After peeling off the foil and assembling the formicarium, you can proceed to decorating the arena.
Pour in sand, arrange decorations, and if you have a large enough arena and have space for a test tube incubator, place it in the arena as well. If you take pebbles or sticks from the street, just in case, we advise you to pour boiling water over them to destroy any viruses.
After decorating the arena, fill the sponge with water. Use a syringe to pour the water. It's best to use distilled, filtered, or boiled water to avoid mold or mildew in the sponge. The first time, add a little more water so that the water is dispersed between the acrylic tiles. Moistening in the future should be every 1-3 days, depending on the humidity in the room. And yes, we do not moisten all sponges, if there are several, but only those near which the ants will live (if the formicarium is large and has partitions).
Now we have to find a place where our farm will be built.
It is best for the formicarium to stand in one place and not move. There should be no sunlight on the nest. The formicarium can be left unlit, but if you want to place a lamp above it, it will not disturb the ants.
There are disputes as to whether the socket should be covered and darkened or not.
On the one hand, when we darken it while opening, the ants will see the light and will be stressed, on the other hand, if it is not darkened, the ants will get used to the light and will not be afraid.
Before letting the ants in, check that all gaps are closed, and all doors and covers are closed. If you have a barrier like talcum powder or something else, you can use it by smearing the inside of the wound or the top of the arena walls so that ants cannot escape through the arena in the future.