i call the big one bitey

Months ago, I bought the supercool Antworks ant farm from Think Geek.

Six to eight weeks ago, I ordered the little critters who would amuse me endlessly with their incessant tunneling, and waited for them to arrive. Yesterday, the wait ended.

Around ten in the morning, I put the ants into their new gel-filled home, and by three or so in the afternoon, they'd begun to tunnel down the side. Before bed last night, around twelve hours after they'd moved in, they reached the bottom of the habitat, and started to work their way over to the side.

Holy crap, man. I sat there and watched them dig their way across the bottom for close to thirty minutes. Because of the gel, I could see their mandibles pulling chunks out of the growing tunnel, and it looked like it was sort of blooming open.

When I got up this morning, I ran straight to the ants, and the picture here is what I found: they worked all night long, and have two growing tunnels across the whole thing. In fact, as I've been writing this, they've just broken through on the left side of the picture.

There are things here that still images can't capture: it's surprisingly satisfying to watch one ant start at the top of the habitat and work its way down into the tunnels. They all interact with each other in fantastically interesting ways, probing with their mandibles and antennae, and as far as I can tell, they never complain about the work. When they pass over the LEDs at the bottom of the thing, they cast this eerie shadow up into the gel that looks lie what you'd expect to see if The Abyss and Them! had a love child.

There are a couple more pictures of the habitat in my flickr stream.

Comments

[MJ]

That is WAY too cool!
I had a regular antfarm as a kid, now I have GOT TO HAVE that gel ant farm!!! WOOHOO!

[cocacola]

Wil:

Sounds like fun! That reminds me of way back when ... those sea monkeys that they used to advertise on the backs of comic books, those delightful pictures with them swimming around, doing tricks had a castle!!! Then the kids down the street got some and they looked a bit disappointing to me (NOT like the PICTURES! HEY!). I think the thrill was in the ordering of them! Your project is way cooler though! Have fun with your inner child (and the ants!)!

cheers,
Patricia from Canada

[KeithD]

as Backpack would say: "yum yum yum, delicioso!"

[jadeddo]

My daughter's preschool is waiting for their ants to arrive, so I showed her your pictures so she could see what the ant farm is going to look like. She says "Tell the boy I think his ants are pretty!"

[loveoff]

I am wondering does the kit come with a queen? If they don't what kind of life span do they have?

This kit makes me think of seamonkeys. Am I dating myself when I talk about them?

[Joe]

Looks like the jello you'd get at the Circus Circus buffet in Vegas.

That one had ants in it as well.

[KeithD]

Joe, that's funny. Really funny.

[Wil]

Joe - I laughed so hard, I peed a little.

loveoff - There is no queen, because they're harvester ants. I have endured the appropriate amount of Liberal Guilt knowing that without a queen they'll eventually realize their life has no meaning and die.

Maybe I'll play The Final Cut for them.

[redheadwriter]

I had that jello.

Saving myself another trip to Vegas, I've just found my son's birthday present. Very cool.

[loveoff]

Hey I am Canadian you might have to define what is this "Liberal guilt"? Do we have "Liberal Guilt" in Canada?

[Joe]

No, you have Avril Lavigne.

[loveoff]

LOL! That is an unfortunate truth. The fortunate thing is that she has moved to California and maybe, just maybe, there will be an earthquake will come and try to shake her off the planet. You know like when a person finds a big bug on the shoulder and they wiggle and gyrate until they can shake it off.

[Joe]

:) Being a California native myself, I'd prefer no earthquake and simply let the entrance into mediocrity take care of Avril. No offense to any her fans out there.

[loveoff]

Sure she will drift into mediocrity, but we will all suffer later when she decides she is going to do an issue of Playboy. Do you think fans of Avril Lavigne would read a Wil Wheaton blog? No really how many fans of Avril Lavigne read this blog?

[Andrew Ferguson]

Could we get a web cam perhaps?

[psycoma]

I must know more about this thing...is it reusable or no? I'm thinking it couldn't be unless you can 'reset' the gel. It's things like this that are the reason that every once in awhile I get a 'bug' up my butt and have to sit for hours watching ant/bug shows on TLC or Discovery. It's just very interesting.

psst...any word on that RFB archive type link?

[Pookie]

I just gotta get me one of those, that is too cool. It will sit next to my USB fishtank.

Ah I love ThinkGeek.com

[terrymr]

Sad but true, the inventor of Sea Monkeys was a white supremicist and money from the sale of sea monkeys products goes to the Aryan Nations. (google it if you don't believe me)

[Kathleen]

"what you'd expect to see if The Abyss and Them! had a love child."

that is a great freakin' line.

[srh]

I, for one, welcome our new ant overlords.

[Kim the fangirl]

Speaking of geeks, Encyclopedia Dramatica has posted the cover of "Just a Geek" on it's Geek page and added the subtitled it "Wil Wheaton: a geek's wet dream". Personally, I think they meant it in a good way otherwise I wouldn't have linked it here. http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Geek

[jhankins]

Just what I've been looking for. I never liked Uncle Milton's ant farms from the school supply stores, this is just in time for my son's birthday!

[shauna]

Wil, you are the Geek King, in the coolest way. That ant farm rocks. If I wasn't seriously afraid of my toddlers knocking it down, no matter where I put it, and releasing the ants all over my house, I'd get one. You're awesome.

[Mothra]

I just got one of those on my desk at work but I'm still waiting for my ants to arrive. 6 to 8 weeks did you say? How hard can it be to mail ants!

[goatbar]

What do they eat? Do you have to drop in food or do they just need more gel?