Anyone had an ant farm?

arknor · 4 Feb 2013 at 01:52

got some bizarre notion into my head that having an ant farm would be kinda cool

I remember as a child whenever we would visit Wollaton Hall in Nottingham they had a fairly large ant farm and I used to love watching the ants going about their little lives.
anyone have experience of owning a proper one ? (not one of those tall ones aimed at kids)

Is it worth it or will I get bored fast?
Will the ant colony outgrow their space or limit the population ?
what is a good ant species for a beginner but one that also is fairly interesting and doesn't build a boring shaped nest with straight tunnels and box rooms ?

Was thinking of something like

or are the ones that are like square tanks you can fit together better ? I guess ants aren't to happy if they have to dig a fairly 2d nest?

opstrat · 4 Feb 2013 at 03:29

Get a cat.

Strife212 · 4 Feb 2013 at 03:31

Britboy

Reaper 392 · 4 Feb 2013 at 03:36

make sure its a glow in the dark antfarm, they do their best work at night

*waits for someone to get the reference*

arknor · 4 Feb 2013 at 03:36

opstrat said:
Get a cat.

had cats before and changing cat litter all the time got old fast and if they have problems vets are expensive.

saw this http://www.antstore.net/shop/starte...---Alpha-Ants/Alpha-Ants-Starter-Kit---A.html
I think the shipping would be about 20 euro though

opstrat · 4 Feb 2013 at 03:47

Reaper 392 said:
make sure its a glow in the dark antfarm, they do their best work at night

*waits for someone to get the reference*

Sheldon, Big Bang theory

Hyburnate · 4 Feb 2013 at 03:59

Completely unreleated and wont help you, at all. But it made me think of this:

Cosimo · 4 Feb 2013 at 08:16

bledd had one a long time ago:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17558236

I'm sure someone else did but I can't find it.

tres · 4 Feb 2013 at 08:26

someone also had one where they attached it to their colleagues via tubes, and the ants battled in the tubes that wound around their desks, and it was fantastic and amazing

but they couldn't provide pictures IIRC, and it all turned out to be a load of rubbish

Chris-.- · 4 Feb 2013 at 08:41

I had ants on my backdoor, they all died to a lot of bleach.

robgmun · 4 Feb 2013 at 08:43

Strife212 said:
Britboy

El_Watcher · 4 Feb 2013 at 08:52

I had an ant farm when I was younger, but got rid of it in the end as it wasn't producing enough milk to make it worthwhile.

Feek · 4 Feb 2013 at 09:05

Yes, it was rubbish.

d_brennen · 4 Feb 2013 at 09:09

tres said:
someone also had one where they attached it to their colleagues via tubes, and the ants battled in the tubes that wound around their desks, and it was fantastic and amazing

but they couldn't provide pictures IIRC, and it all turned out to be a load of rubbish

I remember this

TommyV · 4 Feb 2013 at 09:11

Strife212 said:
Britboy

rip

d_brennen · 4 Feb 2013 at 09:18

I don't think he died, sadly

Mat · 4 Feb 2013 at 09:20

arknor said:
I guess ants aren't to happy if they have to dig a fairly 2d nest?

You won't see a lot in a big tank like that, you'll need quite a thin tank to be able to see anything of interest...

arknor · 4 Feb 2013 at 09:47

Mat said:
You won't see a lot in a big tank like that, you'll need quite a thin tank to be able to see anything of interest...

yea... maybe ocuk should sell a pc case that has an ant nest on the side and you can connect them via tubes to others who have the same case.

lan battles would be epic.

No but seriously I'm really tempted to get one, would be something cool for my son to look at when he visits and it's not like they take much looking after

bledd had one a long time ago:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/sho...php?t=17558236

I'm sure someone else did but I can't find it.

sounds like he grabbed a few random ants from the garden but didn't get a mated queen so the ants had nothing to live for and died off, also those gel ones are supposed to be crap and only specific species can survive in them

Mr-White · 4 Feb 2013 at 13:18

Reaper 392 said:
make sure its a glow in the dark antfarm, they do their best work at night

*waits for someone to get the reference*

Glow in the dark gold fish would be better

MW

Swarfega · 4 Feb 2013 at 13:29

I got a free stick insect from Wollaton many moons ago. One had escaped and offered for me to take it home.
Was at Wollaton the other day actually, lots of people sledging. Indoors its pretty boring now. I didn't see an ant farm anyway.