http://www.idyllopuspress.com/meanwhile/1638/day-20-in-which-our-ants-take-up-sculpture-in-lieu-of-tunneling/ A Sometimes Notion is Better Than No Thread at All Mon, 01 Mar 2010 02:39:10 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://www.idyllopuspress.com/meanwhile/1638/day-20-in-which-our-ants-take-up-sculpture-in-lieu-of-tunneling/comment-page-1/#comment-3248 annie Mon, 07 Jan 2008 00:32:39 +0000 http://www.idyllopuspress.com/meanwhile/?p=1638#comment-3248 My sons are doing a science fair project to compare sand based ant colonies vs. gel. We ordered both batches of ants from the same company(Life Studies) and settled our critters into their new homes at the smae time on 12/27/07. Our sand ants set to work immediately. Not so with our gel ants. It took them several days of ignoring our starter holes before they began to tunnel on the left side of the habitat. Then no work. A few more days and they began a tunnel from the side to the surface. Now no work. I can't tell how the work divides out in this gel colony. By contrast our sand ants have a maze of tunnels that they have dug and rearranged daily. The jobs are clear in this colony. I feel your frustration. My sons are doing a science fair project to compare sand based ant colonies vs. gel. We ordered both batches of ants from the same company(Life Studies) and settled our critters into their new homes at the smae time on 12/27/07. Our sand ants set to work immediately. Not so with our gel ants. It took them several days of ignoring our starter holes before they began to tunnel on the left side of the habitat. Then no work. A few more days and they began a tunnel from the side to the surface. Now no work. I can’t tell how the work divides out in this gel colony.
By contrast our sand ants have a maze of tunnels that they have dug and rearranged daily. The jobs are clear in this colony.
I feel your frustration.

]]> http://www.idyllopuspress.com/meanwhile/1638/day-20-in-which-our-ants-take-up-sculpture-in-lieu-of-tunneling/comment-page-1/#comment-3247 Susan Och Tue, 20 Nov 2007 19:17:14 +0000 http://www.idyllopuspress.com/meanwhile/?p=1638#comment-3247 My mom always said, of children, that they always have good reasons for doing what they do, even if we don't readily understand their reasons. When I was keeping bees, I found my mom's philosophy to be even more useful with insects than with kids. My mom always said, of children, that they always have good reasons for doing what they do, even if we don’t readily understand their reasons. When I was keeping bees, I found my mom’s philosophy to be even more useful with insects than with kids.

]]> http://www.idyllopuspress.com/meanwhile/1638/day-20-in-which-our-ants-take-up-sculpture-in-lieu-of-tunneling/comment-page-1/#comment-3246 Idyllopus Sun, 18 Nov 2007 19:47:24 +0000 http://www.idyllopuspress.com/meanwhile/?p=1638#comment-3246 We'll see what happens. We’ll see what happens.

]]> http://www.idyllopuspress.com/meanwhile/1638/day-20-in-which-our-ants-take-up-sculpture-in-lieu-of-tunneling/comment-page-1/#comment-3245 Susan Och Sun, 18 Nov 2007 17:43:05 +0000 http://www.idyllopuspress.com/meanwhile/?p=1638#comment-3245 What happens if you rotate the farm 180 degrees? Will they then favor the other end? What happens if you rotate the farm 180 degrees? Will they then favor the other end?

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