Product Description

The largest viewing area of any Ant Farm® habitat! Perfect for classrooms!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5173 in Toys & Games
• Brand: Uncle Milton
• Model: 0033
• Dimensions: 2.80" h x 11.80" w x 19.60" l, 2.60 pounds

Features

• Largest Viewing area
• Great for home or classroom
• Includes water feeder, ant food, tunneling sand, Ant Watcher's Manual
• Mail-in coupon for live harvester ants (ants shipped within continental limits of USA only)

Amazon.com Teacher Review
Some people buy Uncle Milton's ant farms out of nostalgia, having been ant farmers themselves as kids. Others are charmed by the odd perspective created as the ants build outsize tunnels beneath a replica of a bucolic little farm. But if you're buying this toy on the pretense that it is, as the guidebook says, "a lesson in nature study," beware. The box says you'll see ants dig tunnels, erect bridges, and plan and construct highways and subways. What they dig are tunnels that connect what might loosely be called "chambers." And that's about it. Without a queen, new births, real food to gather, foraging trips, or other ant colonies to tangle with, what you'll purchase are ants that perform in a behavior-stunting environment. You may feel that all this is of no concern so long as the farm provides a slice of childhood wonder. But if you're uneasy with the ant world you set into motion, and Uncle Milton's green farm begins to look surreal instead of jolly, the feeling may pass from you to your kids. --Jeannine Prince has a Master's in Education. She has worked as both a teacher and a curriculum coordinator in a constructivist learning and problem solving program for ages birth to 5 years.

Customer Reviews

Pretty cool for us Big Kids
I have my Ant Farm at work (Ironically, I work for Amazon.com), much to horror of some of my office mates. It makes a good discussion piece and its a great way to meet people in the office.

Setting up the ant farm is a no brainer. Make sure to get the sand in the display case, put in the starter water when the ants show up (Mine took about 3 weeks, and 100% were alive), and drop in the ants.

Below are my ant tips.

1) Make sure you stuff the plugs of cotton down into the sand as stated in the instructions. This creates the starter holes for the ants to start digging. Since the cotton plugs are evenly spaced, you will get nice ant tunnels throughout the farm.

2) You must have the ants in a tightly regulated temperature enviroment. If you put this guys in an hot enviroment, they will die quickly. Same goes for cold enviroment. If the temperature where you have the ant farm varies to much the ants will die quickly. The office here is about the same comfortable temperature all the time, so I think the ants will live a long time.

3) Keep the ant farm away from people who have to touch stuff to experience it. I have already caught 2 people trying to pick up the case and look at the ants. A cave in of the tunnels will kill the ants. This is not a hands on toy.

4) The ants are replaceable. You can buy fresh ants. People who complain that the ants die quickly are not following the instructions, or are not taking a longview on owning an ant farm. If the ants die, for whatever reason, you can buy new ones.

short lived, yet fascinating, fun
I think you have to view the Ant Farm as a product in three seperate stage.

1) You get the ant house and wait for the ants. The delay in receiving the ants is difficult (it made us all "antsy"? ) but we were pleased with how few dead ants there were on arrival. Think of it as a chance to read up on ant behavior....

2) The ants arrive and do their thing. Watching them build their tunnels was absolutely fascinating -- for a week. The adults in our house were just as fascinated as the children.

3) The decline and fall of an ant empire. After a week, we had a dramatic die off, despite rigerously following the instructions re. feeding, temperature, humidity, etc. Now we have ONE lone ant, wandering the tunnels, who has lived 4 weeks past the life of her companions. Kind of a sad end for a social creature, when you think about it....

Bottom line: If I had known 99% of our ants would die at the end of a week, I would not have invested [the money], but we enjoyed them while they were there.

Worth it, if you're careful!
My mother threw mine out when I was young so of course I got another for my son. Sure, you can build your own, but for the small price this is well worth the investment to get one that will work first time.

But here are some hints for using the ant farm from one who has learned from experience:

1. Be careful putting in the "sand." Follow the instructions very carefully, and make sure to keep the cotton plugs securely in place. Don't "pack" the sand in AT ALL or the sides will spread outward and the farm will leak.

2. When you get the ants, make sure to let them "cool off" in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to slow them down before you try to dump them into the farm. They look immobile but as soon as you open the lid of that tiny jar those fiesty little buggers are all over the place! And believe me, they are FAST. Use an earlier-prepared big paper funnel to help get them all in.

3. Be very careful when taking off the "feeding doors" at the top. They fall into the farm VERY EASILY and you will need a LONG tweezer or equivalent to get them out.

4. Place the art farm in an already well-lighted on something that won't shake, and where the little kids can't grab it down to "take a look."

Good luck, and have fun!