The Ant Hill

Debby and Joe bought Brennan an Ant Hill, and the ants arrive on Saturday.  Prior to the ants arriving, we had to prepare their habitat, which basically meant packing sand into the flat side of the ant hill and pouring some water into it.  The ants arrived in the mail in a small vial.  The directions warned us that these ants are aggressive and will sting/bite if handled.  We had to place the vial in the refrigerator for 10 minutes, which basically stopped the ants from moving.  After the 10 ten minutes were up, we dumped the ants into their new home and shut the door.  Within a few minutes, they warmed back up and started exploring.

The ant hill guide said it would take about 24 hours for the ants to adjust to their new surroundings and start tunneling.  By Sunday morning, the ants had started digging.

As of this morning, they had progressed farther in their tunneling.

The ants only require a few drops of water and a kernel of food every 3-4 days, so they are pretty low maintenance.  And, they are only expected to live for 3-4 weeks, so it's not a long term commitment.  But, it has been pretty cool to see them at work.  They are quite large and we have been able to watch them pick up the grains of sand, carry the sand up their tunnels and dump it down the sloped side of the ant hill.  What a fun gift!  Thanks, Debby and Joe!

In other insect news, I need to print a correction about the large dead insect that I previously called a locust.  It's not nearly that exciting of a creature - it's just a cicada.  Based on the cicada outbreak that we had in 2004, I thought all cicadas had red eyes, but it turns out that they don't.  Our insect is nothing more than a cicada, which are fairly common around here.