Our family has enjoyed hours of entertainment from this product. All of their friends get excited to see how much has progressed since their last visit. We ordered the ants and had them in a week. I am glad I read all of the "ant facts" beforehand too, as you then get an idea to what is a...ctually going on and understand a bit more about their interaction.Read more Less

I've got one of these in my office and clients are wowed by them. Here's a tip: gather your own ants. It's really easy, here's what you do: grab a shovel and dig at an ant hill. Soon you'll probably see the queen. Get her. Then get a bunch of her workers too and whammo!--you've now got a sustainable... ant colony!Read more Less

This is a great product. It is actually fascinating. My 5yr old son and my 40yr old brother both received this as a gift. They both thoroughly enjoyed watching the working ants- and they work fast. My son didn't want to go to school because he didn't want to miss anything. Once the ants are poured i...nto the container, no work or maintenance is necessary. Read more Less

The ant farm is truly a wonder. Smaller than expected, and the ants did take a long time to arrive, but well worth all the time invested. Less

We bought this for our ant-obsessed son, and the whole family and all visitors have loved watching the ants work.

A couple of notes:

The life-span of the ants is about 3 months -- it's been exactly 3 months and we have about 4 living ants left.

The ants b...ite - at a science store where we bought the habitat, they had one on display. The cashier was trying to show me how you would clean out any dead ants, and when he lifted the lid, the ants swarmed out and a few bit him. I taped the lid shut to deter any kids from trying to open it.

If you refrigerate the habitat for 15 minutes, that will make the ants sluggish, and you can clean out any dead ants or excess gel that the ants bring to the surface. However, set a timer! Once I left the poor ants in the refrigerator for 2 hours and when I retrieved them they were all huddled at the bottom of the habitat. Fortunately, they all survived (although perhaps you should take the 3 month life-span with a grain of salt, given the extreme conditions they faced early in their habitat life).

Due to health and mortality concerns, my son would not allow me to put a drop of nail polish on the back of one ant so that we could name him and chart his/her progress. I think that would have made the habitat even more interesting, to be able to track one specific ant.

Also, the clerk at the science store said the gel is reusable, that is, when the old ants all die, I can add more ants. That would also be interesting - would they close off the old tunnels and build new ones? Would they use the ones that exist? Too bad I've misplaced the order form...
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Futuristic ant farm includes blue spacey gel that ants create a little habitat out of. No need to add food or water - very simple. Cool tank design! Recommend sending away for the ants using the form in the packaging. Collecting your own can be a pain and risky in the south - fire ants! Also - if yo...u mix ant types by mistake (they look alike sometimes) - you may have an ant war on your hands. Get the Ant Illuminator night light (sold Sep) if you can. Makes it even cooler.Read more Less

My son gave me this ant farm for Christmas this year. I ordered the ants the next day and then started waiting. The unused ant farm sat in my office and my coworkers all wanted to know what it was. Their first comment was "it didn't come with the ants?" The answer is "of course not, t...hey would be dead by the time someone bought it." You have to order your ants and it can take a long time for them to come in, especially in the winter.
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I purchased this for my niece and she loves it. Initially they used ants from the yard and they did not have much luck getting them to dig tunnels. Then they ordered the ants from the manufacturer and now the ants dig lots of tunnels. Great gift for a young recipient.
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