Author: John Richards Added: May 7, 2009
Get an ant farm. That's what I always tell parents who want to know how to introduce their kids to other animals, to keeping a pet and to learning about the natural world.
Children love insects, they are fascinated by their alien looks, so different to anything we see at larger scales, and watching a few ants in an ant farms can teach all sorts of observational skills too. It also engenders a sense of responsibility for others when they realize that the ants in the ant farm depend on them for food and water. Ant farms provide the perfect environment in which to watch small creatures doing what they do naturally. That’s why insects in general, and ants in an ant farm in particular, make such good pets for small children, and for grown-ups too, for that matter. When I use the term pets, it should be realised, naturally, that no ant or any other insect is ever going to show any of the attributes of a dog or cat. No affection, no run-and-fetch, not even a warm furry body to stroke. The same applies, of course to reptiles and amphibians. What we're discussing here are small creatures that have an educational value for children, both in terms of nature study but also social responsibility too. They don’t come much smaller than ants in an ant farm. Scientific research shows that adults who have had the responsibility of caring for a pet when they were a child tend to be more responsible and sensitive parents than those who never had a pet as a child. It's common sense. If, as a child you discovered that neglecting your pets leads to bad things happening then it's bound to improve the way you behave towards your offspring in whom you have a serious genetic investment. So what options do we have? Well, it makes sense to think about running costs need to think about running costs. Many of the large, spectacular insects are from tropical habitats and require heated terrariums if they are to survive. It's also true that insects like praying mantis and some others will only consume live prey so there might be a certain outlay on food insects to be considered. In all these cases the outlay is comparatively small, compared to say, the costs of feeding a dog, but, of course, the experience of keeping a dog and a tank of insects is completely different. Once set up, unless you have special lighting, an ant farm costs nothing to run. It can easily be filled with ants from your garden and the ants can be fed on a variety of small crumbs or seeds. Could anything work out less expensive that that? I think you’ll find, if it’s small kids that you are considering, that an ant farm will come out at the top of the list every time.
--- Find out a whole lot more about ants and ant farms at www.antfarmcentral.com
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