- 100% free
- PDF and ePub
- No sign-up
The free BRUMA Ants ebook
The Ant Keeper's Starter Guide
Everything I wish I'd known when I started keeping ants, in one book: from catching your first queen to looking after a colony of thousands. Download it, read it on any device and keep it next to your ants.
- pages
- 174
- chapters
- 11
- species rated
- 45
- checklists
- 12
What you'll learn
The whole journey of a colony, explained step by step from real colonies.
How a colony works
Queens, workers and majors, the life cycle from egg to worker and how a new colony is born.
Get your first queen
When nuptial flights happen, how to catch a queen gently and how to buy one safely.
The test tube setup
The classic founding setup, step by step, and what to do in the first weeks of a new colony.
Feeding, housing and climate
Sugar, protein and water, nests compared, temperature, humidity and the yearly winter rest.
Fix problems early
Mold, mites, escapes and colonies that stop growing: how to spot them and what to do.
Pick the right species
A difficulty scale from 1 to 7, five great first colonies and a directory of 45 species.
What's inside
Four parts that follow your colony, from a single queen to thousands of workers, plus three reference appendices.
Part 1: The basics
What ant keeping really is, what it costs and how an ant colony works from the inside.
- 1Welcome to ant keeping
- 2How a colony works
Part 2: Your first colony
From the nuptial flight to the first workers, and everything your young colony needs to eat and live in.
- 3Getting your first queen
- 4The founding stage
- 5Feeding your colony
- 6Housing your colony
Part 3: Growing strong
Climate, hibernation and growing a colony of thousands, plus how to fix things when they go wrong.
- 7Climate, humidity and hibernation
- 8From hundreds to thousands
- 9Problems and fixes
Part 4: Species and reference
How to choose your species, where to go next and the reference pages you'll come back to for years.
- 10Choosing your species
- 11Going further
- ASpecies directory
- BGlossary
- CChecklists and printables
A look inside
Photos from my own colonies, clear diagrams and checklists you can print. Tap a page to see it up close.
Choose your format
Both formats have the same content. Download one, or both.
PDF
The designed book · 20.8 MB
- The full layout, with the index and page numbers
- Best on computers and tablets
- Print the checklists and the colony log
ePub
For e-readers · 8.7 MB
- Text that adapts to your screen and font size
- Best on Kobo, Apple Books and other e-readers
- On a Kindle, send it with Send to Kindle
Written by Bruma
From one ant keeper to another
I've been keeping ants since 2020, when I caught a single Lasius niger queen in a park. This book collects everything my colonies taught me, including my mistakes, so you can skip them. Like everything on BRUMA Ants, it's free.
More about mePatience is the most important tool of any ant keeper.
FAQs
7Yes. The Ant Keeper's Starter Guide is completely free, like every guide on BRUMA Ants. There's no paid version and no hidden extras.
No. Just click the download button: no account, no email and no newsletter required.
The book is in English. The website is in seven languages, so you can always read the care guides in your own language too.
Pick the PDF to read on a computer or a tablet, or to print the checklists. Pick the ePub for an e-reader such as a Kobo, or for apps like Apple Books, where the text adapts to your screen.
Yes. Download the ePub and send it to your Kindle with Amazon's Send to Kindle service, from the app or the website. It appears in your library like any other book.
Yes. It starts from zero and follows a colony from a single queen to thousands of workers. Experienced keepers will still find the species directory, the care calendar and the checklists useful.
Please share the link to this page, so everyone gets the latest edition. The book itself is copyrighted, so please don't upload it to other websites.
Start your first colony the right way
174 pages, PDF and ePub, free. No email, no sign-up: just download it and start reading.
- 174 pages
- 11 chapters
- 45 species rated
Join Us On Discord!
Great news! Now we have a Discord server! Discover the ultimate hub for ant enthusiasts, where ant keepers from around the world come together to share their passion! Click the button below to join the club!
Join the server!