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21 products
The ultimate center for your ant city
The Penthouse Nest (20x20 cm) is a huge, luxurious expansion for your ant setup. This nest area is specifically designed as a stable home base for large, growing ant colonies and larger ant species. The nest is fully compatible with the modular Ant-Blox system. With this nest, you receive 500 grams of sand-loam filling as standard, so the ants can immediately instinctively start digging their own tunnels and chambers.
Choose your favorite style (Color list)
Completely customize the Penthouse Nest to the look of your ant city. Choose from the available color variants for the edge finish above:
- White: For a sleek, modern, and minimalist ant city.
- Brown: For a warm, natural, and classic habitat appearance.
- Green: For a botanical and lively atmosphere that beautifully complements planted arenas.
Unique ventilation and moisture supply
The well-being of the ant colony is central to the design of the Penthouse. A professional ventilation grille is integrated into the lid, subtly designed with the recognizable Ant-Blox logo. In addition, the nest is equipped with a clever 10 mm opening at the top. This allows you to easily moisturize the sand-loam with the included moisture sprayer, without having to remove the lid of the nest. This opening is neatly closed with a transparent cap.
Easy modular connection
On both sides of the Penthouse Nest there is a 10 mm opening. This allows you to easily connect the nest to other Ant-Blox modules, outworlds, or arenas to gradually expand your ant city. Be amazed at how intelligently the ants utilize the available space!
Ant Colony & Feeding Set options
Almost all ant species (up to 2000 ants) can be housed in this nest. Complete your set by ordering an ant colony and a matching feeding set directly above at a competitive promotional price.
Contents of the package:
- The Penthouse Nest (20x20 cm)
- High-quality sand-loam nest filling (500 grams)
- Moisture sprayer (20 ml)
- 4x Closing caps
- Clear A4 manual and instructions
Technical specifications:
- Dimensions: 20 x 20 x 2 cm (Internal thickness: 1.4 cm)
- Connections: 2x 10mm openings (on both sides)
- Capacity: Suitable for approx. 2000 ants for most common species
- Humidification: Manual addition from above; stays moist for 1 to 2 weeks (depending on ambient temperature and colony size)
Mansion House Brown (nest 15x15x2)
The Mansion House (nest 15x15x2) is the central part of the ant city you build for your ants with Ant-Blox! This luxurious nesting area is the base where your ants will reside. With the Mansion House (nest 15x15x2), you receive the sand-clay filling as standard, so the ants can create their tunnels and chambers to their heart's content. Welcome home!
Unique ventilation and moisture supply
The Mansion House (nest 15x15x2) has been specially developed with the well-being of your ants in mind. The lid features professional ventilation in the form of the Ant-Blox logo. You can also provide moisture to the sand-clay through the 10 mm opening specifically designed for this purpose, without having to remove the lid of the Mansion House (nest 15x15x2). This opening is neatly closed with the sealing cap (included) as standard.
Layout and connecting Mansion House
Be amazed at how the ants use and arrange their new space and experience for yourself how intelligent these extraordinary animals are! You will see how the ants dig tunnels in the sand and create the right layout.
An opening has been made on both sides to connect the Mansion House to other parts of your ant city.
Ant colony
Almost all ant colonies can be kept in this nest. Choose a colony above for a discounted price.
Feeding set
The diet of a Lasius ant colony consists of a combination of sugar water, honeydew, and fruit flies, and for a Messor colony, seeds are also added. A feeding set can be ordered above.
Contents
What do you receive when ordering this product?
- The Mansion House (nest 15x15x2)
- Moisture syringe 10 ml
- 3 sealing caps
- Sand-clay nest filling 250 grams
- A4 manual and instructions
Specifications
Length: 15 cm
Width: 15 cm
Thickness: 2 cm
Number of connection options: 2 (10mm - on both sides)
Number of ants: suitable for up to 300 ants for most species
Humidification system by adding moisture from above with the syringe
Duration of nest humidity: 1-2 weeks, depending on the number of ants and the ambient temperature.
Let the ants do their work and watch a complete tunnel system emerge! This high-tech gel ant farm is a fascinating habitat for ants, based on the technology NASA used to study life in a weightless environment. The system is completely self-supporting: the high-quality, transparent gel serves as food, moisture, and shelter for the ant family. Assemble your ideal ant farm above and choose your favorite color and the desired number of ants!
We supply this complete gel ant farm including an informative booklet with detailed instructions on how to install and use the product.
Assemble your ant farm to your liking:
Simply make your choices in the menu above to complete your ant farm:
- Choose your frame color: Will you go for a sleek White, natural Brown, or fresh Green frame?
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Choose your ant family (Messor barbarus):
- No ants (if you already have suitable ants or are just looking for the ant farm)
- Ant family L – 15-20 active workers
- Ant family XL – 25-30 active workers for significant activity
- Ant family XXL – 40-50 active workers for immediate full activity!
What's included?
- Gel Ant Farm: Large habitat (15 x 15 x 2 cm) in your chosen color scheme.
- Ant Family (optional): A test tube with active Southern European worker ants (if selected).
- Accessories: Magnifying glass and connection material
- Education: Detailed full-color manual with step-by-step instructions.
How the Gel Ant Farm Works
How long do ants live in the gel? Worker ants typically live a few weeks to several months and are guaranteed to start digging immediately. If something unexpectedly goes wrong in the first two weeks and the ants die? We will send a replacement ant family free of charge. Please note: this ant keeper contains a family of workers (no queen or brood) and is purely intended for studying fascinating digging behavior, not for breeding an ant colony.
How long does the gel last?
The specially developed gel is a complete and ample food source. Since ants are efficient eaters and even reuse waste, you never need to add extra food or water. Do you want to start fresh with a new ant family later? We also have convenient gel refills available in various colors in our webshop.
Maintenance & Care
Maintaining this gel ant farm is extremely simple:
- No need to feed or water; the gel contains everything they need.
- Open the lid briefly once a week for a little fresh air.
- Remove condensation and any surface waste when possible.
About the Ant Family
If you choose an option including ants? You will receive strong worker ants from Southern Europe (Messor barbarus). This species is known for digging impressive underground tunnels and chambers in nature. The ants are safely shipped in a test tube, where they can stay for up to a week after receipt without problems. How to successfully and safely place the ants in their new gel environment is explained step-by-step in the included instruction booklet.
Premium Ant Farm Sand Set XL – The ultimate start in sand with 200+ Harvester Ants
Do you want to witness a bustling ant city, gigantic excavation activities, and impressive logistics right from day one? The Premium Sand Set XL is our most complete and luxurious sand setup, specially designed for the fascinating Messor barbarus (harvester ant). This comprehensive set from our Master Series includes high-quality hardware and a huge, healthy colony with a queen, brood, and at least 250+ workers!
Contents of this comprehensive Premium XL sand set:
- Ant colony Messor barbarus (200+ workers!) with queen and brood
- Full-colour instruction booklet with a clear step-by-step plan and complete explanation for a successful start
- Ant Farm Penthouse (Generous 20x20 cm sand nest with 2 connection openings)
- Special Sand-Clay Filling – the ideal mix for sturdy, collapse-proof tunnels and chambers
- City Square Arena (Luxurious, large arena of 20x13x12 cm with 2 connection openings)
- Premium Hill (Luxurious stand for the arena) & beautiful Arena Backdrop (background photo)
- Complete furnishing set for a natural look in the arena
- Professional heat source (heating mat or heating cable) for the perfect nest temperature
- Red protective film (for a safe, naturally darkened nest area)
- One meter of high-quality connecting hose including connectors
- Large 20 ml moisture syringe for precise dosing of moisture into the reservoir
- Magnifying glass
Why choose the Premium Penthouse Sand Set?
We can well imagine that making a choice is difficult given all the options. That's why we have put together this special XL set, guaranteeing you the most complete and successful start you can make in a sand environment.
The showpiece of this setup is the Ant Farm Penthouse. This luxurious, handmade sand nest offers all the space your large ant colony needs to reside. Harvester ants are masters at digging; marvel at how they independently arrange their chambers, create grain silos, and shape their tunnel systems.
The Penthouse nest has been developed with maximum comfort in mind for both the ants and the keeper. The lid features professional ventilation in the form of our exclusive Ant-Blox logo. Additionally, the nest has a clever 10 mm opening at the top, allowing you to easily moisten the sand-clay without having to remove the lid. This opening is securely closed with the included cap.
Thanks to our years of experience, this set includes a beautiful full-colour instruction booklet. This manual guides you through the startup phase with a clear step-by-step plan, so you know exactly how to best care for this large colony and optimally use the heat source.
Specifications & Technical Data:
- Sand nest size (Penthouse): 20 x 20 x 2 cm (Optimal depth for perfect view of digging)
- Arena size (City Square): 20 x 13 x 12 cm (Including Premium Hill stand)
- Sand nest connections: 2 × 10 mm (on both sides for future expansions)
- Arena connections: 2 × 10 mm
- Nest capacity: Suitable for hundreds to even thousands of ants
- Ventilation: High-quality laser-cut ventilation in both the nest and arena lid
- Humidification: Manual via the special 10 mm moisture port on top
Ant's Kingdom Galaxy (Universe Collection)
The intelligence of ants is out of this world, extraterrestrial! We still only understand a tiny bit about how ants can cooperate so efficiently. The Universe Collection was created to illustrate this supernatural phenomenon. Build a complete universe for your ants, expand your setup with this ridiculously large ant farm... the flagship of the series... the Galaxy! The world's first acrylic ant farm with a length of one meter!
The farm is perfectly suited for both small and medium-sized colonies of species such as Lasius, Myrmica, Pheidole, Messor and Formica.
These nests are equipped with a foam part, which keeps the nest moist for about 1 week. To moisten the nest, you can wet this foam (syringe included). It absorbs and distributes moisture without the risk of flooding chambers and tunnels. The foam must therefore remain moist so that the ants find a good environment in this nest.
The system is very practical with this unique water supply. Even cleaning the entire Ant Farm is possible. You first connect another enclosure or nest tube where the ants move to, and then the acrylic nest can be easily unscrewed and rinsed with water.
The nest is easily expandable through the 10 mm opening on the outside. Other enclosures can be connected with tubes.
Ant colony
Almost all ant colonies can be kept in this nest. Choose a colony above for a special price.
Feeding set
The diet of a Lasius ant colony consists of a combination of sugar water, honeydew, and fruit flies, and for a Messor colony, seeds are added. A feeding set can be ordered above.
Nest Specifications
Length: 100 cm
Width: 60 cm
Thickness: 6 inside, 12 mm outside
Number of connection options: 2
Number of chambers: too many to count
Number of ants: suitable for up to thousands of ants for most species
Moisturizing system by foam
Foraging arena, outdoor enclosure included: No
Duration of nest humidity: 1 week, depending on the number of ants and the ambient temperature.
We supply this Ant Farm including a digital (download) manual and the booklet 'Ants are heroes'. The instructions therein regarding care and connection must be followed. The printed version of the booklet can be ordered here: https://www.mierenboerderij.nl/boekje-mieren-zijn-helden.html
Ant's Kingdom Saturn (Universe Collection)
The intelligence of ants is from another planet, extraterrestrial! We still only understand a small part of how ants can cooperate so efficiently. The Universe Collection was created to illustrate this supernatural phenomenon. Build your own universe now, expand your setup with this Saturn, and slowly expand to a complete system!
The farm is perfectly suited for both small and medium-sized colonies of species such as Lasius, Myrmica, Pheidole, Messor, and Formica.
These nests are equipped with a foam section, which keeps the nest moist for about 1 week. To moisten the nest, you can wet this foam (syringe included). It absorbs and distributes moisture without the risk of flooding chambers and tunnels. So, the foam must remain moist so that the ants find a good environment in this nest.
The system is very practical with this unique water supply. Even cleaning the entire Ant Farm is possible. First, you connect another enclosure or nest tube for the ants to move into, and then the acrylic nest can be easily unscrewed and rinsed with water.
The nest is easy to expand through the 10mm opening on the outside. Other enclosures can be connected with tubes.
Ant Colony
Almost all ant colonies can be kept in this nest. Choose a colony above for a special price.
Feeding Set
The diet of a Lasius ant colony consists of a combination of sugar water, honeydew, and fruit flies, and for a Messor colony, seeds are added. A feeding set can be ordered above.
Nest Specifications
Length: 21 cm
Width: 14 cm
Thickness: 6 inside, 12 mm outside
Number of connection options: 2
Number of chambers: 10
Number of ants: suitable for up to 400 ants for most species
Moisturizing system by foam
Foraging area arena, outdoor enclosure included: No
Duration of nest moisture: 1 week, depending on the number of ants and ambient temperature.
We supply this Ant Farm including a digital (download) manual and the booklet 'Ants are Heroes'. The instructions therein regarding care and connection must be followed. The printed version of the booklet can be ordered here: https://www.mierenboerderij.nl/boekje-mieren-zijn-helden.html
Ant's Kingdom Jupiter (Universe Collection)
The intelligence of ants is from another planet, extraterrestrial! We still understand only a small part of how ants can cooperate so efficiently. The Universe Collection was created to illustrate this supernatural phenomenon. Build your own universe now, complete your setup with this Jupiter, and you'll have a complete ant solar system!
The farm is perfectly suitable for both small and medium-sized colonies of species such as Lasius, Myrmica, Pheidole, Messor, and Formica.
These nests are equipped with a foam part, which keeps the nest moist for about 1 week. To humidify the nest, you can wet this foam (syringe included). It absorbs and distributes moisture without danger of flooding chambers and corridors. The foam must therefore remain moist so that the ants find a good environment in this nest.
The system is very practical with this unique water supply. Even cleaning the complete Ant Farm is possible. First, you connect another enclosure or nest tube to which the ants move, and then the acrylic nest can be easily unscrewed and rinsed with water.
The nest can be easily expanded through the 10 mm opening on the outside. Other enclosures can be connected with tubes.
Ant Colony
Almost all ant colonies can be kept in this nest. Choose a colony above for a special offer price.
Feeding Set
The diet of a Lasius ant colony consists of a combination of sugar water, honeydew, and fruit flies, and for a Messor colony, seeds are also added. A feeding set can be ordered above.
Nest Specifications
Length: 40cm
Width: 25cm
Thickness: 6 inner, 12 mm outer
Number of connection possibilities: 2
Number of chambers: 25
Number of ants: suitable for up to 1000 ants for most species
Humidification system by foam
Foraging area/outdoor enclosure included: No
Duration of nest humidity: 1 week, depending on the number of ants and the ambient temperature.
We supply this Ant Farm including a digital (download) manual and the booklet 'Ants are Heroes'. The instructions therein regarding care and connection must be followed. The printed version of the booklet can be ordered here: https://www.mierenboerderij.nl/boekje-mieren-zijn-helden.html
Antquarium Gel Refill Blue
This gel refill is specially made for Antquarium products. You will find all the components in this package to replenish your antquarium with new gel; all you need is 330ml of distilled water. This water can be ordered alongside the refill.
The color is blue, and the package also includes new seeds for the plants.
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Antskingdom.com
📍 Laan van de ram 64B
7324 BV Apeldoorn
💬 WA +31 85 888 9797
✉️ E: info@antskingdom.com
Chamber of Commerce no: 82353050
VAT no: NL862430744B01
Antskingdom.com
📍 Laan van de ram 64B
7324 BV Apeldoorn
💬 WA +31 85 888 9797
✉️ E: info@antskingdom.com
Chamber of Commerce no: 82353050
VAT no: NL862430744B01