October 22, 2008

Ant Update

Y'all remember when we finally got the ants to inhabit this?



Welllll...that didn't work out so good the first time.


When we got the ant shipment, all but two were dead. But Uncle Milton's sent us a new shipment very quickly. In fact, their words were along the lines of "we do not want to be responsible for a 9 yo boy's disappointment". Hmmm. That was not what I was expecting when I called. I was relieved and impressed.


Until...the second set of ants didn't do any digging in the gel. We gave them lots of time. Lots of encouraging (as much as you can encourage ants). No go.


When I called Uncle Milton's to ask if this was normal or if we were doing something wrong, I learned two things.


1. Apparently the gel colonies have a shelf life. Hmm. That might have been good to know.


2. Uncle Milton takes good care of their customers. Really good care. At their own expense.


Third time was the charm. We received a "Natural Ant Replacement Kit". Which basically meant we weren't going to mess around with the gel colony any longer. We were going to do it naturally with sand.


I was a little more than skeptical. This being the third round and all.


No need to worry.


This is after 10 days.


They're busy little beavers, er bees. I mean ants. Whatever.


Love Note to my Big Shooter: I love watching you and your Minnie Me watch the ants.

6 comments:

Flea said...

Way cool! Good to know about the gel and the shelf life. :)

faroutmom said...

I had no idea about the shelf life. I'm glad things worked out.

They are really making some progress on their new home, aren't they?

Unknown said...

We are ant farmers too this week ;) I didn't read good reviews of that first one you got so got ordered a different one (http://www.amazon.com/Fascinations-ANTW1-Antworks/dp/B0006FSEOI) and it is awesome. We are watching this instead of TV - fascinating!

ShEiLa said...

Ant Farms... natures way of making us give up some TV time. This is the sort of thing that would keep me watching. I had never seen the gel but thought it looked way cool... until now.
ToOdLeS.ShEiLA

Anonymous said...

We totally did the gel ant thing and it was amazing. I think I spent more time watching those little guys in their space age gel than my kids. When I move the thing from their bathroom to the kitchen sick (so I could watch will doing dishes) Tucker said to me 'mom ants are totally a kid thing. Knock it off'

Ya. they all died not long after that. And I was the only one to notice.

Andrea@Sgt and Mrs Hub said...

This would be an excellent torture instrument for my husband. He HATES ants. He was attacked by fire ants when he was young and living in Florida.
Daniel would shut down the idea of an ant colony in our house so fast it wold make my head spin!

I'm glad your ant colony is working out fine finally. And I'm happy to hear of such excellent customer service!! Gold star for Uncle Milton's!

-Andrea