Has anyone else got an ANT WORLD? Please come and talk ants with me

[FrannyandZooey]

Right we finally scraped together about 25 nervous looking ants and introduced them to their spacious new accomodation. Several promptly died and the rest spent a couple of days running around, much to ds's delight:

"We've got PETS!"

"Mummy look they are having a RACE!"

"Those two are very funny they just bumped HEADS!"

"Now they are having an ANT CIRCUS!"

So I was thinking this has got to be one of the best things anyone had ever bought him. Now on day 5 the ants are

well

I don't know where they are. They have gone somewhere. Underground? There is a tunnel. It doesn't seem to have ants in it. There is bugger all sign of life. Is this it? Are the first few days the only time you get to see them doing anything? Or have we killed them all? What do I tell ds?

look look (scroll down)

has anyone been? May start separate thread. I think I would quite possibly pop with joy if a parakeet drank nectar from a bowl I was holding

is a lorikeet a parakeet then?

erm

possibly

I just forgot what it said and put parakeet instead

OK?

Are you saying they are definitely goners Franny?

And this talk of parakeets and nectar is your way of diverting attention from the disaster?

If so, commiserations on the former and a grudging admiration for the latter.

You just like pretty colours and glamour, franny.

Not prepared to spend time with misunderstood drab ants.

Fickle.

I think some of them are goners, yes

right two are prancing around up top

loads down in tunnel very static (sleeping? deceased?)

one I thought was dead is feebly waving antennae

I mean what are they DOING? Do they usually just lie about in the tunnels or has there been a terrible mining disaster?

The uncertainty is dreadful

oh arse I just gave them some more water and I think I have drowned one of the two perkier ones

pointydog I am TRYING but they are not easy to please that is for sure

If it was a civil war the two at the top must be doing a victory dance.

perhaps they are exhausted after all that digging

who was the smart arse here earlier who had them laying eggs? How does that work, then? Don't you need a lady ant for eggs?

We saw snails lay eggs and that was absolutely fascinating. Do you know how snails lay eggs?

The one at the top, then.

Ah! I am about to set up one of these with ds. We bought ants via mail order .

OK - so not near a window...

can you STOP it with the snails? It's like something out of the Wicker Man.

jeez I will have to start blathering about parakeets again at this rate

Becky I think you chose wisely. At least you will know your ants are of good stock and breeding, unlike this inferior, suicide pact making variety

Having spent nearly an hour trying to corner a runaway gerbil this morning (friendly and sociable my arse) I am anti pets at the moment. These ants had better behave themselves...

That's it, blame the innocents.

they seem to have rallied slightly

bit of a to-do up the top

the one I thought I had drowned turned out to be a lump of grit

Things look less bleak for the inhabitants of Ant World than they did a few hours ago

lol

That's great.

Hurray!

I think I would like the address please after reading your ants escapades

Saffy here you go, here is the email address or phone number to ring

we have a WORM WORLD

strangely, our worms have also escaped

don't ants bite?

only the red ones or the big wood ones

I got bitten by one of those once, jeez it hurts. My whole leg felt throbbing for a while

we have the yellow ones or you can use black ones

so how did the worms escape filly?