Fascinations AntWorks Illuminated Blue
by Fascinations
|
List Price: Our Price: $20.00 You Save: $12.99 (39%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Toy See more product details |
|---|
Toys and Games Reviews of Fascinations AntWorks Illuminated Blue
Customer Review: Works for Australian ants, too.
Summary: 5 Stars
We bought our Antworks for our 7-year-old son, but everyone else has found it mesmerising. We live in Queensland, Australia, so the mail order Harvester ants available to US customers were not an option. There is an excellent local substitute, however, the green-headed ant - a little internet research will get you all the facts.
Our green-headed workers hesitated for an hour or two and then tunnelled like mad - beautiful, clear tunnels deep in the gel, criss-crossing and widening into hollows against the sides of the container. Their jaws are relatively large, and the small plastic jeweller's loupe supplied gives you a good view of the action as they bite off the gel and transport it to the top of the container. The blue medium seems to suit them admirably; most of our ants lived just over three months. We also bought the LED base, highly recommended despite the extra cost as it highlights the tunnels to great effect (and the blue glow is stunning in a darkened room). We suspect that the near-constant illumination may have shortened the ants' lives, however, as those in the mini-version of this product (purchased at the same time) enjoyed normal night and day cycles and are still going strong nearly a month after the last of the big colony citizens expired. The colony was easy to clean with a cotton-tipped swab, though you don't really need to do this as the gel contains fungicides that keep things pretty clean despite the litter of dead ant parts. When all the ants die, you can sluice out the gel under a gentle stream from the cold water tap (any debris deep in the tunnels just flushes out), tip it to drain, and start again. (You can re-set the gel into a solid block, too - wash it out, warm the container under hot water to slide it out, chop it up and melt in short bursts of a few seconds in the microwave (some users suggest adding a few drops of water for this). Cool slightly and pour back in.)
If you want to see the full life cycle in action, you'll need to catch a queen. There are no commercial retailers of queen ants here that I've been able to discover, but I understand that the winged queens often fall into pools and cluster near windows after nuptial flights on warm evenings. The advice from a local forum is to collect these into a container with a lid and leave them overnight. You'll be able to recognise the fertilised queens in the morning, as they will shed their wings.
In summary: a great product which can work anywhere.
Customer Review: Lots of fun with the right ants!
Summary: 4 Stars
We got this for Christmas in 2006, then found ants to put in it in summer 2007. They lived, but did NOTHING for the entire few months they lived...although we did enjoy seeing them eat the random spider we'd through in there. :) These were tiny little ants that that were so small we had to put a piece of tape over the air holes because they could crawl through! Two days ago we went out in our woods and found a log with the larger ants living in it. After some creative work on my part with a jar and kids 1" paint brush, I was able to catch some of those. (wait for a sunny day when they are near the surface of their hole) They are already digging and tunneling! We even got some larvae that we hope to see develop! We spent the time during the school year studying ants as a homeschool project, so we were disappointed when the first batch didn't do anything, but now that we have studied them so extensively, we are thrilled to see them build their nurseries, garbage dump, sleeping quarters, etc. Can't wait to see if any males emerge from the larvae! We'll release those if they do!
Oh..and very tricky for me to get the ants INTO the farm. After collecting them in a jar, I found a way to separate them from the debris, then put a paper cover on the jar that left a 1-2" oval opening/pour spout area. I took the cover off the farm and lightly taped a piece of paper the same size as the lid to the top, then poked a hole with a pencil about the size of my funnel that I have. I then poured the ants into the funnel and used the paintbrush to help get them in there and down the funnel. Once in the farm, I sifted through the previously separated debris on a piece of paper to find the larvae, then dumped them down the funnel. When the funnel was not in the hole, I put a small piece of tape over the hole. After everyone was in safe and sound, I waited for them to settle down, then quickly and gently removed the paper and replaced the lid. There has got to be an easier way to do this, but this is what we figured out and I thought I'd post it here in case someone finds themselves stuck in the same place we were with...how do we get these into the farm and not all over the counter or porch?
Customer Review: Educational & fascinating!
Summary: 5 Stars
After watching my 5-year-old daughter learn so much and enjoy her butterfly garden, i.e. Insect Lore Live Butterfly Garden, my husband and I decided to try an ant farm as she's keen on observing ants in their habitat. I read all the glowing reviews here on Amazon and decided to try it out. We have been very pleased with our purchase - the ants can be ordered online (ordering with the enclosed order form via snail mail takes a lot longer) and will arrive within a couple of days (some of the websites where one can order live harvester ants, the type recommended for this ant farm are [...]), so with pre-planning, the ants can be timed to arrive around the time of the ant farm.
The kit arrives with a booklet containing clear and user-friendly directions as to what to do with the ants. These are harvester ants and they can BITE, so I would advise an adult to handle the ants instead of children. There's a stick provided and one will have to poke about 4 holes in the gel (I'd recommend making the holes in the gel closer to the glass for easy observation). Once the ants start tunneling (how soon this occurs varies - for us it took a couple of days, our friend who also ordered this kit reported tunneling activity soon after putting the ants in). The directions advise opening the top to let oxygen in at certain intervals - please be aware that the ants will start swarming quickly to the top so please ensure no children are near and that the ants do not get out. No queen ant is provided so there's no risk of new ants hatching and moving around. The gel is also the ants' food, and finally, the ants themselves will last a couple of weeks for the duration of an ant's lifespan. The illuminated light on this kit makes this a fascinating science(biology) experiment and provides a glimpse into the life of ants. I'd recommendThe Life Cycle of an Antas a companion book to this ant farm. Highly recommended!
Customer Review: Great tank but where are the *&#^ ants?
Summary: 3 Stars
I suspect I would really like this item if I could only get Life Studies to send ants that still have a pulse (Do ants have pulses? I don't know. Why? Because I've no ants to observe). The first batch of ants arrived a month and a half after my check was cashed with every ant dead in the tube, the second batch hasn't arrived and numerous emails to Life Studies have gone unanswered. I've now owned this thing for four months and it's been empty the entire time. Normally, I wouldn't crab on about a consumables supply issue (it's a bit like filling a review of an automobile with complaints about motor oil) but a) the manufacturers of this item instruct you to buy ants from Life Studies and b) an ant farm without ants is not an ant farm, nor even a farm, it's a rather pricey blue night-light.
This is the nicest ant farm I've ever seen, the curve of the plastic reminds one of a deep sea aquarium exhibit. As mentioned, it's filled with a blue goo that the ants might tunnel through (not that I'd know, sans ants). The lights (four white LEDs) are in the base and cast a nice glow upwards through the gel medium; overall, it looks really neat in a darkened room, a bit like a swimming pool at night.
Be advised there's a smallish (about 2"x 1.5" x 1.5") wall-wart power supply on the end of the power cord, in case you plan to put this somewhere where you can't easily get to the outlet. There's no power switch to turn off the light, you have to unplug the power cord and as it winds through the base of the unit, it's easier to pull out at the wall end. The tank's clear plastic front scratches very easily but fortunately, the scratches buff out relatively well using toothpaste and are not generally visible when the unit's lights are on. My unit arrived 3/4s filled with goo--not full nearly to the top as shown on the product photos. That might be due to the lack of ant activity displacement, but in any case, that empty area tends to collect quite a bit of unsightly condensation.
I'll update this review if the ants ever arrive or when six months go by, whichever comes first.
Customer Review: And the ants keep marching on ...
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this as a gift for my 12 year old son for Christmas. I would have to say that this is a truly great gift, for almost any age! I would definitely recommend that you get the lighted version (set up is a breeze) and I followed another reviewer's recommendation and ordered the ants from Life Studies [...]. Just a heads up, I ordered the ants in the middle of a cold spell and then they sat in the mail box for at least 36 hours. I thought they might have been killed by the cold but I transfered them to a bag from the plastic container in which they had arrived and after about 15 or 20 minutes in our home, they revived themselves. Also, as noted in several places, be careful when handling these insects -- the "ant farm" is ideal for any child, no matter the age -- but the ants should only be handled by an adult.
Previous reviews have noted that the ants have a limited lifespan and we are experiencing that now, about 6 weeks into our purchase. Several of the ants have died, most recently. Apparently, you can purchase additional ants to add to the environment but some of the enjoyment is lost as a large part of the fun is watching the ants dig their tunnels. In our case, they dug all kinds of neat tunnels that connected in all different locations and it was facinating to watch it take place (thus the name I guess, Fascinations Antworks). Some of the tunnels were just dug recently, so the process doesn't necessarily come to an end but the life of the ant is short.
I have just purchased exactly the same unit for my nephew and can't wait to hear his stories as he watches the ants set up home. It is well made -- it has withstood my sons knocking it over on the kitchen counter a few times -- and the accompanying booklet is short, very user friendsly and has some interesting ant facts. When they recommend that you make a couple of starter holes in top of the gel, make them up against the plexiglass and not in the middle, which will make watching their progress even more fun. We broke the eye piece that comes w/ it but did use the magnifying glass on occasion.