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WARNING:
CHOKING HAZARD -- Small parts. Not for children under 3 yrs. |
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Product Description
Amazon.com Hands-On Review
Let your child discover the science of ants and other critters in a unique way with the Wild! Science Ant-O-Sphere 8-Pods. This system mimics the actual layouts of leaf cutter ant homes, letting children see the inner workings of their ant colonies in the comfort of home. Included are all the pods, supports, and tubing children need to connect and customize an ant colony, letting kids build gardens, ponds, and places to hatch baby ants. For clues on how to fill your pods, as well as what to feed the ants, a colorful instruction booklet offers plenty of ideas.
Create a Custom Home for an Ant Colony
With its multiple pods and support system, the Ant-O-Sphere lets your child explore the world of ants and other critters, such as earth worms, in a safe and easy way. By cutting the included red tubing, you and your child can create winding walkways or quick thruways between each of the eight pods.
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 Lets children explore the world of ants and other critters in a fun, easy way! View larger. |
With its multiple pods and support system, the Ant-O-Sphere lets your child explore the world of ants and other critters, such as earth worms, in a safe and easy way. By cutting the included red tubing, you and your child can create winding walkways or quick thruways between each of the eight pods.
Four suction cups allow users to stick one of the pods to a mirror or window, providing the option for a "sky pod." More cases can be attached for larger sky colonies--but take care not to leave your ants in direct sunlight.
Unique Pod Design and Color System
The Ant-O-Sphere uses a system of clear and red-colored pods to simulate an "above" and "underground" sensation for the ants, who relate red light to darkness. You can see them--but they won't be able to see you. For every pod, the upper half contains necessary ventilation holes, as well as a three-wall design that allows the ants to crawl suspended above the bottom half's contents.
Magnifying lenses point at each corner so you can get a close-up look at how the pod's occupants are doing. The walls mimic real underground ant chambers, making it easier for your little friends to enjoy their new home.
Experiment with Different Critters and Environments
Along with its included bag of play-sand, the Ant-O-Sphere offers numerous ways for users to create new environments for their ants. The colorfully illustrated instruction booklet provides over half a dozen ideas on new housing methods, depending on what type of animal you're caring for. Remember to take great consideration before changing the pod contents--what works for red ants might not work for earth worms.
What's in the Box
Wild! Science Ant-O-Sphere with pipette, tube, play-sand, cotton wool, 8 molded pods, legs, baseplates, tweezers, O rings and plugs, suckers, feed containers, and an instruction booklet.
Product Description
Wild Science Ant-O-Sphere 8-Pods
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
32 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Verified Purchase
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I saw this item in Wired Magazine's holiday gift guide of "100 Best Gifts for Geeks." It brought back memories from my own childhood having an ant farm. with it, the colony's disastrous and premature end when a family member accidentally knocked it over. Such advancements in ant-farm toy technology renewed my excitement, but it was too late to add to my own list so I ordered it for myself and it arrived the first shipping day after Christmas. The instructions are clearly intended for children and no adult-version, so the directions give some suggestions and ideas but left quite a bit open--not a bad thing, and I *will* say they do far more to inspire curiosity and encourage creativity than my old ant farm did.
There were a few things I have even already learned myself, however a few of them would have been nice to know when *assembling* the pods. Most of it has to do with how the ants behave and adapt to the pods, not so much the fault of the Wild Science Ant-O-Sphere kit... however it would have still been nice of them to include in the "TIPS" section.
Being winter in Wisconsin, ants are also in rare supply so I actually bought ants online. Western Harvester ants are actually quite cheap and easy to order online, as they are food for the horned lizard, and ordered 50 ants for $6.95 (shipped) from antsalive.com. (Make sure you read my notes at the bottom if you decide to go this route). They have had been in the ant-o-spheres for about three days, at this moment. I'll update if anything else comes up.
First of all, it seems that harvester ants are not great climbers. This makes empty pods a problem, and it is disheartening watching an ant fall down into the bottom, begin to climb the side, slip and fall back down to the bottom, only to be doing the same thing when you come back an hour later. Some layout redesigns were in order, seeing as the booklet suggests leaving several of the pods *EMPTY* from the start, and I feared that most of my ants were going to perish stuck at the bottoms of these spheres. The packaging only included enough sand to fill one pod (and by "fill" I mean I mean filling the lower half), so it may not hurt to buy or find some extra sand beforehand... however my ants seem to really be taking a liking to the soil filled pods more than the sand.
IMPORTANT ADVICE: Start by introducing the ants to only maybe 2-3 interconnected pods at a time so you (your child) can make sure that your (their) ants are adapting and reacting to your (their) pods as hoped, and then add on by connecting one or two more pods instead. While the post-modern styling is visually attractive, it is not advantageous when you have to take a pod apart or want to change anything. I had to disconnect and remove the top four pods and swapped the empty single 2nd-tier pod with another soil-filled one once I saw how poorly the Harvester ants did climbing up smooth plastic walls.
RE: Ordering ants online
I looked at a number of other websites but they all appear to be the same (western harvester ants) and priced similarly. I went with antsalive.com because some other places don't ship to certain areas during winter and because shipping was free. They arrived a few days ago, and while I expected a few dead, it appeared nearly all of them were alive. If you follow this route, do be aware that harvester ants DO bite... so this part is clearly for the adults. I had tamped the tubes a couple times down on the table, to get as many away from the top as possible, then quickly opened both tubes, turned them upside down into the collection jar and tapped the sides to coax them out. I had the lid--with hole pre-stuffed with a cotton wad--ready nearby; this part probably wasn't that important due to their limited climbing ability. This technique worked moderately well, however it seemed the ants were *very* partial to staying in the collector jar and it took a long time for them to make their ways into the pods---there are still 5 (living) ants that still will not leave the collector jar.
There was a single stubborn ant who had stayed in one of the tubes and instead of worrying about him while I had the rest in the collector jar I just put the top back on the tube. Later, I checked to see if the top of the vials fit nicely over the plugs of the pods--which they will, loosely, if held on--and released the single ant to another plug through this method. Given the confined space of the vials, he didn't take long to take it and escape to freedom. I think I may attempt this somewhat riskier technique in hopes of quicker results. Additionally, emptying them into one of the smaller "food/water" jars would also probably have worked better, the smaller size leading to much faster discovery of the porthole.
There were a few things I have even already learned myself, however a few of them would have been nice to know when *assembling* the pods. Most of it has to do with how the ants behave and adapt to the pods, not so much the fault of the Wild Science Ant-O-Sphere kit... however it would have still been nice of them to include in the "TIPS" section.
Being winter in Wisconsin, ants are also in rare supply so I actually bought ants online. Western Harvester ants are actually quite cheap and easy to order online, as they are food for the horned lizard, and ordered 50 ants for $6.95 (shipped) from antsalive.com. (Make sure you read my notes at the bottom if you decide to go this route). They have had been in the ant-o-spheres for about three days, at this moment. I'll update if anything else comes up.
First of all, it seems that harvester ants are not great climbers. This makes empty pods a problem, and it is disheartening watching an ant fall down into the bottom, begin to climb the side, slip and fall back down to the bottom, only to be doing the same thing when you come back an hour later. Some layout redesigns were in order, seeing as the booklet suggests leaving several of the pods *EMPTY* from the start, and I feared that most of my ants were going to perish stuck at the bottoms of these spheres. The packaging only included enough sand to fill one pod (and by "fill" I mean I mean filling the lower half), so it may not hurt to buy or find some extra sand beforehand... however my ants seem to really be taking a liking to the soil filled pods more than the sand.
IMPORTANT ADVICE: Start by introducing the ants to only maybe 2-3 interconnected pods at a time so you (your child) can make sure that your (their) ants are adapting and reacting to your (their) pods as hoped, and then add on by connecting one or two more pods instead. While the post-modern styling is visually attractive, it is not advantageous when you have to take a pod apart or want to change anything. I had to disconnect and remove the top four pods and swapped the empty single 2nd-tier pod with another soil-filled one once I saw how poorly the Harvester ants did climbing up smooth plastic walls.
RE: Ordering ants online
I looked at a number of other websites but they all appear to be the same (western harvester ants) and priced similarly. I went with antsalive.com because some other places don't ship to certain areas during winter and because shipping was free. They arrived a few days ago, and while I expected a few dead, it appeared nearly all of them were alive. If you follow this route, do be aware that harvester ants DO bite... so this part is clearly for the adults. I had tamped the tubes a couple times down on the table, to get as many away from the top as possible, then quickly opened both tubes, turned them upside down into the collection jar and tapped the sides to coax them out. I had the lid--with hole pre-stuffed with a cotton wad--ready nearby; this part probably wasn't that important due to their limited climbing ability. This technique worked moderately well, however it seemed the ants were *very* partial to staying in the collector jar and it took a long time for them to make their ways into the pods---there are still 5 (living) ants that still will not leave the collector jar.
There was a single stubborn ant who had stayed in one of the tubes and instead of worrying about him while I had the rest in the collector jar I just put the top back on the tube. Later, I checked to see if the top of the vials fit nicely over the plugs of the pods--which they will, loosely, if held on--and released the single ant to another plug through this method. Given the confined space of the vials, he didn't take long to take it and escape to freedom. I think I may attempt this somewhat riskier technique in hopes of quicker results. Additionally, emptying them into one of the smaller "food/water" jars would also probably have worked better, the smaller size leading to much faster discovery of the porthole.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Verified Purchase
Durability:
Educational:
Fun:
Forget what you know what about old school ant farms, this one is pretty cool! The kit comes complete with everything you or your child needs to create a futuristic ant farm, except for the ants, which are easy to order (someone else offered the link I used and bought from - $5.00) The kit is pretty high quality and well designed. It was very easy to setup, even if the instructions are not perfectly clear. My one recommendation is to use a little clay or glue to make the pod legs more stable, but this is optional and everything snaps together nicely. Put on a wooden base, the farm is easy enough to move as a unit if needed. My sons really like checking on the ants!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Kind of a dud
We read the reviews and thought this would be cool. It was at first, but we had a hard time with the ants adapting to the pods. Read more
Published 3 months ago by itsubob
Wonderful world of Ants!
My son is so excited to get started with this, but alas with three inches of snow on the ground, its going to be a while. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Karin Pelletier
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