Uncle Milton's Ant Farm® Gel Colony™

Raise your elbowed antennae for the Ant Farm® Gel Colony™, Uncle Milton's newest addition to their family of ant observation products. In place of sand and water, the Gel Colony™ uses a special gel medium developed for a 2003 ant experiment on the International Space Station. The result is a durable, well-designed Ant Farm® that requires no maintenance or messy setup. Just add ants, shipped direct from Uncle Milton when you send in your mail order coupon included in the box. Your western harvester ants will feed on the gel and tunnel through the medium for months, providing hours and hours of ant watching fun.

Uncle Milton's Ant Farm® Gel Colony™ is not your parents' ant farm. The company that made its name on sand-filled ant farms over 50 years ago now offers a real space age version of their live ant colony. Using a gel medium developed for a 2003 Space Shuttle experiment, the Ant Farm® Gel Colony™ makes ant watching easier than ever before.

While the traditional Uncle Milton Ant Farm® requires a sometimes messy setup process, the Gel Colony™ is as easy as 1, 2, 3. Just poke some starter tunnels in the gel medium, add your ants, and pop on the escape proof top. Then sit back and watch as your ants start excavating.

Like the old school Ant Farm®, the Gel Colony™ comes with a mail order coupon for ants. Uncle Milton ships worker western harvester ants, which can bite if not handled carefully. Absent a queen, the all-worker colony will eventually die off, and you'll need to replenish your colony. Ants are shipped in 2-6 weeks, as long as temperatures remain between 32º and 85º Fahrenheit. You can order replacement ants through the mail as well, or call their toll free number at 1-(888)-742-2484 (within the US).

I received my Gel Colony™ in October, along with a vial of live ants. According to the Ant Watcher's Manual, included in the box, it may take several days for the ants to begin tunneling. My ants took considerably longer – several weeks – and never succeeded in doing much beyond digging one tunnel straight to the bottom. I think my experience isn't a fair assessment of the ants in action, though, as ants tend to be less active in the fall. I've confirmed with other Ant Farm owners that their ants get lazy as winter approaches.

Once your mail order ants die off, you can replenish your Ant Farm® by collecting ants locally, or you will have a vicious ant war on your hands as ants from competing colonies will not mix. Just make sure you collect them from a single colony. If you can collect the queen along with some workers, your colony can be self-sustaining and you won't need to replace your ants every few months.

Uncle Milton also sells an optional LED light that attaches beneath the Ant Farm® base, or you can purchase the Illuminated Ant Farm® Gel Colony™ which comes with the LED light.

I tested both the sand-filled, Vintage Ant Farm® and the Ant Farm® Gel Colony™. The Gel Colony™ offers the easiest setup, with no messy sand and water to spill. Though you shouldn't shake or move your ants once they've moved into their new home, the Gel Colony™ can better withstand any accidental bumps from enthusiastic ant watchers.

The Ant Farm® Gel Colony™ is a great introduction to ant watching for kids from age 6 to adult. I recommend that you start your colony with ants direct from Uncle Milton, then try your hand at collecting some when those have died off. With their Ant Farm® Gel Colony™, Uncle Milton makes it easier than ever watch some of the insect world's most amazing creatures.