Sleuth Home - Message Boards - The Gumshoe Lounge


0 0
The merits of Ant Farming
  <<First Page  |  <Previous Next>  |  Last Page>>  

BadAss
BadAss
Charioteer

Jan-17-2007 17:32

Owning an ant farm is a fascinating hobby and it’s particularly good for kids. It’s educational and fun too, and because it’s fun, the things that kids learn tend to stick. Many people have developed a lifelong interest in the natural world through owning a live animal as a child. So what could be better than an ant farm? They are clean, quiet and don’t need to be taken for walks when it’s raining! Because ants are social insects, they display a whole range of co-operative behaviours that we can learn a lot from.

Anybody with some experience on the subject?

Replies

AraLives
AraLives
Battered Shoe

Jan-17-2007 19:41

Cats, man. We have ants sometimes in the summer (tip: some varieties, including the ones in my house, HATE baby powder) and my freaking cats just sit around watching them. All they do is sleep, eat, and suck up--you'd think maybe they'd manage to earn their keep. Hmph.

eeyores_lost_tail
eeyores_lost_tail

Jan-17-2007 20:34

Ahh, yes, ant farms. I had one as a kid. I remember my mom not being about seeing that in my Christmas present pile. I think I eventually found a queen ant and then nothing else happened.

My daughter had better not get any ideas of having one...she has enough pets. I battle enough ants finding their way into the house living out in the desert. I have cans of Raid handy for just such occasions.

I normally find them as Secret Squirrel found his...the cat is laying their watching them.

AraLives...a mouse got into my house one nice summer night through a small hole in the frame for our security screen door. Dang cats didn't catch it. It took me nearly a little bit to catch that thing with a humane trap and all the cats would do is watch it under the refridgerator or where ever it was that day. The cats acted like it was a novelty since they had never seen one before (we never had one in the house until that occasion).

AmazingAmanda253
AmazingAmanda253
Well-Connected

Jan-17-2007 21:13

My cousin had a sea monkey set. (not exaclty an ant farm,) The only problem was that it looked like a snow globe, and my younger brother turned it upside down. Hate to see what would happen if he did that to an ant farm.

crunchpatty
crunchpatty
Old Shoe

Jan-18-2007 00:47

well, clearly the solution here is for everyone to take the inherent logic behind ant farms ("animals are funner when behind glass on covered with sand") and apply it to cats. Gives the term "catbox" a whole new meaning :)

Plus, being as they seem to always land on their feet the whole 'little brother inverted my hobby' thing shouldn't be a problem.

Cats can breathe sand, right?

Cat farm, anyone?

jroepel
jroepel
Con Artist

Jan-18-2007 00:59

Ah, I have spent many a lonely night out on the range. Listening to the cook sing next to the campfire as I ride through the night watching over my herd of ants. The memories of that life still haunt me to this day. I'll never forget the day we lost our best ant-poke 'Biscuit' to an ant stampede during a flash flood down near the Rio Grande. And then there was the great sugar spill of '72. We were chasing down stray ants for days. But it was the everyday tasks of ranching that I miss the most. Lassoing and branding, although you can have shoeing. Have you ever tried to shoe a herd of ants? Impossible I tell you! Anyways, where was I? Oh yes, Then there was that time I tried to rodeo bronco ride a soldier ant, darn near busted my arm. Ah good memories. Too bad the ant ranching business went belly up now that all these farmers got set up raising ants. Wasn't no need for us to herd them about the country anymore. Well that's enough of that, want to hear about the time I had a pet chimpanzee named Bobo?

MamaTerra
MamaTerra
Assistant Postman

Jan-18-2007 07:24

Who owns Bobo right now?

biggie528
biggie528
Lucky Stiff

Jan-18-2007 07:33

i cant remember. I think I have him.

MamaTerra
MamaTerra
Assistant Postman

Jan-18-2007 07:47

I think in the Anything/Nothing thread there was some sort of keruffle over him. JR got him back but then someone stole Bobo from him. I kinda didn't read the whole thread. It's Realllly long. :)

biggie528
biggie528
Lucky Stiff

Jan-18-2007 07:54

lol some night when you're bored, I suggest you do.

Bobo pops up in so many threads though, thats why I'm having a hard time remembering. I stole him back from J-Ro in A&N, but then someone might have taken him back from me somewhere else.

I've heard rumors that he likes to travel Amsterdam though ;)

MamaTerra
MamaTerra
Assistant Postman

Jan-18-2007 09:45

Where did Bobo originate from? Is he any relation to Koko?

  <<First Page  |  <Previous Next>  |  Last Page>>  

[ You must login to reply ]