Starter Kit Ant Farm Discontinued

Today I learnt that the that the glass starter kit ant farm, that I have been using for many years, have been discontinued. I discovered this today when I received an enquiry from a visitor to my website, who asked me for advice on ant farm.  The visitor informed me that the link on my website that pointed to my favourite UK-based seller of these ant farms (AntsUK) was out of stock. 

I contacted the owner of AntsUK. He informed me that the starter kits had been discontinued.  I was gutted.  These starter kits are awesome, and I have used them with great success for many years.  What I liked about these starter kit ant farms was their premium quality. The ease of being able to see into the nests. The fact that you can easily add more than one nesting and/or foraging boxes as the colony grows. 

I believe the particular starter kit ants farms that I loved were created by/for the German company Antstore. Even the ones from other sites came with a small Antstore sticker on the glass boxes. 

Which ant farm?

So, the question that begs to be answered is, what ant farm do I recommend to those who ask me?

My answer to that question really depends on a number of factors, namely:

1. The experience of the ant keeper.  For example, are you a complete novice/beginner to ant keeping?
2. The species of ant being kept.  Some small species of ants create very small colonies, and so do not need an extensive set up.
3. Your budget.  These starter kits could be rather expensive, especially if you chose the larger ones.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom.  Though the starter kit ant farms are no longer being produced, there are a number of like-quality ant farms that are available.

Here are some recommendations:

For the complete novice, or those who are not planning on keeping an ant colony for a long period (perhaps it’s for a non-permanent school project). I would recommend a lower end, cheaper ant farm. Amazon sell plastic ant farms. Please DO NOT purchase the ant farms that contain the gel. They are designed so that the ants live in the gel. In my personal opinion in, they are awful.

For the more serious ant keeper who plans for a long-term/permanent ant farm set up. The option of adding more boxes as the colony grows is a bonus. I recommend the various glass ant farms from Antstore.  They do not appear to sell a complete set anymore. Rather they now seem to be sold as separate parts.

AntsUK have told me that they are trying to source a replacement for the starter kit ant farm.  Once they have (if they can) source them, I will update the links page on my site. 

If you have a recommendation for ant farms, please do let me know by either replying to this post. Alternatively you can contact me via email.