Instructions
Order your live ants. The live ant certificate is located in the back of the booklet that came in the package. Fill out the certificate and enclose any additional costs that it calls for. Delivery usually takes about two to four weeks; however, if temperatures are too cold or too hot, it may take longer. While you can request your live ants at any time of the year, between April and October is usually the best because the temperatures are safer for ants. Try to have your ants delivered to a mailbox that is indoors and make sure you will be home around the time when your ants should arrive. You don't want your ants to arrive when you are on a long vacation.
Set up your anthill so that it will be ready when your ants arrive. Start by removing all pieces from the box and make sure everything is accounted for.
Set the anthill on a flat surface and open the lid. Take the bag of sand that came in your kit and let the sand settle to one side. Cut off a small corner of the bag and carefully pour the sand into the flat side of your anthill. Do not pour sand into the rounded side. Fill the chamber to the very top with the sand. You will have some left over, which you will use later.
Measure out ¼ cup of bottled water. Poor ¾ of this water onto the sand in the flat digging chamber and let it soak in. This will cause the sand to shrink below the crest of the digging chamber. Using the sand you had left over, pour it into the digger chamber and then pour the rest of the water on the sand.
Using the sand rod, stick it down into the sand chamber. Keep the rod in the sand until your ants arrive.
Do not immediately open the tube containing your ants when they arrive. You will want to open the envelope and place the ant tube into the refrigerator for 10 minutes. The cooling will make your ants less active so that they will be easier to put into their new home.
Remove the tube after the 10 minutes and gently tap it so the ants fall to the bottom. Quickly open the tube and place the ants into the chamber, closing the lid behind them.
Be patient with your new ants. It will take at least 24 hours for your ants to get used to their new home. After then, your ants will be more active.
Insect Lore Mini Ant Hill Directions
The Insect Lore Mini AntHill™ kit has all of the features of the original set, only in a miniature version. The kit comes with the anthill habitat, specially formulated sand for the ants to dig in, a sand rod to start the tunnels, an AntHill fact and activity book and the certificate you will need to order your live ants.