About ANT SHACK
Small Worlds. Endless Discovery.
ANT SHACK started with something simple: a fascination with ants.
We're Thomas and Eric, a father-and-son team from Switzerland. What began as a shared interest in ant keeping gradually became something much bigger.
The more time we spent observing colonies, the more fascinating they became. A handful of ants can develop into an intricate living world, with tunnels, chambers, food trails, workers and behaviours that are easy to overlook until you start paying attention.
We also started thinking about the habitats themselves.
Why should an ant habitat be a closed box that eventually needs to be replaced? Why couldn't it grow and change together with the colony?
That question became ANT SHACK.
A Habitat That Grows With Your Colony
Ant colonies are constantly changing.
They start small. They grow. They need more space. Their requirements evolve.
We designed ANT SHACK around the same idea.
Our modular system allows you to start with the habitat your colony needs today and expand it over time. Add another nest. Connect a larger outworld. Change the layout. Build something completely different.
Instead of thinking of an ant habitat as a single product, we think of it as a system.
Start small. Connect. Expand. Keep discovering.
That's still the idea behind everything we create.
Designed and Made in Switzerland
ANT SHACK is based in Switzerland, where we design and make our habitats in our own workshop.
For us, being made in Switzerland isn't about putting a flag on a product or making abstract claims about “Swiss quality.”
It's much more practical than that.
We develop our own ideas. We work directly with the products. We keep improving designs when we see something that could work better. And because we're ant keepers ourselves, we approach our habitats from the perspective of someone who actually wants to use them.
It's a small, hands-on way of working, and we intend to keep it that way.
Today, most ANT SHACK habitats leave our Swiss workshop for customers thousands of kilometres away, particularly in the United States.
We think that's pretty remarkable.
From Our Family to Thousands of Ant Keepers
What began as a father-and-son project has grown into a community of more than 8,000 ANT SHACK customers around the world.
They include people discovering their first colony, experienced ant keepers building elaborate setups, parents sharing the hobby with their children, and teachers bringing an entire living society into the classroom.
Seeing what people build with ANT SHACK is one of our favourite parts of running the company.
And we're still developing new ideas.
New habitats. New modules. New ways to observe colonies. Better resources for beginners. Tools for classrooms. Digital tools for keeping track of colonies.
There is always something else to discover.
More Than Ant Farms
We want ANT SHACK to be more than a place where you buy an ant habitat.
We want to help make ant keeping more accessible, more interesting and more rewarding.
That's why ANT SHACK includes not only habitats and accessories, but also beginner resources, educational programs, our Colony Tracker and a community where ant keepers can connect and share their experiences.
Because once you start looking closely at the world of ants, a plastic box with a few tunnels suddenly becomes something much more interesting.
It becomes a window into another world.
Welcome to ANT SHACK
Whether you're preparing for your first queen, growing an established colony, building an ambitious modular setup or introducing a classroom to ant keeping, we're glad you found us.
Explore. Experiment. Build. And most importantly, enjoy watching your colony grow.
Thomas & Eric
Father & Son, Founders of ANT SHACK
Switzerland
Designed and made in Switzerland. Built for ant keepers everywhere.