Better than an ant farm for adults
590651
I really like it.  Kinda like an adult ant farm. Everyone wants to look at it and wishes they have one.
4611869
I bought this at a store locally and actually met the owner of the company - a very nice man -concerned with people's health and the environment. I am glad to see I can get it on Amazon also. At the time I first bought it, I had little children and lots of ants that loved the food that my kids dropped on the floor.  Spraying Orange Guard on the baseboard, window sills, etc. where they traveled and using Grants Ant Spikes in the ground around my house - out of the way of my kids and pets, took care of the problem. The ants went away.  But, I needed to keep at it, over the years, because they come back, usually during winter. This last winter the Grant Spikes didn't seem to work as well.  The Orange Guard did a great job as it has always done. My 1/2 bath still gets ants sometimes, but not much, one or two a day, then weeks without any. I don't even use the Orange Guard, I just dispose of them.  Then a dozen come during the rainy season - and that is when I get out the Orange Guard. And that does the trick. KEEP at it and over a period of time, the ants will see your home as not a safe place and just not come around as much.

I have defeated the ant (and a few spiders, etc.) and I have not poisoned myself or my family in the process!!! Thank you Tor, for your 14 years of research. You are a blessing. All stores in America should sell your product.
4409987
unless you want all your ants to die do not buy this you should buy a sand ant farm
2371797
I have always had an interest in insects from an early age. As a child I was always capturing ants and trying to setup ant colonies. So when I saw this book at the store I had to buy it. Just looking at it in the bookstore I was drawn in by the many pages of detailed drawings and photographs.
The book can be a bit technical at times. It used advanced (to me anyway) entomological terms that can sometimes make understanding some of the topics difficult. Though it is clearly targeted at an adult audience, I would not hesitate to give this book to a bright child who is particularly interested in ants.
Just about anything you might want to know about the ant is covered. The book did a good job of explaining some questions that I had always had of ants. For example, how can the queen continue to lay fertilized eggs endlessly without a "partner".
The only topic I might have liked seen described at greater length would have been keeping ants. How to excavate a colony. How to obtain a queen. And son on.
1644119
We tried Orkin and Clark. They played with the ants for months. One of them told me CA limits what they can use as bug juice here and it isn't your Grandma's Mixture -of- Death. I bought 8 of the baits/traps, lined 'em up next to the throne since the ants had a highway built to go from under one wall to under another wall. This way I could sit there and watch them while ..... never mind. A few ants went after some blue liquid bait that you squirt on little cardboard strips. After a few croaked right on the cardboard, the ants left it alone just like the other 40-some dollars worth of bait. I tried many sprays and many concentrations of those sprays. We don't have any punkins any more and own no critters. Some of those mixtures, well, the EPA is probably still looking for me. I called up the local college biology and bug dept and together we agreed that I has housing Pharaoh type ants. While this Bayer doesn't really make a big deal about my kind of ants, it was the only product of the 6 or so different mixers that worked. The ONLY one! No more ants crawling wherever they wished, no more partaaays under the sink, no more close order drilling under the bedroom floor keeping me awake at night. I mix it up the way it is s'posed to be, spray the yard, house, orange tree, yard, all the Wife's weeds, the driveway, sidewalks, and any straight line or meeting places of interspace planes. Everywhere outdoors. Every six months when no rain will be present for two days or so at least. Kills the ants and then they go away or all die. Also kills the Chinese cockroach-lookin' things we have imported out here. Doesn't seem to hurt the rolly-polly bugs (look like tiny armadillos), toads, or most importantly, Larry the Lizard, who provides me with years of entertainment when he skitters somewhere and scares my Wife. I *think* that there are so many different types of ants that you have to experiment a little to find the best way to deal with your particular problem. The pros sure tried to find and nests and troubleshoot the problem when they were turned loose. Anyway, this stuff works outdoors, and consequently indoors, in Northern CA on the little brown Pharaoh guys. I have no idea if works on the big black 3/8" Iowa ants. May need Tasers for those things. Experiment with different baits and bug juice. I use an old Ortho Dial-A-Mix 9or some such name) jug screwed to the hose to do the spraying and then take a shower right after attacking everything. With the Dialer type hose thingy, I'm able to adjust my own concentrations during experiments and cover lots of ground real fast. Yeah, it is expensive to to go through a whole jug of juice at once but I have other things to do besides daintily spraying for ants all the time. Important things, like watching the drought kill my grass so farmers can grow cotton in the CA desert and plant more almond trees to keep China in almonds. We won't go into CA trying to regulate cow farts, I'm trying to kill ants!
2048382
My sons loved this toy (ages 5-12)!  We ordered ants separately when we purchased the farm so both arrived within a day of each other.  The first week of digging is very cool, then the ants slow down.  A great opportunity to learn about these interesting little creatures.  Don't know that the illumination is necessary while the ants are still alive.  Apparently, keeping the farm lit all the time shortens their lifespan, so we rarely plug it in.  Perhaps after the ants are gone, it will be useful as a night light.
2199506
I read the other reviews before buying and noticed most of the bd reviews were about animals stealing them. I live in the country with plenty of animals roaming the field and woods. I boaught a box and planted them. Then since ants can travel under ground and most animals can't I placed a concrete block or midsized rock on them. It's been 3 months, they're still there and I'm buying more. Really cut down on ants inside. I recommend.
3466947
This is superior in every way possible to the electronic bug zappers, the sprays, powders, strips and traps. It's even better than chemical sprays as they're usually harmful to pets. And it seems the yard ants love the fallen fly's. Thank you Bug A Salt
643646
And more and more they cry every night.  They love andy, they now refer to every ant they see as andy.  This story is more than just about an ant that loves adventure.  This book tells us how to get along.  A book for children and adults.  I not only hightly recommend it, but it's a MUST!!!!!!
2832391
This book was a fun read. I love reading about ants. It's so hard to imagine there are so many of this insect out there. I've never really seen a large colony before but I have seen some around my house or other places outside. It is so amazing seeing ants up close. The pictures are really something in this book. I was able to read this for free from amazon for the kindle app. After reading this, it would be well worth your time to look on youtube for the videos of people and scientists pouring liquid hot metal into ant colonies. It's the weirdest and coolest thing I have seen in a very long time.
729992
I see lots of negative reviews because of the difficulty of getting the mail order ants.  We get our own.  Buy one of those bug sucker machines from Discovery.  The big red ants seem to be the best.  You only need 20 ants.  Make sure to put them in the fridge for 15 min prior to putting them in the farm so they will be sluggish.  This ant farm is cool especially at night because of the light.  If you have young kids you will need to tape the top because it comes off easily. The only other one I like better is the round one (also with green gel) because the ants are illuminated on the ceiling when it's dark.
2087207
I must say that after reading some of these reviews I had my doubts that this product would work.  I live in Key West Florida, the buggiest place in the fifty states.
We have bugs here that are the stuff of horror movies.  I was sick and tired of every night seeing in various rooms some sort of silverfish that looked like giant tadpoles wriggling around, giant red killer ants on the prowl, swarms of what we call p*** ants
swarming all over the place, some sort of little black flying beetles, and the occasional giant Palmetto Bugs winging through the house which always send me into screaming fits that will wake the dead.

So far no more red ants, tiny ants or silverfish, and I can use this in the kitchen without worrying I will give myself Parkinson's Disease or cancer.
Plus it smells great.  It does seem to work surprisingly well.  I just spray this in all the crevaces in the kitchen and we haven't seen one insect in there at all since I
started using this.  The key to this is to use it every night, spray it around where you have seen insects.  It's not as deadly as a regular insectiside but still keeps them away. I'm very pleased with this and will continue to buy it.
651450
This is wonderful stuff.  We have been inundated by tiny little ants in our Florida condo.  We were desperate, and when we read about this, we immediately went to the store to get some.  We didn't want to wait for delivery.  After trying several other ant baits and making our own of their favorite things mixed with poison, this was the only thing that worked.  First they swarmed.  It was very creepy.  The next day we saw only a couple; a day or two later, no visible ants.  We are not nave enough to believe that this is a permanent fix, and are prepared to use it again for any future infestations. All I can say is that it is a relief not to have them hanging around my sink, stove, and water &  ice dispensers on the frig.  I spent a lot of time disinfecting all surfaces several times a day.  We seem to be alright for now.  We have an appointment with management company's "bug guy," as he calls himself.  Of course, ants are gone for now, but we are hoping for advice from him, and plan to ask him to spray the perimeter of our building, as other units are infested, too.  This is a first for us.  For most of our years renting, then owning, we have had no serious insect issues.  I guess our good luck has run out.  We keep our kitchen immaculate, clean up any spills or crumbs, and always clean the stove top after cooking.  One tiny drop or splash of oil or grease that I miss, they find, en masse.  Also we keep everything in plastic containers, large enough to hold large bags of sugar, flour, anything that might tempt any unwelcome visitors.  Also no food is ever left out.  It is put away immediately, dishes and pots and pans cleaned immediately, too.  I was melting butter in the microwave recently.  The little buggers apparently adore the smell of butter.  There were trying to get in the micro.  One made it, but didn't live long.  We use a name brand butter dish that snaps tightly shut.  One time I apparently didn't shut it well enough, and they got into that, too.  Ours seem to like meat fats and butter and cheese, with a secondary love affair with sweets.  If you can have the thing you love, you love the thing you have, I guess.  I thought we'd never have a problem.  Well, they taught us not to be so arrogant.  We can only hope that this works long term.  After the fact spoke to people who have lived here far longer than we.  Terro kept coming up as the thing to use.  So far, so good, but only time will tell.
3892371
This stuff is amazing. Its almost scary how quickly this can attract the ants and then make them disappear. The key is placing the traps where the ants are entering the house so they can carry it back to their nest to wipe out the rest of the colony.
82674
I have used this product since last year. And let me tell you it works. A lot of comments say that the mound just move to another location in their yard. And they are absolutely right about it. But if you start to think about a colony with multiple tunnels of course they are going to pop up in different locations. If you add some just to the mound. It's only treating that one's you treated. That why I'm getting this one for the whole yard. I spent so much time on my front and backyard. So it could look good and dominant my neighbor's lawn. And the worst thing is that I can't walk on it because there's a hidden mound somewhere in the grass. And by the time I know it either I'm getting stung or my children are running inside the house crying that they have ants all over their legs. So I try to get rid of them before the multiply during the summer time. I don't work for this company nor I'm not sponsored by them in any way. But get the 5lbs bag to broadcast and the 24oz. shake some on top or around the mound. I like to disturb them so I know they take the bait.
3243850
Either way, when combined with the "Food Grade" diatomaceous earth I filled it with, I felt like a damn bug assassin on a war path.  Spring had rolled up, and it was appearing as though the bugs had out maneuvered the spiders this year and were everywhere.  Beetles, earwigs, ants, on and on.

This stuff though is a joy to use.  Not horrible chemicals, no "OMG IT TOUCHED ME" moments, just puff puff and uh move on.  Yes we humans can actually eat the stuff if we're so inclined (food grade) you just don't want to breath the stuff as it's dust and unhealthy for you.  But with pets running around it's a great way to eliminate crawling insects without worrying about poisoning the pets, or your garden, etc...

So yeah diatomaceous earth and this puffer were/are a huge win.
1804576
A very well written book on a fascinating topic.  What I most appreciated was the organization: each chapter has its own point, and the various ant species, however interesting in their own right, are introduced for their value in explaining these points.  The writing itself is clear,  contains just enough of the personal, and never belabors a point.

 Ants have complex reactions to simple stimuli: as individuals they are not intelligent, just as the individual cells in the human body are not intelligent in themselves.  Rather the colony comprises a superorganism, a concept which lost favor in its original formulation, but is now well accepted.  Remarkably, an example of the limits of the ant's nervous system is that an ant ONLY recognizes a fellow ant is dead by the smell the decomposing body gives off.

 Of the 4 groups of insects which have at least some "eusocial" species (p. 8), 3 are characterized by haplodiploidy, including ants, bees and wasps (termites are the exception).  This means all females with the same father have the exact same paternal genes, because males do not have pairs of chromosomes.  Thus, the workers are more closely related than is normal, which presumably ("kin selection" theory) helps explain their willingness to self sacrifice and not mate. It is not uncommon for the Queen to collect sperm from multiple males during the one time she swarms, so presumably not all workers are so closely related, but the authors did not discuss this implication.

 So much about ants has been learned by observation, both in the natural setting and by observing colonies in the lab, without any modern technology; a colony is sometimes observed for years to draw conclusions.  Still, some technology is mentioned in passing, such as very high speed cameras and radioactive isotopes.