Insect Lore Two Tubes of Live Ants | 50 Live Harvester Ants | with Ant Life Cycle Stages Figurines...

The toys are more than half the size of the tiny container the ants come in. Only one ant survived the poor journey and I had to bring the poor guy up to health before trying to put him in the exhibit which then I released because I feel sorry for him. Inhumane practice, tried to return before it arrived but they wouldn't allow returns anyway. Pity. Poor ants, still feel somewhat sorry for the ones that died for the cruelty / inability to return my order. Not sure whether ants how ants were taken care of, probably overfed anesthetics which would answer the shaking problem customers had.

I didnt expect much ordering these because of the other reviews saying all of the ants were dead but I decided to give it a shot. Yes, there were dead ants, but there were plenty of live ants also. I kept them in the refrigerator overnight because they arrived early and my son had not set up his ant habitat yet. The next morning we took them out, gave them a few minutes to wake up and put them in the habitat. Two days in and there are about 20 active ants steadily digging tunnels and working. They are bigger than expected, which is actually good because their body parts are easy to see.

The ants came in test tubes in a white envelope around 1pm. They were in transit for almost a week. I was really worried that after 5 days of travel they would get here all dead. We immediately put them in the fridge for the 10 minutes that the instructions suggested and then poured them into the habitat and threw in small bits of bread and a few drops of water (again according to the instructions) and then we waited. That first day they barely moved and I thought for sure they were not going to be alive the next morning. The following morning about 75% of the 2 tubes of ants were all moving along the top of the habitat but they were not tunneling at all. The other 25% were dead and had not moved from where they laid when we poured them in. That whole day they were very active but never actually started tunneling. The next morning we were down to about 50% and they were no longer active but barely moving along the top of the habitat sand. After a bit of google searching we cut a small piece of cotton off a cotton shirt, wet it down and placed it in the habitat along with a small piece of apple and a mealworm (I have on hand for my chickens). The ants had ZERO interest in any of it and stayed on the opposite end of the habitat. The next morning all but 2 ants were no longer moving and died in the corner they were bunched together after we put the food and water in. However, the 2 remaining ants were ALL over the food and water from the previous day. We are now a week out and those 2 ants are still going strong but seriously we have this HUGE habitat and 2 ants! Does not make for any exciting tunneling! Now looking for an ant farm in our area. Suggestions for others who are thinking of buying. I think we should have started out with the cotton and water instead of just dropping a few drops of water in the habitat and better source of food than bread like the apple and mealworm. Maybe you will have better luck than we did if you start them off right especially after a week of travel in a test tube.

We bought these February 15th with mostly all surviving upon arrival (I think we had 23 live ones). It is now April 25th and we still have about 12 ants. They are dying off little by little but its been fascinating to watch them for as long as we have. I would recommend buying these ants. Just make sure you have a good ant farm and switch out their food every couple of days or so. Also, be sure to refrigerate them before putting them in the ant farm and move directly from the refrigerator to the ant farm. They are super fast. They were extremely thirsty at first, all crowding the water sponge in our ant farm. They seem to like all fruits and granola bars (except ones with cinnamon). Update 07/14/2024: We still have 10 live ants. Was not expecting them to survive this long. Weve had them for 5 months tomorrow.

Okay so these suckers are hardy. My son got these to go along with his ant farm for Christmas. It's mid-Feb and they're still kicking even after killing at least most of them when opening the vile. Heed my cautionary tale! So, the printed instructions on the vile are very tiny and the paper that comes with it was flat in the bag so I didn't notice it right away. I was more concerned about getting them oxygen because of the delivery delay. I was fearful they would all be dead. Boy was I wrong!! Had I been less concerned with getting them oxygen I would have maybe noticed the tiny label and its instructions to place them in the fridge first. Anyway, my kiddos ant farm has a tiny hole on top where I figured they were supposed to enter. I did not know you could take the whole top off and figured this must be the way you're supposed to do it so they don't escape. I popped the lid off of the vile and before I could even tip it towards the ant farm they ALL came running out FAST!! Like as soon as they had oxygen suddenly I had a vile of ants that could move like the Flash comic character. Oh and they bite... Did I mention that SEVERAL of these biting ants are now running in every direction in my living room and down my table? Oh Lord it was a mess so I ran immediately without hesitation to the kitchen sink and I tossed the vile into a bowl that was soaking in the sink. It rolled and fell down into the disposal...Yep just my luck! It certainly slowed them but sure didn't stop them. Nope now they're alive in my sink. Needless to say they were moving slower and I was then able to catch the stunned shocked ants individually and scoop them into the ant farm. We rescued about 15 or so of them so it's a darned miracle they are still alive today. Anyway, STICK YOUR ANTS IN THE FRIDGE don't be me! Pretty sure this will be the last time we do the whole ant farm thing lol.