Compare our modular formicariums, from compact founding spaces to larger nests. Species, colony size and environmental needs matter more than buying the biggest nest.
Different setups suit different stages. Choose for the colony you have, not the one you hope to have next year.
A compact modular nest when an appropriately sized colony is ready for dedicated nesting space.
A small hydrated founding nest for an early colony, when moving from a test tube is appropriate.
Additional nesting capacity for colonies that have genuinely outgrown a smaller nest.
Larger nesting space for established colonies that need considerably more room.
Choosing an ant nest isn't about giving your colony as much space as possible. It's about providing the right amount of nesting space for the colony you have now, with suitable hydration and a sensible way to expand as it grows.
Whether you call it an ant nest or a formicarium, the basic job is the same: providing a secure nesting area for the queen, workers and brood. But different colonies can have very different requirements, and bigger doesn't automatically mean better.
A formicarium is an artificial nest designed for housing an ant colony. The term covers many different styles of ant nest, from simple plaster or gypsum nests to acrylic, naturalistic and 3D-printed designs.
The formicarium is the part of the setup containing the protected nesting chambers where the queen, workers and brood live.
This is different from an outworld, which provides the colony with an open area for foraging, feeding and waste disposal.
If you're completely new to ant keeping, we'll be covering this in much more detail in our What Is a Formicarium? beginner's guide.
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Not necessarily.
One of the easiest mistakes to make when starting ant keeping is assuming that buying a queen means you also need to buy a large ant nest immediately.
For many commonly kept species, a properly prepared test tube is an excellent founding nest. Even after the first workers arrive, a small colony can often continue living in its test tube while being given access to a small feeding area.
Moving a colony into a formicarium too early can give the ants far more space than they need. It can also make feeding, monitoring, waste management and maintaining suitable conditions more difficult.
The Antastic Tom approach is simple:
Start small. Move when the colony actually needs more space. Expand as it grows.
There isn't a single worker number at which every ant colony suddenly needs a larger formicarium.
Species, worker size, brood quantity, growth rate and the amount of space already being used all matter.
A small formicarium is generally the first dedicated nest for a young colony that has progressed beyond its founding setup.
Keeping the nesting area proportionate to the colony makes it easier to monitor the ants and avoids giving a very small colony large amounts of unused chamber space.
As worker numbers and brood increase, the colony will gradually occupy more of its existing nest.
A medium formicarium provides additional chamber space for a growing colony without immediately moving it into the largest setup available.
Large formicariums are intended for established colonies that can genuinely make use of considerably more nesting space.
Don't choose the largest ant nest simply because it offers better value per chamber. If your colony only needs a fraction of that space, a smaller nest is usually the more appropriate choice.
An ant colony's housing requirements change throughout its life.
That's why Antastic Tom nests are designed as a modular system rather than expecting a young colony to move immediately into a huge permanent enclosure.
Compatible nests, outworlds and modules can be connected as the colony develops, allowing additional space to be introduced when it is actually useful.
It also means an upgrade doesn't have to involve dismantling the entire setup. Where practical, a new nest can be connected to the existing system and the ants allowed to investigate suitable new nesting space themselves.
The size of a formicarium is only one consideration.
Ants also need suitable moisture within their nesting environment, particularly around developing brood. Requirements vary between species, so there isn't one hydration schedule that works for every colony.
Antastic Tom nests use a gypsum nesting area and dedicated hydration system, allowing moisture to enter the nest without filling the chambers with loose substrate.
The aim isn't to make the entire nest wet. Hydration should provide appropriate moisture while avoiding unnecessary saturation or flooding.
These terms are sometimes confusing when you're starting out, but they describe two different parts of an ant setup.
The formicarium is the nest. It provides the protected chambers occupied by the queen, brood and workers.
The outworld is the foraging area. It's where workers can search for food, take carbohydrates and protein, drink and dispose of waste.
A young colony may initially have its test tube acting as the nest while a small outworld provides somewhere to feed.
As the colony grows, that test tube can eventually be replaced by a dedicated formicarium while the outworld continues performing its separate role.
There isn't one ant nest that's right for every species or every colony.
Before choosing one, consider:
Price is another consideration, but an expensive formicarium isn't automatically a good one and a cheap ant nest isn't automatically a bad one.
Sometimes a very simple setup is exactly what a colony needs. Spending more money on a larger or more complicated formicarium doesn't necessarily improve the ants' living conditions.
We'll explore that separately in our guide to cheap and affordable formicariums, including where it's worth spending money and where inexpensive ant-keeping setups can work perfectly well.
Antastic Tom formicariums are designed and made in the UK as part of a modular ant-keeping system.
The objective isn't to move colonies into elaborate nests as quickly as possible. It's to provide appropriately sized housing that can develop alongside the colony.
If your ants are still thriving in their current founding setup, there's no need to rush them into a formicarium.
When they genuinely need more room, choose a nest appropriate for the colony you have now — and expand when they give you a reason to.
