Customer Reviews

Insect Lore Ant Hill

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

We bought this ant hill at the Imaginarium and ordered the ants with the prepaid form. When the ants arrived the majority of them were dead with only ten out of fifty survived the trip to Alaska. I immediately emailed the company and didn't hear back from them. A week later another set of ants arrived. It would have been nice to have a reply to the email but they were very quick in sending the replacement ants at no charge. Both my kids, 5 and 2 years old, love to watch them digging their tunnels and talking about what they are up to. Unfortunately because of the cold weather for mailing our ant hill sits empty waiting for spring. I would definitely recommend this product to anyone with an interest in bugs.

I remember doing that old ant farm kit when I was little (too long ago now, I know) and saw this new-style ant hill next to that ant farm on a store shelf. That old ant farm hasn't changed in (okay, I'm admitting it here) over 30 years! The new dome-like style of this one, and the idea that we could see what the ants were doing both above ground and below ground appealed to us. We did buy both styles though - my kids wanted to try them all (the AntHill was the better of the two, even though I admit to rooting for the old-school style out of pure nostalgia. I won't say anything bad about the ant farm one here, I'm not here to knock it. The ants lived a lot longer in the AntHill, is all). The ants tunneled out the flat "underground" side of the habitat, and foraged for the food we put in on the rounded "aboveground" side. Very cool! The instructions had some ant facts and a few good links to information on ants and insects on the web. Our ants lived to finish tunneling, and were just kind of resting with their project all completed, so we planned a picnic-trip to the park and released them there with one last chunks-of-sandwiches buffet. Fun, educational and interesting - everything I was hoping for when I opened my wallet to buy this one.

Having live stinging ants in my home is definitely outside my comfort zone. That being said, this was a great product for my kids. All of them, 2 to teen loved watching the ants dig and tunnel. Even my squeamish self enjoyed watching the tunnels develop. Ants are truly amazing workers. Among the ants that arrived only two were dead. The one draw back was this. The product said the ants would live 2 to 4 weeks. They survived much longer, necessitating caring for them longer than I expected.

The Customer Service at this Company was terrible. The larvae were sent to the wrong person and then they refused to replace them. I was hung up on and just treated as though I owed them something. Buy something else if you don't want your child to be disappointed.

No queen = no reproduction, but it is illegal to send a queen so you will have ants for 2-4 weeks. They are pretty cool in tunneling and moving around. It is amazing what they can accomplish overnight. Ours wound up moving most of their sand to the front of the kit so it is hard to see where the lower front tunnels are and what they've done in there. Neat idea, just wish we knew beforehand that we had to pay for the ants afer paying $30 for the anthill (with coupon for ants). Guess we'll keep the hill in the event that we decide to do it again. Beware that the foods will get moldy, which is what they also eat, but it makes for a funky odor.

This is a really cool product. I think that every kid should have one of these. I am shocked at how many people have never owned one. I am 24 and am still captivated by my ants. It is not a toy that can be handled, but the toy can teach children (and adults)a lot about life and responsibility. It is fun to watch the ants solve their problems and dig their tunnels. It is perfectly safe as long as you follow the directions and the ants do not need a queen to survive.Buy one of these or any ant farm for that matter and you will not be disappointed. After I showed all my friends and family everyone always wants to see pictures and a couple people have ordered their own.

Would have given it 5 stars but we've had a difficult time getting old peices of food out of the bottom. They are turning moldy after two weeks. Hope it's not a bother to the ants... kind of gross to look at!
Still, it's an educational toy and a great way to bring the outdoors in :)

My grandmother bought this for my daughter. We sent away for the ants in winter thinking that they wouldn't send them until spring. WRONG! They arrived on December 24th and our mailperson left them in freezing temperatures on the front porch. Fortunately, they weren't there long and all survived. Much to our delight our shipment of ants included one pupae and one larva ant. My daughter was absolutely delighted. She's spent a lot of time with a magnifying glass observing the ants. It is facinating watching the ants tunnel. The only drawback of the toy is that it does look like it is challenging for the ants to climb the hill and will sometimes fall down. They don't appear to be harmed. We are hoping they survive longer than the 2-4 weeks stated in the brochure.

I got this anthill for my sons birthday in August. After the ants arrived in the mail, we got the sand put in the hill and then the ants. The first few days were the best as the ants were healthy and hard at work making tunnels. We'd wake up in the morning to see a lot of work had been done. It was hard to water them and keep the moisture level down. Also, it didn't seem like I put any food in that the ants would finish. All in all, I would purchase it again in the future. We've also done the butterfly and ladybug homes which were both great too.

We purchased because we tried Insect Lore's Butterfly Garden and our preschoolers loved it. Unfortunatley, we did not have as much luck with the Ant Hill. My husband followed directions but within 24 hours all the Ants were dead.