Cheap Formicariums & Ant Nests: How Much Do You Really Need to Spend?
Ant keeping doesn't have to be expensive. Search for a formicarium online and you'll find everything from nests that cost about as much as a takeaway to elaborate setups well over £100. So where in that range should you land?
It depends on your ants and how far along the colony is, far more than on any particular price point. One of the cheapest nests going is also one of the best homes for a founding colony: a test tube.
Can you buy a cheap formicarium in the UK?
Yes. There are inexpensive nests for queens and small colonies, and at the other end, large nests, complete habitats and starter systems that cost a lot more.
Price alone tells you very little. A £15 nest that's the right size, secure and properly hydrated can be a far better home for a small colony than a £100 setup built for hundreds of workers. And the cheapest nest you can find is poor value if the hydration doesn't work, the workers can squeeze out, or you have to replace the whole thing in a month.
I bought a bargain nest early on with ventilation slots that looked fine on the listing. The workers were smaller than the listing photos suggested, and I found the first escapee on the skirting board two days later. Ten minutes with a magnifier and a ruler before buying would have saved me a week of chasing ants and taping over slots.
So don't hunt for the cheapest formicarium. Look for the least expensive setup that properly meets your colony's needs.
The cheapest nest might already be a test tube
If you've got a newly caught queen, you may not need to buy a formicarium at all. Many common species found their colonies in a small enclosed chamber, and a fully claustral queen stays there while she raises her first workers.
A properly prepared test tube gives her a small chamber, a water reservoir, humidity, easy visibility for quick checks, and no wasted space, for almost nothing. It isn't a stopgap until you buy a "proper" nest. For a founding queen, the tube is the proper nest, and moving her into a pricey formicarium doesn't improve things. Depending on the species and design, it can make them harder to manage.
If you're starting on a budget, your first purchase doesn't need to be a big nest.
Cheap doesn't mean bad
Two different things get mixed up here: cheaply made and inexpensive.
A simple nest can be inexpensive because it's small, uses little material, and leaves out features a young colony doesn't need. That's very different from saving money by cutting something that matters. So whatever the price, check the same fundamentals.
Escape. Check gaps, ventilation holes, joins, lids and connection points. It matters most with small-workered species.
Hydration. A low price doesn't remove the need for moisture. Work out how water gets to the nesting area, how controllable it is, and what happens if you add too much.
Size. A cheap, small nest that fits the colony is excellent value. A cheap, enormous one is no bargain if the colony shouldn't live in something that big.
Darkness. You want to watch your ants, but they still need a protected, coverable nesting area.
Material. Acrylic, gypsum, plaster-style materials, 3D-printed plastics and natural substrates all work. Ignore which one sounds premium and ask whether the design suits your species.
Growth. A very cheap nest gets expensive if you have to bin it and buy everything again each time the colony grows. Expansion and compatibility count for as much as the sticker price.
How much does a formicarium cost in the UK?
There's no standard price. Small commercial nests for young colonies sit in the low tens of pounds, while larger nests and complete systems can run to £50, £100 or well beyond, depending on size, construction and what's included. Check current listings, because prices move.
That doesn't make one end good and the other bad. You're often comparing different products. A small nest for a young colony and a large setup for an established one aren't alternatives just because both are called formicariums.
What are you paying for?
As prices rise, you might be paying for:
- More nesting space
- More complex hydration
- Different materials
- Bigger viewing areas
- Tighter manufacturing tolerances
- Covers or viewing panels
- An integrated outworld
- Modular connections and expansion options
- Included accessories
- More complicated manufacturing
Some of those may be worth it to you. Others may be irrelevant to your colony. The priciest formicarium isn't automatically the best, and the cheapest isn't automatically the worst.
Compare complete setups, not nests
Price comparisons get muddy here. One £20 product might be just a nest. A £40 one might come with an outworld, hydration parts, covers and connectors. A third might include equipment, or even ants.
Before you decide a nest is expensive, look at what's in the box. If the cheaper one needs you to buy an outworld, tubing, connectors, hydration equipment and a cover separately, the totals can flip. The figure worth comparing is what the complete setup you actually need will cost, not which product has the lowest advertised price.
Bigger isn't better value
It's easy to think: this one's only £10 more and has twice as many chambers. The ants don't care about price per chamber. If a young colony only needs a small nesting area, extra space does it no good. Oversized nests are harder to monitor and give food remains and waste more places to build up.
Buy for the colony you have now, not to maximise how much plastic, acrylic or nesting space you get per pound.
Modular can change the maths
You can also start with something sized for the colony you have and add space as it grows. That's the idea behind modular nests. The first purchase stays smaller and cheaper, and you connect more nesting or foraging space when the colony needs it.
That won't always be the cheapest route over a colony's whole life, but you aren't paying on day one for years of space nobody's using. In a hobby where a colony can develop over several years, that often makes more sense than trying to predict what a handful of workers will need later.
Cheap formicarium or DIY?
If you want to keep costs as low as possible, you can build your own nest, and DIY can be very cheap if you already have the materials and tools. It's rarely free, though. Depending on the design you may need:
- Containers or printed parts
- Acrylic
- Gypsum or plaster
- Mesh
- Tubing or connectors
- Sealants or fixings
- Tools
- Material for failed prototypes
Cheap to make isn't the same as easy to make safely. A DIY nest still needs sound hydration, ventilation, chamber dimensions and escape prevention. If you like building things, that's part of the fun. If you just want somewhere reliable for your ants, a finished nest may be better value.
For a closer look at materials, chamber design and making a safe setup, see our DIY Formicarium guide.
What's actually worth spending money on?
You don't need to buy everything at once. As a beginner I'd prioritise what directly affects your ability to keep the colony safely: suitable housing, reliable hydration, escape prevention, and a practical way to feed them. Decorations and fancy accessories can wait.
A very young colony has surprisingly simple needs. That's a good reason not to buy an enormous "ultimate" setup before you've got your ants. You might find the species, or the way you enjoy keeping them, is nothing like you expected. Start with what you need, and add equipment when it solves an actual problem.
How to choose an affordable nest
Ask these questions in order:
- Does it suit my species? Worker size and moisture needs matter more than price.
- Does it suit my colony size? Don't pay for space you shouldn't be using yet.
- Can I hydrate it properly? Understand the system before any ants go in.
- Is it secure? Look at ventilation, joins, lids and connection points.
- What else do I need to buy? Add in the outworld, connections and covers before comparing prices.
- Can it expand? If the colony grows, can you add to it or will you have to replace it?
- Is the expensive option giving my ants anything useful? If not, spending more doesn't make you a better keeper.
Affordable nests from Antastic Tom
Antastic Tom nests are designed and made in the UK around a simple idea: give the colony the space it needs now, with a route to expand later. Instead of asking a beginner to buy a huge nest for a young colony, the range includes smaller nests and a modular system, so nesting and foraging space can be added as the colony develops. Our nests combine a printed body with a gypsum nesting area and controlled hydration, with compatible connections across the system.
If your queen or young colony is still properly housed in a test tube, don't buy a nest just because we sell one. Keep using the setup that works. When they genuinely need more nesting space, browse our Ant Formicariums & Nests UK collection and choose a size that fits where the colony is now.