How to Make an Ant Lion Farm with Your Child

Ant Lion Colony Located Beneath an Open Barn

NO……. IT'S NOT THE SURFACE OF THE MOON!

This is a colony of Ant Lions, more specifically, Ant Lion Larvae.

The scientific name of these small creatures is Myrmeleontidae, from the insect order Neuroptera.

While fierce looking, Ant Lions are quite harmless and equally fascinating to young children, who can spend hours twirling a piece of straw or small twig in the dirt, trying to catch one.

Maybe this “doodling” in the dirt is where they got another colloquial name, “doodle bugs.”

The larvae of Ant Lions are squat little “rhinoceros” looking “beetle-like” creatures, with two prominent “jaws” or mandibles for grabbing unwary ants. The adults of the species are actually lovely, closely resembling damsel flies, or a bit like Mayflies, with their lacy, almost translucent wings.

An Ant Lion “Farm” is very simple to create, easy to maintain, and will bring endless hours of entertainment for your child.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You'll Need:

Large Flat Plastic Storage Container

Sandy Soil

Ant Lions

Instructions:

Step 1

Prepare a large flat tub or other container to serve as the new home for the Ant Lions.

A flat plastic storage container, a couple of feet in length and about six to eight inches deep, works great. The one pictured below is an inexpensive plastic 28 quart storage container.

Fill this container with loose, coarse, sandy soil, mostly dry. A certain amount of minuscule bits of quartz gravel and pebbles and bits of leaf litter are likely to be found in sandy soil and will cause no problem for your Ant Lions.

Step 2

Sand Being Kicked Up Revealed this Tiny Ferocious Looking Denizen

Search, with your child, for an ant lion colony in a sheltered area of your yard or garden where there is very little plant growth and an area of undisturbed sandy soil.

Suggestions for locations might be beneath vehicles parked on dirt for any length of time, under overhangs from barns or shelters where rain will not wash away the soil, in sandy and dry locations beneath structures in most any protected areas of a typical landscape.

What you need to look for are sandy depressions in the ground, resembling funnels, or the aforementioned craters of the moon.

These depressions are cone shaped, up to a couple of inches wide at the surface and dwindling to a pinpoint at the bottom, and serve as a trap for ants and other tiny insects. Ants fall or crawl into the funnel and are unable to escape the slippery slopes.

The larvae can sometimes be seen “kicking” bits of sand up from the bottom of their trap.

Step 3

Patience and Watchfulness Eventually Pay Off

Using a small hand trowel or large spoon, quickly scoop well below the level of the Ant Lion’s trap.

Add this scoopful of sand to the sand in the prepared container.

You will likely not see the Ant Lion unless you gently spread the sand about. And you will not see it for long at any rate as the Ant Lion will quickly begin digging its new depression, scampering beneath it all the while.

Step 4

Situate your new Ant Lion farm in a secure location, inside your home, or if outside, in a place safe from birds, cats or other animals that might seek to dig it up.

Step 5

Ant Lions Scuttle Backwards Leaving Trails In the Sand

Over a period of an afternoon or a day or so you will see trails formed by the Ant Lions as they search for the perfect spot to construct their traps. Eventually multiple depressions will be formed in your Ant Lion farm, depending of course on the number of Ant Lions you have captured.

Step 6

Occasionally feed your Ant Lions by dropping live ants into the traps.

Step 7

Overnight Ant Lion Traps Form - Observe and Hope for Metamorphosis!

If your Ant Lions survive the months necessary for metamorphosis to occur, you may see a winged Ant Lion emerge to lay eggs again in the sand, perpetuating the cycle.

Good luck with your Ant Lion Farm!

Additional Tips and Cautions:

After your Ant Lion Farm is established try not to shake or disturb it as the “traps” are fragile constructs and can be easily collapsed. If this happens, however, do not despair. The Ant Lions will soon rebuild.

Ant Lions need very little water or other nutrients besides ants or other minuscule insects. But, over time, the occasional light sprinkle of water over the surface of the sand can be beneficial.

Ants for feeding your Ant Lions can also be ordered fairly inexpensively from educational supply companies who specialize in providing ants for Ant Farms.  You can even order live Ant Lions if you are unable to find your own.

Constructing and monitoring an Ant Lion Farm can also be a great class project for an elementary school classroom.

Encourage young children to use care when catching ants for their Ant Lions. Educate them about the dangers of "fire ant" beds.

Photo Credit

Peggy Strickland and Dalen