View Full Version : NASA AntWorks
http://www.sillyasstoys.com/ProductImages/antworks_full.jpg
I just got my think geek box in the mail few little goodies for my bday mostly pintless gadgets to take up desk space... One of them is the Antworks ant farm... Im a geek what can i say... So over the next few days i will take photos of the unboxing and setting up and ordering of the ants as well as how the sexy ants perform!
ordering of the ants as well as how the sexy ants perform!
Please define what you class as a sexy ant :confused:
They are sexy becuse they are uber "space" ants that like to get down in psycodelic blue light... so i think they are closet pot heads too i dont know yet...
tater03
09-10-2006, 08:34 PM
This looks neat. Where did you find this?
My son would love this.
palefrost
09-10-2006, 10:47 PM
Yeah that is really cool do you have a link with prices? This soo beats sea monkeys!
It's available from Think Geek for $29.99 (http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/science/6fd6/)
Im holding off my full review till the ants actualy show up so i can include the time it takes to get the thng set up processes and explain the older models vs the new and why the newer modle is more expensive but in due time... ants need to get here :)
I'll be interested to hear your review of this. I've read mixed opinions in the past with ants dying really quickly.
Well ants dont really live thaat long to start with but ill go into that too in due time heh
still waiting on the damed ants....
Well it looks like i might have the ants here today or tomarow... So should have a review up by the end of the week!
Well i have had my ants for 48 hours now. So lets dive into this. The AntWorks farm is a really neat design. It is injection molded acrylic that is super strong and very clear, in fact acrylic is clearer than glass. The contents is whats called formicon, you can actually obtain this your self, but more on that later.
In the box you will find a power supply for the four LED's in the base and a few kids toys like a magnifying glass and a stick to poke starter holes. The first thing i did when i got it out of the box was poke the four starter holes like the introductions stated and i did not even have the ants yet! So I needed ants! But i did not want to snail mail stuff takes too long! So i looked at the order form and found out the ants come from Ants Alive (http://www.antsalive.com) and they only ship Harvester ant workers. See in the united states it is only legal to ship workers and even to do that you need to have a permit, forget about buying a queen it just wont happen and besides Antworks can only house about 25 ants comfortably.
So I ordered my ants for the 4.00$ right away and took about 5 days to show up. The first major disappointment was that half of my ants arrived dead! So i am a bit depressed but the other 12 are in good health. took them just a two hours to start digging once they calmed down after getting dumped in. Whats interesting is to actually be able to see every tunnel they dig unlike in sand you only get to see whats against the glass/plastic so you can see exactly the curvature of every tunnel and thats very neat actually. The other thing is that the gel that they cut apart like a leaf cutting ant would gets sculpted its really interesting to be able to see where they cut away the chunks and the patterns in the gel. Now the ants will not need food because they claim the the nutrients they need is in the gel as far as water goes well yes they will need water but you should nto have to supply it. You will notice right away that after a few hours there will be condensation buildup on the inside of the walls. This is what the ants get their water from! Being that they are harvester ants they like it HOT and humid in fact they thrive around 80*F any lower than 70 they tend to slow down production and start to hibernate, harvesters in fact hibernate.
I know a few people want to know about life span well with out a fully functioning colony you are looking at from 1 to 3 months at the most before you have to shell out 4 more bucks and buy another 24 ants. Understand that ants can get sick so that what does die off needs to be removed right away, this is easy because ants are smart they will bring the dead to the surface natruly to keep from nasties to infect their nest. Even though there are two pin holes for air its advised that you lift the lid twice a month to let the old air out and new air in this is in fact important as it will keep the water build up down.
One thing i can advise being ive kept ant farms before ever since i was little is that when you are ready to do some farm cleaning and work what you can do is stick it in the fridge the whole thing for about 10 to 30 mins depending on the size of the colony this will put them in all most a sleep mode and you wont have to worry about them escaping!
It is a entertaining low maintenance pet, and makes a neat desk toy specially if your gaming at night or near your bed with the lights out the cool blue glow is neat with the little ants crawling around.
Now the way the housing is injection molded is REAL strong the lid is made from the same material and has like a puddy or some sort around it so when its pressed into place it stays... in fact i nocked it off my desk twice by mistake now and its imperfect order... The ants got a little mad but they were in the case not on my floor thats a big importance IMO so this is great with kids of some ages. The gel blocks they have been depositing on the surface got shifted around in the fall and was extremely interesting to see how they reorganized them.
I will post pictures soon its been real busy here so bare with me.... I have a follow up to this id like to make a seprate reply regarding going beyond the antworks to a real pro like setup.
Now onto the burning question here... at least for people like me!
I am a geek i love ants and im a exotic pet owner of sorts all my life and im dedicated to it right now i am keeping a 40gallon Reef tank with all sorts of exotic species in it for some time..
I want a fully functioning colony of ants queen workers and soldiers! How do i keep them and in what and where do i get them?!? well that is a little more problematic of a problem to answer for those in the USA than those in the EU and Canada...
So after adding my ants to the AntWorks i immediately started looking for HIGH end ant farms for a real colony. I immediately found constant reference to the ANTSTORE based out of Berlin.
They have several kinds of ant sets that are extremely interesting and in fact I really want to get my hands on at this moment... the kind that im mainly interested in is the Farm/arena starter sets the largest glass one pictured below.
http://www.antstore.net/shop/images/product_images/popup_images/751_0.jpg
Whats really neat about this setup is that you have the main farm that contains the nest than a hose that goes to what they call in the badly translated English, The Arena. This is a larger like glass tank that only has maybe a half inch of sand or clay this is the area they hunt explore and get food to bring back to the colony including water ect. This is the making of a high end museum/zoo style ant farm and comes with every thing you need to get started. I am still waiting to find out if they ship to the USA
http://www.antstore.net/shop/images/product_images/popup_images/751_1.jpg
Now don't get your credit card out just yet and rush out buying a farm because here is where the shit hits the fan if you will...
See United States laws at this time for good reason do not allow and prohibit sale and shipping of insects cross state lines let alone internationally with out a major permit. In fact this is even true with the harvester worker ants i got for the AntWorks on the package it is stamped with PERMIT # 18 so it is virtually impossible to LEGALY purchase a queen in the USA in any type of starter colony like they sell here on the antstore's website
(http://www.antstore.net/shop/index.php/cPath/54/category/ant-colonies)
So how do people start colonies in the states? Heh well this is where most of you will duck and cover and go ou and buy a AntWorks and forget about a queen and a real colony of any kind. Well theres 3 main ways... Easiest is find some one who has more than one queen or nuptials.
Second is when makes mate with the females nuptial's fly off to make a new nest if you can capture one you are set!
Lastly is to dig up a mound to find the queen! This is hard and a PITA! Theres a whole write up on how to do it over here. (http://ants.pbwiki.com/Where%20can%20I%20get%20queen%20ants)
So lets find some people who have queens who can sell in the USA dammit :)
But any way theres a good write up on ant Rearing here (http://insected.arizona.edu/antrear.htm) if you decide to keep a colony.
Now ironically i mentioned earlier the gel in the AntWorks you can obtain your self.. well its a liquid you boil it and pour than bam insta antworks... and in fact it comes in all sorts of colors so you can even make a multi layer multi colored antworks. I stumbled onto this on the ANTSTORE site. (http://www.antstore.net/shop/index.php/cat/c95_gel-antfarms.html)
They have yellow red and blue! And i think the have a powder to make your own color or leave transparent with no color.
just found this http://www.granitebaysoftware.com/galleryshow.aspx?name=Ant%20Farm
neat time lapse of a antworks farm over 10days
stacia3333
10-18-2006, 05:25 PM
Hey Case, any new news about the overseas purchase?
orderign ants into the USA or cross state lines are not legal. You need to get a licence to do it and its not easy to obtain. There are some stores that will risk shipping to you but theres a chance that it will get seized.
Im in the processes of build a large farm for housing a queen.. jsut have not made any posts lately bec ive been real sick not to mention real busy over here :(
Horatio'sAnt
11-07-2006, 04:01 AM
Hello All...
This is my first post, and I just received my ants today (from http://www.infowest.com/life/) same company mentioned above: $4.
Only one was deceased upon arrival and the other's COMPLETELY ignored my 4 courtesy holes I dug for them and went straight for the side of their new home (just like in that video posted earlier!!)
It's been about 4 hours and their half way down the side of their home.
I am fascinated and totally amused with this new toy!!
:)
yea mine are still going strong a few died just need to remove them asap bec they will grow fungus and we don't want that :)
incidentally i finally dropped it hard enough to cause a small crack so its not indestructible :)
incidentally i finally dropped it hard enough to cause a small crack so its not indestructible :)
That makes it sound like you were trying to drop it hard enough, you strange.
lol no i kinda kept knocking it off my desk... :)
http://www.antworkstoys.com/contents/media/antworks_tunnelvision2yeswehaveants.jpg
any way i just found this new version that's expandable :)
http://www.antworkstoys.com/contents/media/antworks_tunnelvision2edit.jpg
they are also working on a Sculpture Kit
Once your ants have lived their lives in the AntWorks gel habitat, what remains is a complex network of tunnels and chambers that serve as a testament to their role as natrure's ultimate architects. Now you can turn the finished habitat into an illuminated work of art, with the AntWorks Sculpture kit.
Simply Pour the clear resin into your AntWorks habitat and let harden. Rinse away the loose gel and you are left with a permanent work of art that resembles and ice sculpture! Add the AntWorks LED base (included) to illuminate your crystal-clear sculpture with a blue glow that is simply beautiful.
http://www.antworkstoys.com
Horatio'sAnt
11-11-2006, 12:16 AM
wow, those are some amazing pics, Case.
I can't even believe how much progress my wittle bitty ants are making on their tunnels. Every day they just amaze me!
They have even built entrances and exits on some of them!!
I felt I really need to post an update. Not that anyone particularly gives a shit, but, hey...wtf?
These little guys (gals actually) are unbelievable carpenters. They have built a series of tunnels, intersections and pathways intertwining. The only thing they haven't built is a stop sign to stop from banging into each other.
But, the best (funnest?) thing to observe is how they interact or behave within their community. They almost always work alone (on their individual tasks) while they're (almost) all working on the same larger scale project(s). Sometimes one will venture out and explore while ALL of the others (20 or 22 of them) will be huddling down at the bottom doing whatever it is female ants do to one another or to themselves.
For the first few days (5-7) they did NON-STOP work, tunneling, learning their new enviornment, etc. Then, all of a sudden, they stopped working. Almost nothing new built for about 5 or 6 days. I was leaving the light on all night at first, until they all stopped working trying to experiment with the 2 light conditions (light or no light). I figured that might have an effect on their work. I was wrong. No matter what light condition, they still just huddled at the bottom.
So, my next hypothesis was maybe they stopped working because so much of the "gel" enviornment they live in was at the top they had no where to put it. So, I scooped out some (about 1/3) of the gel at the top. And voila!! nothing. No significant effect was learned.
So, tonight, I decided to change their location in my apartment, from near the window (no direct sunlight to effect the temperature) to next to my television. They've been there several hours, and there was no change until I plugged the light on. Then (right now, as I type this) they seem to have begun to scurry about, re-exploring the "above" area and rebegan tunneling on an area they only began slowly over the last 5ish days.
So, we'll see how this keeps up.
This is as fascinating as any group therapy observation. Watching these ants work and live together is really an amazing psychological study, while not "human" psychology, these ants DO show amazing group dynamics, albeit impossible to understand any individual personality trait. The group personality is fun to watch. They huddle together as if it were too cold and they are warming each other.
Possibly it's warmer near the television (it's been off, btw the entire time they've been next to it) enclosed on 3 sides in an entertainment center.
It's like watching a movie.
Cheers!
stacia3333
12-03-2006, 04:59 AM
Ok, I have a nice little community living happily in their gel world on my desk. Cliffnotes version - bought the thing about 2 mts. ago, bought the ants online from before mentioned place, rec'd 15 dead & 12 live, rec'd 25 replacements after a phone call, now have about 20 living happily. Now I want bigger. the idea of getting more than one and connecting them is cool and all, but I want a biggermore complex tank (oh yeah and the gel to go in it.)
Case... I got in touch with antstore and they said that you can buy the gel and the larger tanks and have them shipped to their store-front, then get a courier service to pick it up from there and air-mail it to you. whew--- that's a workout just saying it...
just an update my colony keeled over last week for the first time. :(
last week took them out slowly over the span of a full week so not bad from the date of my first post till now for live time. I did keep them happy temp wise near a temp controlled and sun phase simulated area near my Salt Water Reef tank and they seemed happy as long as they were not in direct light from the MH over the tank.
Carter_23
01-15-2007, 02:01 PM
Hello All...
This is my first post, and I just received my ants today (from http://www.infowest.com/life/) same company mentioned above: $4.
Only one was deceased upon arrival and the other's COMPLETELY ignored my 4 courtesy holes I dug for them and went straight for the side of their new home (just like in that video posted earlier!!)
It's been about 4 hours and their half way down the side of their home.
I am fascinated and totally amused with this new toy!!
:)
Fantastic video. I'm impressed. How do they do this? Amazing
madsam69
03-17-2007, 04:30 PM
i have just brought a ant works and got a lasius niger ant queen and she has eggs can i put some work ants from garden in there can any one tell
me thanks
stocky
10-14-2007, 03:11 PM
agree... the video is cool!
Fireside3
03-26-2008, 06:50 AM
I just wanted to let owners of this farm know that in addition to the previously mentioned source for ants, I also sell Pogonomyrmex spp. of red harvester ants, and always more reasonably priced than them. In fact, I am a supplier of these ants to Science Kit & Boreal Laboratories.
Lifestudies/antsalive sells 25 @ $4.95 and include first class postage. I can supply 25 Pogonomrymex barbatus harvester ants + plus first class shipping for $3.95. For $6.00 I can ship to you by 2-3 Priority Mail. I guarantee live delivery. In fact, I typically include extra ants to make up for any possible loses. You will never get less than the amount specified.
I usually ship within 1-3 days of receiving cleared payment ( paypal or USPS money order ).
I normally sell larger bulk quantities for use as food for Horned Lizards. If you need higher quantities, contact me. Typically, I sell 1000 ants for about $18.50 + shipping. I am a reptile rescuer and member of the Horned Lizard Conservation Society. Funds from the sale of these ants go to support our reptile rescue efforts and education about Horned Lizard conservation.
PM me for my email address and for order information.
Thank you,
Fireside3
Wichita Falls Reptile Rescue
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