My experiment was relegated to unnecessary status this morning when I came in to find that the ants had indeed begun to tunnel in the shaded areas of their farm. Perhaps they just needed time to get back there. Interestingly, all sand tunneled from the 2 mini-farms is not left on top of the farms but dutifully brought to the village and dumped on the trees and buildings.
All ant literature, namely the “Ant Watcher’s Guide to the Ant Farm Village”, speaks highly of the ants’ neatness and cleanliness. Well, I am here to tell you that this is a LIE. Their convenient, easy to carry sand started out white as the driven snow, but now has a quality similar to the snow in February near the freeway. On closer inspection, I found tiny brown specks mixed in with their beautiful white sand. I can only assume that this detritus is ant crap and I am a little appalled at both the enormous amount and the evenness with which it is distributed in the sand.
The ant cemetary seems to be missing or hidden from view and the head carrier seems to have found a new activity, or perhaps he was killed in his sleep by the others.
Originally, I would have thought that “Ant Farm” was just a cute name for my thoroughly educational toy, now I find this nomenclature to be very accurate. One of the seeds from the ant food mix has sprouted and is growing. Perhaps they will allow this plant to grow and come to seed and they will collect these seeds and start anew next season.
I thought that having an ant farm in an office full of adults would be easier than having one with kids around. That is not the case here. How often do i have to say ‘No, don’t shake the ant farm’? Too often.