Insect Kits has a great selection of ant farms and other live animal and plant kits. As the name suggests, the company specializes in live insect kits. The website is simple and easy to use, though not very expansive. The small product selection is fairly specific and is exclusively made up of insect and plant kits.
Insect Kits sells ant farms by various manufacturers and each kit comes with instructions for purchasing live ants. The site also sells live ants, making it possible to order the ants along with the kit. For its exciting product selection and the option of ordering live ants directly, Insect Kits has earned our TopTenREVIEWS Bronze Award on our list of the top ant farm stores.
Insect Kits carries ant farms by Uncle Milton, Fascinations, Insect Lore and Antworks. All the major types of ant farm kits are offered, including the classic sand-filled farm in several forms (even a rainbow sand version), a soil-based “ant hill” kit, and multiple types of gel kits. Within the gel kit selection there are three color options and a lighted option.
Because this site carries ant farms by four different manufacturers, there are several ways you can get your live ants. Each kit comes with a manufacturer-supplied coupon or certificate for ants, which usually have to be ordered from a separate company. Unlike with most ant farm stores, you also have the option of ordering ants along with your farm so they arrive at the same time. This gives Insect Kits a big advantage over many other sites that don’t sell ants directly because there is a much shorter waiting time before you can get your farm up and running.
Insect Kits sources their live ants through a company called Antworks. Antworks will replace ants that come DOA (dead on arrival) only if you order them with express shipping and include a request for a hot/cold pack to keep the ants’ temperature regulated. Because the ants can be purchased directly through Insect Kits, you can contact Insect Kits if you have a problem with your ants or if you want to order a new batch. Live ants are expected to live in an ant farm from one to six months. At the end of that time, most farms can be used a second time without being emptied out completely.
As mentioned above, Insect Kits specializes in habitats and farms for insects and live plants. In addition to ant farms, the site sells butterfly kits, frog kits, praying mantis kits and several other products designed to let you observe metamorphosis and animal behavior first-hand. Please note that some of the live animals are meant to be released at the end of the growth cycle, while others may be kept in the habitats for their entire life spans.
Insect Kits carries an interesting product called the “Magic Fish Kit,” which contains a packet of dehydrated material that when added to water and prepared according to the instructions will animate and grow into small fish. The kit can be used over and over again and may contain as many as 12 different species. This kit is similar to triops kits (aquasaurs, sea monkeys, etc.) sold on other sites, in that it contains animals that go into a dormant state when dehydrated but can be revived by adding water.
It is worth viewing all the product categories on this site because they feature some really fascinating products you may not have heard of. Aside from being a top-rated ant farm store, Insect Kits carries some basic equipment for collecting and observing native insects around your garden.
The website for Insect Kits is very simple but easily accommodates the fairly small product selection. Along the left margin is a set of categories, each containing no more than ten products. Some categories include resources and information about the animals contained in the kits to help buyers get a better idea of what they’ll be in for when they buy one of these products.
The website contains some helpful information about ants, although the majority of the FAQ page is a set of unanswered questions. The live ant information on the site refers to the policies of Antworks, not to the live ants offered by the various manufacturers of the ant farms. The site also contains some interesting videos of a few products in use, including a close-up video of ants moving around in one of the clear gel ant farms and a complete video instruction manual on how to use the magic fish kit.
The main shortcoming of the site is that the text is full of errors and sounds overly informal. The company is based in Missouri, although the prose sounds a bit like it was written by a non-native English speaker. The unprofessional tone may not instill buyer confidence. Grammar and spelling aside the site has a respectable amount of information and a great set of products.
Insect Kits can be reached by phone or email. Our test email with general questions was answered the same day and the customer representative was very friendly.
Insect Kits is a great source for all types of live insect and live plant kits. These interactive toys are educational and increase young people’s understanding of the complicated lives of insects. We like the fact that this site limits its products to only live plant and animal kits, as it shows a respect for the specialized nature of these products.
Many toy sites sell these kits but provide no information on what is involved in setting up and maintaining them. The Insect Kits website, while poorly written, is easy to use and contains helpful information about these specialized products. We appreciate that this site encourages shoppers to be aware of what they’re buying when they choose a live animal kit like an ant farm. We’ve awarded Insect Kits one of the top spots on our ranking of ant farm stores.
