When I was a boy I had an ant farm. My oldest son is interested in getting one too. Any tips, suggestions, things to keep in mind? Any wisdom to impart? It will be much appreciated.

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Andrew Myers
Husband of Jessica, Father of Jackson, Katie and Samuel
Member, Presbyterian Reformed Church of Northern Virginia
Warrenton, VA USA
Editor, The Matthew Poole Project

"On land, at sea, at home, abroad, / I smoke my pipe and worship God." -- J.S. Bach

Every boy should have an ant farm.

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Dennis E. McFadden, Ex Mainline Baptist (in Remission)
Atherton Baptist Homes, CEO
First Baptist Church of Alhambra, Member, Transformation Ministries (CA)

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Stay away from the biting ants......

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1689er
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Raul knew every thing you need to know about ant farms. Oh MAN!!!

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Bob Vigneault (Bawb Vēēn-yo)
I just know there's got to be a pony in here somewhere!

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They are way cooler now than when I was a kid.

My nephew got one last year.

They use some type of 'gel' in them now instead of sand. It looks almost psychedelic after the ants have worked on it a few days.

Here's what he has:



Ant Farm Gel Colony

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Steve Butts - Former SBC-er
Three Forms of Unity - Bradenton CRC - Bradenton, Florida
(A conservative member in a conservative congregation)

"It is a good thing God chose me before I was born, because he surely would not have afterwards." — C.H. Spurgeon

Hey Andrew,

I started a beehive this year and it was a direct result of Uncle Milton's Ant Farm from back in the day.

Ants are cool but bees are cooler.

In fact, I got an observation hive (plexiglass) because I'm amazed how God made them, their different jobs, etc.

I had to open it today to check on them.

Point being is it can grow into a greater love for God in His work in creation.

BTW, they have this cool transparent blue gel instead of sand so you can see all the way through the panes in ant farms now.

Adios

Now I see Sebs post... my mistake.

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Bryan Wiley
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Reformed Baptist Church
Louisville, Kentucky

I do tarantulas, scorpions a some insects. Here's a huge forum I go to with questions along those lines, perhaps you could use the search function. I'm sure you could get some great info.

Arachnoboards - Powered by vBulletin

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Tim Vaughan, 48 years old, member PCA church but currently attending EV Free church. San Luis Obispo County, California.

Where does one go to buy an ant farm? I'm homeschooling disadvantaged children and it seems to be an ideal item to have in the classroom. Is it possible to transport these things--how breakable are they? Import/export regulations should not be a problem for me; my concern is more about size and temperature/pressure parameters.

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Mary Vanderkooi
Kale Heywott Church (KHC)
Soddo, Ethiopia

Bawb! The clip missed the best line: "Badgers! Badgers! We don't need no stinking badgers!"

Mary, there will be more than enough where you live. After the rains, the new queens fly out all over the place, as do termites. You need to get a queen.

But how does one obtain these neat see-through gel thingies where the kids can watch what is happening? True, we have ants here--like the plagues of Egypt at times, but they live in the ground and also they are stinging critters, not the kind of thing I'd like to mess with.

You'd get into all kinds of trouble if you tried to import some. What provence are you in? I could probably think of several local things you could use in your work. If there are any rivers or lakes around there it will be really easy to start some projects that are interesting and educational.

There's no problem with importing. The states and Europe prohibit importing but not exporting so they won't give grief either. There are some streams nearby. There are lakes also but the lakes have croccidiles by the shores and thus are not safe to walk beside. What kind of science projects do you have in mind? I have all kinds of TOPS books for hands-on science but they are all far too advanced for my kids. Simple, lower-grammar-school projects would be great.

Here's one we did:

Take a plastic coke or other soft drink bottle. Cut the top third off (don't measure! It will work out with a guess). Take the top third off. Turn it upside down, and put it into the bottom. Then what you have is the top which fits into the bottom, the top being upside down. Then fasten it. Fishing line works, threaded in holes you make towards the top with a hot needle or something.

Then put some bread, corn meal, meal with curry, whatever you have into the bottle. About a table spoon full. Tie some fishing line to it. Put it into the water. Use a stick or something to fasten it to the bank.

Wait a couple hours. Small fish will swim into the inverted top to get to the bait, and not be able to find their way out.

You will almost certainly catch fish that the locals haven't seen, and perhaps find new species.

If nothing else, the small fish you catch make good bait for bigger fish, and the kids will be VERY appreciative to you for showing them this technique, and at best, you will find fish new to science.

Wow! This sounds great. We'll try it and let you know what happens.

I started looking around the web at other gel ant farms and discovered that a lot of people had problems with the one I showed in my earlier post in this thread.

This one seems to be a much better product though:



Amazon.com: Fascinations ANTW2 Antworks...

Why not keep some tropical fish....way better than ants IMO!!

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Richard
CofE
UK

Because ants are way cooler. They actually do something and build things.

Besides there's always a slight fear that they will conspire, break out, and take over the house. Maybe even the world!

At least that's how my mind worked back when I was that proper age for an ant farm.

So you would need to get prepared first eh?

Thanks for the feedback, everyone.

BTW, for little girls, there is also Ladybug Land:

Ladybug Land Kit Instructions

Anyone who wants 10 dozen ladybugs can send me $20 and I'll be glad to ship them off to him. In fact, if you want 1000 dozen, I can probably manage and will give you a cut rate for the lot. We seem to breed 'em like mad in Iowa...

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Todd K. Pedlar
member, First Congregational Church, (CCCC) Cresco, IA
http://semperubi.rtrc.net

"Many men, after a long conversion, see more of the workings of sin in their hearts than ever they did before or at their first conversion. Now, such men have not an increase of sin, but an increase of illumination and light" (Christopher Love)


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I want a worm farm.

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~Beth Ellen Nagle~
Lakeside Church -Wales, WI (PCA)
Married to John
One wonderful daughter, Chaela Joelle
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