Thursday afternoon we had a 'surprise' arrive in the mail. A surprise to the kids and... well to Steve too but I was expecting this package. We received our ants in the mail. ;) Steve asked me where I found the ants and I told him they came via US Postage! He was surprised at that news. The kids and I were preparing the ant hill for the ants when I realized the ant hill called for 'spring' water and I had bottled water but it did not say spring water anywhere on the bottle. Who knew ants were so particular regarding water (since they usually receive their H2O via the clouds above)... so we waited for Daddy to bring home bottled water for us Friday evening (he was on a mini-business trip Thurs and I forgot when we were out Friday). So Saturday morning Daddy got ant duty! He helped HC and JB put the ants into their new home.
The instructions tell you to put the ants in the fridge for about 10 minutes before you put them in the ant hill. This keeps them from biting you when you dump them in the ant hill. They are harvester ants.
They hardly moved when we dropped them in and I was concerned that they died. They finally began moving about. 
They were so excited to watch the ants.
And today I noticed 2 of their mini-trails. This started off with one straight line. Sad thing is I just noticed them making a mini-mound on the other side of this contraption and very little activity on this side. The whole point is for the kids to see what the ants do underground. If they are stealing the sand to hide out on the other side then we may be out of luck on this lesson. Oh well - it was only $4 for 25 ants. Not a bad loss - the kit came with our curriculum. We can do this again if it is a total bust. :) For now we will hope the ants will quit building their secluded mound and return to the side that lets us see them at work!
Seems we lucked out with the smarty ants! :)
Monday, November 10, 2008
Our Surprise in the Mail
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6 comments:
HOW FUN! I saw one of those in a magazine the other day and thought about it for the kids. The hermit crab is enough right now! :-)
Ours did the exact same thing! I actually dumped them all back out and squeezed them back through to the other side...a few got loose on the kitchen floor! After I put them on the "correct" side for the 2nd time, they went back to the mound side again! But, they eventually started climbing up and going into the tunnels again. I'm not sure why they prefer to hang out on the other side so much, but we sure had fun watching them!
Ruthie - I'm now wondering if they are supposed to do what they are doing after all... because they are making a tunnel to dig out the sand by taking the 'sand' to the other side. That may have been the whole plan all along. It just made sense to me after reading your comment. We are watching them work and not watching them hide out. They are clearly exposed on the other side (where we can see everything).. Just my new thought since posting this.
I think you're right! Ours also outlived 2 weeks...we enjoyed watching them for a looonnng time. I finally released them into our backyard because they started creeping me out! It's a fun process though...so neat to see how God has made all the creatures...we love the butterflies too...can't wait to do those again. :)
Oh, what fun! I am just stopping by to say...tag! You are it!
i laughed out loud when i read this! after all the fighting you've done with ants, you INVITED them in to your home. i couldn't believe it!!! :)
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