Once upon a time I gave my husband (then boyfriend) an ant farm. It looked really cool. It was filled with a blue gel that was supposed to provide the ants with their tunneling material, food, and water. Amazing stuff! And the farm had its own lighting system. The only problem was that the ants had to be ordered separately and at the right time of the year (so that extreme temperatures wouldn’t kill them en route). We never got around to making the order.
Years later, my husband thought our kids would like an ant farm, so he finally ordered the ants. They arrived in a tube.
“Ants can sting. Supervision required.”
My husband poured the ants into their new home. Here they are walking around on top of the gel.
The thirsty ants paused to drink and examine their new digs.
The ant farm still looked good, even though the gel was old and a bit shriveled around the edges.
The shriveling of the gel had left the ants with an easy path to the bottom of the farm, so they start tunneling from below instead of above. This picture shows their progress in one area of the farm after 24 hours.
Here is their progress after three days.
Eleven days since their arrival, their tunnel system is pretty complex. The ants seem to keep themselves busy. There have been no casualties.
The kids were very excited about the ant farm for the first couple of days. I think they might have lost interest now, but I still check on the ants’ progress every day. And if nothing else, the ant farm makes an awesome night light. I’m glad we finally put this thing to use!