These are not "pills that turn you into an ant"
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That is a good way to meet your local colonies, but if you really want to see what ants live around you? Find a bug like a lantern, housefly, cricket anything and kill it. Leave the dead bug where you can check on it easily. Ants need protein and often urban ants aren't interested in sugar since it's so easy to find. But, they go nuts for fresh insect protein.
I use freshly killed fruit flies to find out what ants live in local parks. You see more species that way.
@futurebird @vikxin can I befriend them like crows? /hj
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That is a good way to meet your local colonies, but if you really want to see what ants live around you? Find a bug like a lantern, housefly, cricket anything and kill it. Leave the dead bug where you can check on it easily. Ants need protein and often urban ants aren't interested in sugar since it's so easy to find. But, they go nuts for fresh insect protein.
I use freshly killed fruit flies to find out what ants live in local parks. You see more species that way.
It's not a good idea to catch wild worker ants and try to keep them as pets. They will get depressed since they can't get back to their colony. They will be active for a day or two then, when they realize they can't get out they will just sit there waiting for something to change that might indicate they could escape and go home. It's very sad.
But, if you can find a queen and raise a colony it's a lot of fun, and you will fall in love with the ants and their complex lives.
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@futurebird @vikxin can I befriend them like crows? /hj
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It occurs to me that many people viewing this photo might assume those ants are dead. I don't think they are. I think the smuggler found a new more diabolical way to cram more queen ants into less expected places to evade the Kenyan authorities.
I really wish people wouldn't do this.
Don't buy exotic ants online unless you have checked your local laws and checked that the seller has a permit. Don't buy non-native species on places like ebay or etsy.
You can get ants FOR FREE.
@futurebird Yes, I am not a fan of imported Solenopsis invicta.
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@futurebird Yes, I am not a fan of imported Solenopsis invicta.
I don't think anyone is. Yet Solenopsis invicta loves us! They love our built environments, they love how we use insecticide to kill off every insect except for them. Until we learn to stop making Solenopsis invicta paradises they will be with us.
This would mean not having as many sunny lawns with cut grass. More beds of diverse local plants... not running sprinklers which are like water feeders for them. Helping the local ants that kill them. (Dorymyrmex bureni is a tiny hero)
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It's not a good idea to catch wild worker ants and try to keep them as pets. They will get depressed since they can't get back to their colony. They will be active for a day or two then, when they realize they can't get out they will just sit there waiting for something to change that might indicate they could escape and go home. It's very sad.
But, if you can find a queen and raise a colony it's a lot of fun, and you will fall in love with the ants and their complex lives.
@futurebird @vikxin sounds like learned helplessness
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That is a good way to meet your local colonies, but if you really want to see what ants live around you? Find a bug like a lantern, housefly, cricket anything and kill it. Leave the dead bug where you can check on it easily. Ants need protein and often urban ants aren't interested in sugar since it's so easy to find. But, they go nuts for fresh insect protein.
I use freshly killed fruit flies to find out what ants live in local parks. You see more species that way.
@futurebird I'm so glad I don't have spotted lanternflies around here. I do get brown marmorated stink bugs though, I think.
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I don't think anyone is. Yet Solenopsis invicta loves us! They love our built environments, they love how we use insecticide to kill off every insect except for them. Until we learn to stop making Solenopsis invicta paradises they will be with us.
This would mean not having as many sunny lawns with cut grass. More beds of diverse local plants... not running sprinklers which are like water feeders for them. Helping the local ants that kill them. (Dorymyrmex bureni is a tiny hero)
@futurebird Now that you mention it, I have not experienced a lot of fire ants when I was out camping outside the metro area.
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R relay@relay.infosec.exchange shared this topic
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It occurs to me that many people viewing this photo might assume those ants are dead. I don't think they are. I think the smuggler found a new more diabolical way to cram more queen ants into less expected places to evade the Kenyan authorities.
I really wish people wouldn't do this.
Don't buy exotic ants online unless you have checked your local laws and checked that the seller has a permit. Don't buy non-native species on places like ebay or etsy.
You can get ants FOR FREE.
Indeed, and even if you don't want them.
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It occurs to me that many people viewing this photo might assume those ants are dead. I don't think they are. I think the smuggler found a new more diabolical way to cram more queen ants into less expected places to evade the Kenyan authorities.
I really wish people wouldn't do this.
Don't buy exotic ants online unless you have checked your local laws and checked that the seller has a permit. Don't buy non-native species on places like ebay or etsy.
You can get ants FOR FREE.
@futurebird I'm most astonished there's enough market for twenty thousand of them. I suppose they expect a lot of losses in transit
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RE: https://mastodon.social/@kumarvibe/116218018125876181
These are not "pills that turn you into an ant"
Queen ants often dig a hole when they leave to found a new colony. The queen will seal herself away in a little pocket with no entrance or exit until she can lay and raise several eggs. Then the small workers emerge and forage for her.
This is why a queen ant can be kept in a test tube with water and she will be very happy.
These little plastic bubbles are too small and there is no water. But the ants seem to be alive still. Very upsetting.
@futurebird a major reason the animal smuggling trade upsets me is that it all seems designed on the assumption that it's totally ok if 95% of smuggled animals die in transit.
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That is a good way to meet your local colonies, but if you really want to see what ants live around you? Find a bug like a lantern, housefly, cricket anything and kill it. Leave the dead bug where you can check on it easily. Ants need protein and often urban ants aren't interested in sugar since it's so easy to find. But, they go nuts for fresh insect protein.
I use freshly killed fruit flies to find out what ants live in local parks. You see more species that way.
@futurebird @vikxin for those who don't like the idea of killing for this, peanut butter might be worth a try!
