Ants: What The Hell Are These Things, Anyway? Ant-Rant, Ant-Facts and Ant-Lore

SF, I really loved the read. It is truly threads like these that make the morning coffee and daily transition good. I used to live in central Florida and man those fire ants were killer. I do have to say that as a child and teen stripping down naked and jumping into the shower or mud puddle was a common event. I am legally blind and there has been a million times were I would be chatting with someone and be unknowingly standing in a massive fire ant hill. Even funnier is when it is around someone I didn't even really know. "Hello how have you been sir?" "Fine thank you." "Excuse me, but did you know your standing in the largest fire ant hill I have ever seen?" "Oh crap, I'll be right back!" Guy with ants in his pants runs off tryng to shake the hard biting ants that have swarmed his britches. lol

Also I was watching this show, I think it was I Shouldn't Still Be Alive. Anyway the boat crashed on an African River forcing all of its crew except the captain to one side of the river. The captain or friend of the family ended up on the other side of the river injured and alone. Wat followed next was terrifying, what is known as Driver Ants actually began eating him, and these things can eat large bodies very quickly.
Wouldn't want to live in a village with these things running around!

en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by Xoanon

One day someone is going to invent a little robot that will scurry about these ant colonies and scan each ant to see if they contain a little microchip or not, and if they don't, the little robot will attach little microchips to those ants backs to gather data and/or turn those little ants into little mind controlled minions to do our bidding!

reply to post by Socrato

I used to love to give ant hills pieces of bread when I was a kid. It is fascinating to watch them swarm over food and take little chunks back underground. I felt like I was doing a good deed by feeding this mass of insects so easily.

Thanks Socrato,

I know that we don't all grow up knowing the Hopi creation story, but we do seem to all come pre-equipped with a natural sense that some type of relationship exists there. It must be simple and obvious to us as children that the ants are just ravenously hungry and the most direct way to help out is to just feed them. I used to get the same satisfying feeling when I fed them as a kid too.

We seem to understand our relationship to them as children, but like all enemy combatants, we must turn them to something else when we become adults so that we can murder them in droves and not feel bad about it.

That's more stuff about the lessons we might be learning from ants that concerns me. Thanks for your warm and candid post.



X.

reply to post by Xoanon


I have always found ants very interesting and watching them is strangely relaxing.

Throughout my travels I have encountered 2 varieties of ant that were especially cool/disturbing.

The 1st kind, I believe might be a variety of the "Crazy Ant". I ran into this little bugger in Kuwait. They appeared to be on Meth-amphetamine, running around all crazy like with no discernible purpose. The disturbing thing though, was that when you stomped on them. THEY WOULD UNSQUISH THEMSELVES! (Imagine Bugs Bunny blowing into his thumb to un-flatten himself)Then just continue their mad dash to nowhere in particular. Insanity I tell you.

The 2nd type, I encountered in Iraq, These things were huge. Easily an inch or more long, and they crunched when you stepped on them. I dubbed them "Gorilla Ants". They only came out as the sun was setting. Like a black wave of death to claim the night. They were attracted to light as well. So if you had to pee in the middle of the night, you had better be quick with your flashlight because they were coming for you.

They are amazing creatures, along with all the other amazing creatures that we should peacefully inhabit the planet with.
Personally, I don't kill people if I can help it (Outcry!!)
So. as a kid, I too spent my days watching creatures (still my favourite pastime)
From the ants of Africa, the med, the green lands, the deserts.
Theyr'e greeeeaaat.
They are well annoying, but remember, it's not personal.

They don't want to put raid on you,they don't want to wipe us out so we won't be an annoyance they just want the stuff you obviously don't want, cos you dont protect it well enough.

I have in the last month, had a war with them, as has the woman next door.(in fact the correlation of stories between women, seems to be they are out in force this year, stocking up, so to speak.)

I have a problem, as I wipe round them, not through them, each one is an individual to me (even if not to their colony) so it makes for longer housework not to slay them.. I warn them, verbally and 'in that other place' that if they don't stop bugging me, I will mercilessly decimate them. They laugh.

They actualy live in the house. In the roof, the walls etc. I let a lot of the smaller spiders stay to stop them comming in sas style by the roof.
Anyway. Cider vinegar, garlic(except some species seem to like garlic, perhaps they got a taste for it via my cooking) and bay leaves. I wipe the tiles and wash the floor with cider vinegar,I also put vinegar bariers on major entry points - they don't like it. It takes about 5 days, but when they have other options, they will use them. Now also, other options. I do not begrudge my waste. Anyone who needs it can have it. In fact, I deliver it to those unable to come calling for it.
With ants, a small daily offering outside the property seems to please and apease them.
I do sweep them up if they send a raiding party, but then leave the dustpan on the floor so they can leave and TELL the others that the bitch is still vigilant before throwing whatever crumb it was they were after outside for them.

Anyway. The woman next door used a kill everyone in the community bomb. Hers stopped bugging her (and breathing) about the same time as mine made a truce with me.
Of course, mine are still here to atack me, but hey, at least I might have a chance of having ant people give up their food to help me some day, a much bigger deal than just trying not to hurt them. Also, purely selfishly, it means I can feel good about myself and not have to deal with guilt, or dismisal of such by pretending that they are only ants so it doesn't matter.

Do unto others and bless us all.

Lovely thread OP and all. Thanks.

Disclaimer: These are my personal opinions. I do not wish to start a debate about the worth of one life vs another, the bible, or sanity.
I am not sane (thanks be) and I know it, but I am harmless.

Originally posted by autowrench
reply to post by Xoanon

 

Star and flag for you, Xoanon, a great post on something most never think about. Like you, I too set a lot of stock in what the Hopi said and believed.
I have read the stories of the Ant People, and how they came up from the ground and took the Natives down to their lair, until the "Event" whatever it was, was over. There has to be something there, people just don't make up stories like that.

Ever read any fairy tales? science fiction? the mind of man knows no bounds.

Great thread OP! Love your style. Thanks for this, just what I needed, thoroughly enjoyed this.

reply to post by Maybeboo

but then leave the dustpan on the floor so they can leave and TELL the others that the bitch is still vigilant before throwing whatever crumb it was they were after outside for them.

Thanks for a great post Maybeboo.

Don't sweat it, I have an ongoing inner dialogue happening with them as well and I find it to be very taxing.The way that they seem to ignore all reason and simultaneously make profound sense totally gives me the willies.

Have a great day.

X.

reply to post by chericher

...just what I needed,

And that was just what I needed. I love how that works. Your post means a lot.

Thank you.

X.

reply to post by watchitburn

The 1st kind, I believe might be a variety of the "Crazy Ant". I ran into this little bugger in Kuwait. They appeared to be on Meth-amphetamine, running around all crazy like with no discernible purpose. The disturbing thing though, was that when you stomped on them. THEY WOULD UNSQUISH THEMSELVES! (Imagine Bugs Bunny blowing into his thumb to un-flatten himself)Then just continue their mad dash to nowhere in particular. Insanity I tell you.

The 2nd type, I encountered in Iraq, These things were huge. Easily an inch or more long, and they crunched when you stepped on them. I dubbed them "Gorilla Ants". They only came out as the sun was setting. Like a black wave of death to claim the night. They were attracted to light as well. So if you had to pee in the middle of the night, you had better be quick with your flashlight because they were coming for you.

Thanks for both of these awesome antecdotes. I served as well and it was a little like, "Join the Army, See the World, and all of its weird bugs".

In Panama it seemed like every other sentence was, "God, c'mere and look at this! There was this stick bug once in N.C...but that's another genus altogether.

Battle Report:

Well, day 4. As I said, the nest in the front of the house is dead; just one robotic myrmidon, probably the last one launched, following the stupid pheromone trail to the bathroom. So, success on that front.

The ones that had colonized the tree outside and had been farming mealy bug and then invaded me and went for the cat food? They still have forces that they seem to be able to send out for whatever the hell it is that tricks their fancy.

You see? It's stuff like this: they seem, at times to exhibit uncanny intelligence. You would think they would hold back until they had rebuilt after being poisoned. But no, any and all forces are sent for the vital food. Like some sick, tiny, living real-time-strategy game, Antcraft, or something.

Anyhow, here is my secret weapon, I took a small photo. The people at Grants/Amdro are going to be very, very displeased with me.

But here is the deal, why be coy, the stuff has the consistency of gummy bears. You know how they make little hamburgers and other food items out of the same gummy-stuff? Well why doesn't Grants just make a little plastic table with little gummy-ant-poison pic-a-nick foods? Seriously, may as well. And I have created a variation on just that theme...



They don't want to crawl in a tiny hole that they can hardly find, they want it served up buffet style and they want to eat it from my flatware.

#ers.



X.

We get the stick bugs here in AZ too, and they are strange as hell. They look like a piece of leaf, stuck to the side of the house. Sometimes, I'll walk outside to have a smoke (I don't do this much anymore, but I still enjoy one occasionally) and one will be parked on the wall near the door or on a column. Eventually, it will catch my eye, and I'll move in for a closer look. Sure enough -- it's a weird bug. Odd that I usually (internally) "dialog" with them as well....

I used to love ants as a kid. My absentee father was never around, but he worked in a warehouse for a scientific instruments company, and I had access to some fairly sophisticated "ant-farms;" the kind Entomologists use in (community) colleges. Anyway -- they were fascinating to me. Our worlds are similar, except in scale. I think a person, shrunk down to "ant-size" would be horrified by the precise orchestration of their movements, even if they weren't devoured. It's thoughts like these which freak me out.

Another example, of a completely different species are cats, interestingly enough. I adore them but they are NOTHING like dogs. In fact -- I'd wager that if house cats commonly grew to the size of a medium dog, they would be far too dangerous to keep as pets. It is their size which makes them tame.

Last week I noticed a fire-ant nest outside the rear door at work. It was magnificent. There must have been tens of thousands, perhaps even more, moving across the ground just off the path between two buildings. They were 20 feet or so away and I could feel their presence before I noticed the odd shimmering ground, and realized what I was seeing. In the Arizona heat it looked almost like a wave of living earth, rolling and boiling back and forth. A few hours later, they were gone. I'm pretty sure I know what summoned them up from their lair. The day before I noticed hundreds of Caterpillars marching across the grounds. They had just appeared out of nowhere. Dozens were squished flat by foot and cart traffic. The next day, I saw the carpet of ants, and then they were gone.

Brutal, Efficient. And ageless as earth itself. I've got my eyes on you; the individual versus the collective. I'm not even playing to win. Hell -- I avoid the war if I can. I'm just praying for temporary truce, until my time here is done.

Great thread, man. S+F!

reply to post by Xoanon

Great and informative thread X man.

I have some experience with the little diablos myself. Living on the gulf Coast, particularly the "crazies" and the fire species.

Coincidentally (or not), just yesterday I had to repair some electronic equipment for a client that had an infestation of the crazies. Shorted out the circuits and cost this client over $2000. Pretty steep price for something so tiny. This is just a taste of the monetary fiasco from the little boogers.

I cant really recall this species of ant being so prominent growing up here. Now you can hardly see a patch of dirt without them. This exponentially growing within the last 5 years or so.

Now to the real nasties the Fire Ants. They suck! Just one sting is very painful and they have been known to kill more than one unlucky unconscious drunk. Being in a flood zone, when the high waters come they scurry out of their mounds and link together and make a living raft. A living raft of millions of fire breathing voracious predators! Not very fun when one of these rafts brushes your leg and thousands reach for dry ground, your flesh!

The ants will survive!!

What an awesome story and I too am right with ya! Ha! I'm still laughing!

I cannot stand being taken over with ants and I hate to kill them because I can appreciate how hard they work for their community.

Near my front door is a real tiny hole they come through, although they got the word out pretty quick not to come in here anymore.

The windex didn't kill them though, I did and take full blame. :-(

I leave the smaller carpenter black ants alone. I have found different ways to kill fire ants. The easy way is to sprinkle poison on and around their mound. That's very effective but not always as fun. I read one trick was to heat up water very hot and slowly pour it down the hole in the mound. The problem I ran into with that is that it is time consuming to microwave a large glass of water and then you need a dry wash rag to hold it while you pour it on an ant mound. Could be fun but it's a bit slow when you have lots of fire ants. Something else that works is to get rid of some old gas by putting some on a fire ant mound. Then if you want more fun you can drop a match on it. Just be prepared with the water hose to douse the fire before it burns up your backyard. The gas by itself will also kill your grass too. PoIson is more effective and easier.

When I was a little kid the magnifying glass of death would fry many ants that took a path of destruction, lol.

If you could introduce a large black ant colony to a large red ant colony, the war would start shortly afterwards.

I just use poison on fire ants. I live in South Carolina and haven't noticed a problem with any other species. I do have spiders invading my house but not often. I don't have very many ants even in the yard. I have spotted some large lizards. I leave the lizards alone. I've only seen two different species of lizards. I used to let the little green lizards crawl up my fingers when I was a little kid. No magnifying glass on them.

So, can you post a few tips how to kill them?

Hey OP...

You of course know you have to kill the Queen.

When you kill her army she simply allows twice as many to hatch.

I put "Boric Acid" in their trail. It gets on them or they take it to the queen.

Either way....All it really does is piss them off.

My crumb eater dog is a huge weapon. One crumb can cause an attack.

You never get rid of them....Just try to control them (try).

Great thread and work OP
I recall the tenacious fire ants survival technique during Katrina, and found it quite fascinating. The ants would gather forming a ball or a ribbon anywhere from the size of a baseball up to basketball size, and would drift on the surface of the water, slowly turning the mass so that the bottom ants will come up for air, even though they do not 'breath' air, but rather absorb it through their body, and can stay underwater for hours, if not days.
deltafarmpress.com...

A fun way to get rid of Fire Ants that I have found is too:

1. Get a shovel.

2 Locate two separate colonies within a short distance of each other.

3. take a big shovel full of one colony and dump it on the other and vice versa.

4. Sit back and enjoy the proceeding massacres.

5. When that doesn't finish them, pour diesel fuel down their holes.

reply to post by Xoanon


Interesting

Thanks for posting