The Ants Arrived!

I'm sorta glad Dan got the mail today. Sorta because my pictures that were developed by the Creative Memories photo lab were left to get rained on because the mail carrier left the box open...but then again if I had gotten it earlier then I would have had to transfer the critters myself. Shew! I'm science girl, but the only creepy crawly I'm into are spiders. Because I hate bugs.

We started with the National Geographic ant habitat from Target- I was just thinking today about how long it had been since we'd sent for them.

This is what arrived in the mail today complete with a little magnifying glass, some posters on anatomy, and a little circle chart on types of ants- very cool.

Here's a close up of the gel colony without the lid- good science is about to happen. The first thing each of the oldest three did was to push holes in the gel with a little plastic tool.

J2 got to help Daddy put the sugar water on top of the gel- with a plastic disposable pipette we just happen to have lying around!

Though it was only about 45 degrees most of the day out there in the mailbox, we put the ants in the frig following the directions closely. When it was time we pulled them out and dumped them out into the habitat.

And there you have it...our own pet ants. The kids wanted to check on them before bed to see if they were digging yet. Not yet...but they have discovered the starter holes and they look more on top of their game now that they've warmed up and eaten the sugar water.

We will be rowing Truman's Aunt Farm later next week after we finish our current row All Those Secrets of the World (post forthcoming on that title). Hopefully that will be just enough time to see the ants in action and let them make some tunnels in the gel.

And just so you know Grandma...yes Dan feels fulfilled now that his ants have finally arrived almost 30 years later(Dan is still waiting for the ants he ordered when he was little! Thank goodness ours actually showed up!).