Setting up

Check each box against the contents listed on its product page. The main ones:

• Scout: the Scout, its sliding acrylic lid, LockClip, Port Plug, Tube Plug and Cover
• Founder: the Founder, its acrylic lid, a Link, two Port Plugs, a Vent Plug, a Hydration Insert and cotton balls
• Homestead: the top and base, two acrylic lids, a Link, four Port Plugs, a Vent Plug, two Hydration Inserts and cotton balls
• Four Corners: the top and base, four acrylic lids, four Links, four Port Plugs, four Vent Plugs, four Hydration Inserts and cotton balls
• Frontier S: the outworld, an acrylic lid with a feeding port, a Link, three Port Plugs and a Vent Plug
• Frontier L: the same, with four Port Plugs

The Scout Riser that lifts a Scout to meet bigger nests is sold separately, and so is the Scout's test tube.

Every American Ant piece has the same AA-01 port, and a Link joins any two of them. Push one end of the Link firmly into a port until it stops, then push the second piece onto the other end. The collar in the middle stops each side at the right depth, so the two pieces end up about ⅛ in apart.

Founder, Homestead, Four Corners and both Frontiers have their ports at the same height above the table, so they join straight across on a flat surface. The Scout sits lower. Set it on a Scout Riser to line it up with them.

Founder and Homestead boxes each include a Link. Need more? The Link is sold on its own.

Four Corners holds four separate colonies, so each quadrant gets its own outworld or tube.

Close every port you aren't using before the colony moves in. A Port Plug seals a port. A Vent Plug closes it but lets air through.

Homestead and Four Corners also have vent sockets: one on the Homestead's back wall, in the dry half, and one for each Four Corners quadrant. Fit a Vent Plug there for airflow, or a Port Plug to close it.

Push each plug in until it stops. Crush ribs on the plug hold it snug.

Before first use, paint the top inch of the inner wall with Fluon (a PTFE barrier) and let it dry. Along with the inward lip under the lid, it makes the walls hard for ants to climb.

The lid's feeding port lets you drop food in without lifting the lid. If the port isn't fitted yet, push its lower part up through the round hole in the lid from underneath, then press the collar down onto it from above. Close it with a Port Plug, or a Vent Plug for extra airflow.

Add a thin layer of sand to the sand pit if you like, and use the two dish recesses in the floor for food dishes.

Prepare the water before the colony moves in. Founder, Homestead and Four Corners use damp cotton in cups beneath printed-hole Hydration Inserts; they have no water reservoirs or fill ports.

• Scout: its water is a 16 mm test tube, filled and plugged with cotton
• Founder: one cotton cup beneath its water well
• Homestead: two cotton cups, one beneath each well on the humid side
• Four Corners: four separate cotton cups, one per colony, to prevent mold spreading between colonies
• Frontiers: push a Test-Tube Adapter holding a water tube into a spare port

For each cup, wet one large or two regular cotton balls without soaking them. Press the cotton into the cup so it bulges a few millimeters above the rim. Set the Top on; the cotton should touch the underside of the printed-hole Hydration Insert. Lift the Top to re-wet or replace cotton, and replace moldy cotton right away.

The watering guide has model-by-model details.