Uncle Milton Ant Farm Gel Colony Review
Uncle Milton Ant Farm Gel Colony Feature
- Watch ants as they build amazing 3-D tunnels in translucent gel
- Food and moisture are self-contained for a maintenance-free experience
- The Ant Farm Gel Colony uses a nutrient-rich gel, providing your ants with a continuous source of food and moisture
- Mail-in coupon for live harvester ants
- No food or water needed!
Uncle Milton Ant Farm Gel Colony Overview
Create your very own colony of ants with this live ant habitat. A tinted subterranean area provides the perfect place for ants to burrow their way through the nutrient-rich gel, building 3-D tunnels as they go. The break-resistant glass makes sure that the ants stay contained. There's no food or water needed. Includes only the farm; ants must be requested via mail-in coupon (for a shipping and handling fee). Measures 9" x 6.5".
Related Products
Customer Reviews
MAJOR waste of money and cruel as well - Starr -
I would never recommend a Milton ant farm to anyone. Believing the hype on the box, I bought two gel farms. One for my primary class and one for my own children at home. First of all, what they DON'T tell you on the package is that they only ship to interior/northern states and Canada between April and September. If you recall, the school year ends in June. So for many teachers this won't work...but I didn't know that when I spent my money. But wait..it gets worse.
We ordered ants in March so they'd be shipped in April. They were to be sent express, but could take, we were told, 'up to' 3 weeks. 3 weeks after they were supposedly shipped, we had no ants. We called. They gave us a tracking number. A week later 2 tubes of ants came. All but a few were dead. Small surprise. They starved. We also noticed that Milton was not the shipper. "Whoever They Were Toy Store' paid under to ship the ants and we had paid CA for EXPRESS! Of the ones we got, none would tunnel. We even had a retired high school teacher try to help. He had a traditional sand farm when he was teaching, that he built himself and had been doing farms for years. No matter what he and I tried, the ants hated the gel. They just kept dying and the live ones stacked up the bodies of the dead until they were all dead. It was pitiful to watch the last one, alone.
We called Milton and told them about the shipping method and dead ants. 'They' sent more ants. Same thing. Shipment took more than 3 weeks, sent snail mail again. Dead ants. By this time it was mid June. School was almost over. We called Milton again. They said 'oops sorry - no more we can do - we're not sending more ants'. Then they claimed they don't actually 'ship' the ants direct. They have 'agents' that do it. They told us we'd have to argue with the agent that actually shipped the ants. We got the number and called the shipper. GET THIS. They said that the first we paid was for Milton to send the ants to the agent. The remaining was for the snail mail to us. The agent was going to 'lose money' if they paid for a better method. (I guess our money didn't matter.)
Their response to our situation? 'Sorry, you'll have to talk to Milton'.
So, we got the royal run-around. We called Milton again. Their solution? Return the ant kits to the retailer we bought them from. We got them from ToysRUS, who said...."Sorry, you've used the kits. No refund."
We call Milton back. They say..."Ok, we'll refund your money. BUT you have to send the kits to us.........registered and insured mail, your cost."
Punch line time.... The shipping was more than we paid for the farms. We still have them. Useless things.
Oh yes, and I forgot. The second punch line...the ants die after about 6-8 weeks anyway, even if you get live, healthy ants, so...you need to keep paying for more ants. The same ants that most states and all provinces can only get between April 1 and August 31.
Your kids get to watch the ants die, over and over again...for piles of your money. Cool, eh? NOT
Here's a better idea, google ant farms at antcam. We finally found these guys. They build regular old farms that don't collapse or they give you plans to do your own. The ants are happy. They don't die..except of normal causes like they would out in their regular hill and you can go get your own ants in your backyard.
(HEY why didn't Milton tell us this in the first place?? Er.)
It's a money grab. Nothing more. Cruel to the ants and expensive for the buyer. Run away from this one, especially if you live in an interior or nothern state and especially if you live in Canada.
Shame on you Uncle Milton.
Confused Colony - Deena B -
What an exciting toy to get as a gift. My son was so looking forward to this product that he kept asking me if the ants had arrived. When they did finally arrive only 2 of the 20 ants were moving, the rest of them were dead. Within one day, they were all dead. We have gotten a second batch of ants but they are totally confused. They are not lazy they just have no idea what to do with the gel. We have dug the holes as instructed but the ants just group themselves together not moving.
There is a gap on the side of the gel between the gel and the wall. Many of the ants have fallen down the crack. In order to save them we had to lean the farm on it's edge so they could move. I tried giving them water and food - which really did perk them up but only for a little while. There are no tunnels, there is no digging, there are only very confused ants trying to escape. A real disappointment for everyone.
worthless garbage, waste of money - Adam Greenberg -
Its been two months, and the ants never came despite contact with the company. Meanwhile the gel has dried up. Money wasted. Child disappointed
Sad, sad, sad... - Leanne Owens - Houston, Texas
I haven't written a review in years, but felt compelled to add my opinion for this product.
My 5 year-old received this as a birthday present and was very excited. We have captured many bugs and creatures over the years and love watching their fascinating habits. I sent off for ants and was pleasantly surprised that it only took about 2 weeks to receive them. Most were alive and we ended up with about 20. We put them in and waited for the digging to commence. And waited. And waited. We waited over 48 hours and I was truly feeling sorry for the little guys. They were desperate to get out of the wicked contraption and were obviously wearing themselves out trying to climb the unforgiving plastic walls over and over again. The 2 that made it down a pre-made tunnel were obviously stuck and suffocating. I was mortified at the thought that my 5 year-old (and myself as well) had to watch the slow and painfully sad demise of the little guys.
We ended up frantically scouring the stores today to find a replacement habitat for them. We settled on the ant hill version with sand instead of gel. I got them in without a hitch and dug the 2 that were suffocating out of the gel. They seem to be fine now. It took the little guys less than 10 minutes to start doing their "thing." I was SO relieved to see them scurrying about and digging in the sand. Hopefully this will end in an educational and pleasant experience for my daughter.
Avoid this product like the plague. You'll live a more fruitful life without it...
*** Product Information and Prices Stored: May 11, 2010 14:27:08
Recommend : Click here if you want to buy another our discount
>>
