How to Make an Ant Habitat out of a Pencil Sharpener

An ant farm or ant habitat is an excellent project for kids and is tons of fun to make. If you're considering becoming an ant farmer, creating a mini ant habitat from a plastic pencil sharpener and some backyard roughage is a wonderful (and cheap) way to delve into the ant world.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

1. Find or buy a medium to large-sized, plastic, manual pencil sharpener that stands upright and has the sharpening slot located on the top of the pencil sharpener for best results as an ant habitat.

2. Go find some dirt, preferably close to the location where your ants are coming from. Also look for a couple of twigs, some grass, and maybe a small piece of bark or chip of wood. Do not use mulch, as it mulch is treated with chemicals and will kill your ants.

3. Build your habitat. Open up the plastic pencil sharpener and fill it about halfway with dirt. Add in the grass and the twigs and bark. Try to arrange these items at angles in an "ant-friendly" kind of way to help your ants begin building their home.

4. Pick up two to six ants close to the location where you found your dirt. Make sure that these ants are the same size, species, and from the same ant colony. If they aren't from the same colony, they won't want to cohabitate together.

5. Place the ants carefully into their new pencil sharpener habitat and close the lid.

6. Feed your ants very small pieces of food. Crumbs, bits of crackers, and the like make excellent ant food. Give your ants water via the sharpener at the top of the pencil sharpener hole. Use an eyedropper, if possible, to deliver the water so that your ants don't get waterlogged.