Ant farm?

[Mobius]

I just ordered this because it looks fucking awesome. Has anyone ever had an ant farm? I'm going to let them build tunnels and caves and then introduce another gang of ants and see if they engage in some sort of insect warfare. I can't wait!

Video here - http://s18.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2I8HSTZY7HNZZ1538YDFGV1OK1

If possible could someone mirror to video 'cus its only tiny and that download has a limit to how many times it can be used.

 

[Wonk]

"Easy to care for - Ants need NO food or water."

do they eat the gel then? :|

 

[Hansmoleman]

"Easy to care for - Ants need NO food or water."

do they eat the gel then? :|

it has to go somewhere if thier making tunnels?

 

[Wonk]

it has to go somewhere if thier making tunnels?

they're always eating melons, cookies etc, in the cartoons

 

[Damini]

I bought my sister an ant farm, exactly the same as the one you're getting.

First she introduced two ants, and they were very sweet, running around the whole time, digging tunnels. She names them, and loved them, wowed by their communal nature and chirpy demenour. But she decided they were lonely, so she went around collecting as many ants as she could find.

Apparently, not all black ant colonies are friends.

It was a massacre. There were severed heads and limbs left scattered throughout the tunnels, where the ants would literally chop the other ants into pieces. Another ant was dragging around a dead ant, who had apparently died while biting its leg, and was forever trapped in death, jaw wrapped round his enemies shin. My sisters care bear farm of happy ants working side by side had descended into an insect version of the bowels of hell. One solitary ant lived to tell the tale, and he escaped, probably after digging his way out with a spoon, a mad, sad, desperate look in his eye.

My sister tried flooding out the corpses, but they didn't come out very easily, so they remain, decomposing, in the carefully chewed ant catacombs, a sorrowful sign of past warring.

She since introduced new ants, but as if sensing the death in the tunnels below, they huddle on the surface, refusing to go down.

So, in short, ant farms are AWESOME.

 

[Trem]

I got one of them last year, for an entire shift I made one of my staff find ants to put in it. He fashioned a McDonalds straw sucking device.

Anyways we got some and for many days they made 1 tunnel, then they started dying/attacking each other.

The coolest thing was they seemed to make a seperate tunnel right over on the edge which was where they put the dead ants, a type of graveyard.

At the end when there was only 1 left I let him go.

Ants live for up to 6 months btw so don't get attached.

 

[Mobius]

Thanks Lou, now I'm even more excited about it! My farm is going to be a wasteland. I'm thinking about importing some big bastard ants too, those pussy garden ones just don't do it for me!

 

[throdgrain]

Sounds great if you ask me

 

[Wazzerphuk]

I thought about getting one of them. On bored summers trapping red and black ants in a container and watching them fight is brutal entertainment.

 

[Tom]

This fucking rocks. I'm getting one.

/edit: mirrored

 

[Cyradix]

I would add a spider to the farm......

 

[dysfunction]

Thanks Lou, now I'm even more excited about it! My farm is going to be a wasteland. I'm thinking about importing some big bastard ants too, those pussy garden ones just don't do it for me!

Get some Argentine ants. They supposedly make a habit of attacking other ants...

Or get some Driver ants. They will eat any insect they come across or even a small mammals!!

 

[Mobius]

/edit: mirrored

Ta.

I tried importing a queen ant but apparently its illegal because you're fucking with the nature in an ecosystem or something. I wonder how far you have to dig to find a queen ant.

 

[Penguin]

"Easy to care for - Ants need NO food or water."

do they eat the gel then? :|

Weird I've seen things like this before, only they usually have a tube leading to another smaller section where you're meant to put jam or something? In the pic theres alot of gel up on top .. i guess maybe they eat some too bet it tastes yummy.

Sounds fun! I want one.

- Penguin

 

[xane]

I used to have a game called SimAnt, by Maxis, I'm sure you can find it for free download.

 

[Dommers]

what happens once they've eaten all the gel/died. can u get more gel or something?

 

[Mobius]

what happens once they've eaten all the gel/died. can u get more gel or something?

Yeah it lasts about a year apparently then you can just order more, its really cheap. Or alternatively just keep the tank and fill it with something else.

 

[Brynn]

the new

shit-ants!

 

[Dommers]

ah ok cheers mob, thanx for clearing that up

 

[Mobius]

I got the farm, but have been unsuccessful in catching any ants so far. The cold weather keeps them underground. I put a biscuit coated in sugar outside, but a bird flew off with it. I've put another biscuit in the same spot, coated in pepper.

 

[tribute]

really cool, going to make me an tank my self, think I'll use sand or soil in it PP

just need to keep it thin so I can see what happens.

 

[Gumbo]

I got the farm, but have been unsuccessful in catching any ants so far. The cold weather keeps them underground. I put a biscuit coated in sugar outside, but a bird flew off with it. I've put another biscuit in the same spot, coated in pepper.

If you find a ant hole pour some soapy water in, that'll bring em up, or just lift a paving slab or two, you'll almost certainly find ant runs under one.