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HomeScienceHabitatsAnt Mine Habitat |
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|  | | | Customer Reviews: | | | Average Customer Review: ( 3 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 found the following review helpful:
 A good way to begin Apr 20, 2010
By Chandler Bootchk
"Zune Survivor"
The Ant Mine is a good toy for getting started in this hobby. The one thing you have to keep in mind is that using plaster is tricky and although the mold you are given is nicely shaped, it is rather thin. The upside of thin is that it yields a lighter weight formicarium. The downside is that it will be fragile. I broke my first one detaching the mold. So, be careful, I was admittedly a little hasty. Fortunately, I had some extra plaster here and quickly made a second one. Another challenge is that plaster will eventually develop mold with a living colony inside it, particularly if the formicarium (Ant Mine) doesn't have an external location the ants can get to in order to get rid of waste. Perhaps the other toys Wild Science provides would help with this. You could also substitute Hydrostone which is harder to find but has somewhat better mold resistance. The only other drawback to this toy I can think of is that the plastic top doesn't form an airtight seal with the plaster. DO NOT PUT small species in this formicarium, they will escape.
I have to say, the directions are really easy to follow and the booklet is really a great starter manual or primer for this hobby. It's funny however that the book states that if you DO NOT TAKE QUEENS that the colony will recover from your ant gathering. This is highly dependent on the species of course. Some species, such as the common argentine ant, have multiple queens, so taking one may have minimal impact. Further, if you don't capture a queen you won't have ants for very long. Ants without queens quickly have no purpose and die.
In reality, you should try NOT to take queens from a thriving colony or even catch the whole colony. Often, a thriving colony will also die when transported from their natural habitat to an artificial one. Ants are creatures that are finely tuned to their natural habitat. Some species are more hardy than others and can survive a transport, many cannot. So what should you do?
Well, now is actually a great time of year to get into this hobby. That's because it is Spring (2010 at time of this review) and you should be out trying to find newly mated queens. This is not covered in the booklet unfortunately. As a tip for readers, you want to go out searching in the first hours after dawn and at the end of the afternoon on warm days after a rain to look for newly mated queens. The booklet gives you an idea what they look like. If you are lucky you will find them during a mating flight. In general, mated queens will land and rub off their wings, so look for them. Once you capture some, bring them home and put them in a small container (each by herself, NOT together) with a source of moisture; a test tube with water blocked in the bottom half of it by a cotton ball is perfect. Place your queens in dark, quiet place and leave them alone. Within a week or so, she should lay a clutch of eggs. AWESOME! Once the first workers hatch you can connect your test tube to the Ant Mine and let them move in to their new home and your new toy. I don't recommend you put your newly caught queen in the Ant Mine right away.
Ant Mine is a cool toy, well made and comes with a great booklet to get started. If you use it right, you'll be on your way to a great experience and starting an incredibly fun new hobby. Great toy for the classroom as well. Far superior to many other ant farm offerings on the market.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
BE CAREFUL. Apr 16, 2012
By Micah Derryberry
Did all of the steps, and when you mix the plaster, be sure and let it DRY for about at least TWO DAYS. Because took it out of the mold and tried to pull the tube out and it broke, so be very careful with it!
 Awesome Apr 26, 2011
By Joe
It's pretty cool watching all the ants run around and build their tunnels. Be careful when ordering ants that you want to order all the ants your gonna get at one time. Otherwise they will fight. The more dominant one's will take over.
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