Beer Ants Gel Habitat

I purchased two of these ant farms as gifts, and they both worked out very well. However, just because I could get the ants quicker, I ordered my 30 harvester ants from AntsAlive.com for $4.95 (shipped from Utah) rather than using the vendor mentioned in the package. I helped one of the gift recipients setup his farm, and the other recipient tells me that the farm is going strong now with multiple tunnels. In the case that I helped with, 12 out of the 30 ants survived the trip from Utah to Ohio on the coldest day of the year. This number of ants seems to be good for this size of ant farm. After a day of getting accustomed to the new habitat, the ants organized their dead (which I carefully removed later) and started to investigate the tunnels I started for them as well as the chunks of gel scooped out of those starter tunnels. They would cut away small pieces of the gel from the tunnels and from the sides of the habitat and pile them up near the chunks of gel that I left for them. Gradually the habitat started to grow in height as the tunnels were excavated.The western harvesters (which are the ants in most ant farms) are large enough ants to see plenty of features, and they are different enough from conventional black ants found around the house to be interesting. They have square-shaped heads with very visible black eye spots. They frequently groom themselves and others. Between the excavating and the grooming, there is plenty of activity to watch. Few ants were idle in my group.The habitat itself is a good value ($9.99 at the time of this post, with Amazon Prime shipping!). It is also nicer than similar ant farms, like the Ant Farm Revolution by Uncle Milton, because the entire "mug" is filled with beer rather than just a thin layer on the outside. So the ants have lots of 3D room to build structures. They also aren't attracted to artificial features, like raised platforms you might see in similar ant farms. The construction of the ant farm is solid. The mug can be removed from the "coaster" below with lights on it. The lights in the coaster are bright enough to see when ants are in the tunnels, which is good when tunnels are just being dug at first because the yellow gel is a little too thick to see through without extra light. However, the lights in the coaster (which have two light levels) sometimes flicker a bit. Keep in mind that unlike the similar Ant Farm Revolution by Uncle Milton, there are no lenses built in to make projecting ant shadows onto the ceiling possible; the lights here are purely for visual inspection of the gel. Having said that, I am much happier with a clear top than a lensed top.As an educational toy for young children, the beer theme might turn off some parents and teachers. Additionally, there is very little information in the packaging about the ants, which differs from Uncle Milton toys that come with at least a page about ants, their activities, their ecology, etc. However, it is easy to look up information on the western harvesters.So if you can get over the beer theme, I definitely recommend this high-value solidly constructed ant farm. However, keep in mind that the survival of your ants on arrival from your vendor is not guaranteed. Although the two AntsAlive shipments I described here (both from Utah to Ohio) worked out great, but another shipment I had from Utah to Arizona (not very far) had only 1 ants survive, and it died shortly after arrival. Fortunately, these ant vendors provided an easy way to get more ants (but don't mix ants from different colonies!). If you can get a few ants that survive the long transit, you're likely (but not sure) to have a few months of interesting behaviors to observe. As these ants do not have queens, the "colonies" lives will be limited by the individual workers, and so don't expect more than 6 months of fun. (but then you can order gel replacements and more ants and start all over again)Great toy. I like it better than Uncle Milton's Ant Farm revolution (which is a similar shape and similar price).

Extremely disappointed. The mug, in reality, is not even half full of gel. It is also a coppery, orange color that is very hard to see through without the lights on. But by far the most annoying part of this product is that the gel is not even flush to the glass! Yeah thats right, i couldnt even believe it. So if you didnt know already, dont trust the picture. Im not sure if mine was a lemon product or if theyre all like this but its really just useless.Also the box had very obviously been opened preiviously. Nothing was missing but all the boxes were torn and missing graphic where tape was striped. This leads me to believe it had been returned due to its quality then pawned off on me, an amazon buyer miles away.On the positive side the mug is nice and thick glass, of a good size. They include battereys and an outlet plug. And the stand is relatively stable.But all in all wasted money.

I bought this for my office and its pretty fun. I've had it for a couple weeks and so far not a single ant has died. I enjoy watching them and the lighted stand really helps highlight their tunnels allowing me to see them very well.The only negative thing I would say is that there isn't very much gel in the cup. They have used up pretty much all the space they can in just two weeks. There is still half the cup that is empty and seems like they would use that space.I also noticed that the light flickers sometimes when on dim. Although I don't really think this is a problem, some people might not like it.

Like the other reviewers have mentioned, it's a lot smaller than I thought, and the gel seemed a little "dehydrated" when we received it. We went outside and collected our own ants (about 17 of the larger half black half red ants). They did really great, and dug lots of cool tunnels. But, they didn't use the starter hole I created. We've had the ant farm for about 2 weeks now, and it seems as though they've stopped digging, and are just trying to climb up the sides of the mug, trying to escape. This product was a lot of fun though!

its was cheep with free shipping but, had to return it as soon as I opend the box. the gell was pulled away from the glass that it was just a yellow blob sitting in a plastic mug. I ended up paying twice as much as the original price just to send it back. because it was to bad. and had what looked to be human hair inside.

best day of my life.

Great price and quality. The kids loved it. Thanks for making it. It has a light built in which is cool or seeing the tunnels.Some kids get freaked out by the ants and some love it. You should know which type your child will be.

The only real problem I have with it is that it's kinda small besides for that it's great for the price and the way it lights up is beyond amazing.