Hobbies And Interests
Formicariums
Formicarium is the formal term for an ant colony. In 1929, human-made formicariums were first commercially sold by Frank Austin, a professor at Dartmouth College. Austin's patented formicariums contained painted or wooden scenes of palaces, farms and other settings above ground level. The name "Ant Farm" was introduced by Levine when he introduced his own commercially sold formicariums in 1956.
Milton Levine
As a child in Pittsburgh, Levine enjoyed catching ants on his uncle's farm and putting them in sand-filled Mason jars to watch them work. As an adult, Levine served in Germany during World War II as the sergeant of an engineering platoon that built bridges for Patton's invading army. When the war ended, Levine and his brother-in-law, Joe Cossman, started a mail order business that sold novelty toys. They named it E. Joseph Cossman &Company although it also became known as the Cossman and Levine Company. The business continued when they moved to Hollywood, California in 1952.
Ant Farm Origin
In 1956, during the Fourth of July family barbecue at Cossman's home, Levine watched a group of ants around the pool deck and remembered his game of catching ants as a child. From this memory, he got the idea to sell his own formicarium. The first formicariums cost $1.98 and consisted of a clear plastic box, a vial of sand and some ants. They ran an ad in the "Los Angeles Times" that created so much interest that they created a broader design with a green art deco frame. To fit the farm theme, a barn, silo, farm animals and a wind mill were etched into the plastic above ground level. They replaced the sand with white volcanic gravel and hired Kenneth Gidney to catch ants for them (Gidney and his family supplied the company with ants for 30 years).
Company Growth
Ant Farms sold by mail order only for the first six months, but retail businesses began requesting ant farms for their stores. Since the ants could not survive for months on a shelf, the farms were sold sans insects, but with a voucher the purchaser would mail in to receive their live ants. As of 2010, the company was still using this voucher method to deliver ants. In 1966, Levine bought Cossman's half of the company and took full control himself. He renamed it Uncle Milton's Ant Farm. By 2006, Uncle Milton's had sold over 20 million ant farms.
Farm Variations
As of 2010, Uncle Miltons sold five different types of ant farms. Besides the basic set, it has a 50th anniversary gold edition, a giant version, and two types that use gel instead of volcanic gravel. The gel provides the ants with food and water as well as giving them a substance to tunnel through.