Our farm ants

After 10 months, the Clarke family has a pet again, or rather, pets. Not the cuddly, fuzzy kind, but the 6-legged kind with pinchers. Yes, Rylan is the proud owner of an ant farm, or "farm ants" as he calls them. He was really interested in ants this summer and when Aunt Bethany came to visit in August, they spend a lot of time on their walks investigating all the ant hills between our house and the park.
I laughed out loud when I opened her birthday present to Rylan! I could never have guessed she would have gotten him an ant farm. You can send away for ants in the mail or add your own. Since it could take 3-8 weeks to get them in the mail because they can't be shipped in cold weather, Charlton took on the task of collecting the big red ants himself. At first they seemed angry and stressed and did not want to entertain us by digging interesting tunnels in their nice green gel. When we installed the batteries in the built-in light to make their home glow a neon green, they still weren't impressed. After a day of keeping them in the dark and relative quiet, I can see the start of a new tunnel near the edge. So we'll see what happens. One thing is for sure, I am breaking Rylan's habit of sleeping with his birthday presents with this one.... Thanks for the ant farm fun, Aunt Bethany!




I'm sure the ants didn't mind being tilted like this. Thankfully the lid is very secure.

I asked him to hold them up so I could take a picture and he covered his face!

Finally, a good shot of both Rylan and the ants.