225 replies to this topic

[strawnkayden1]

One time at my local greenhouse someone thought that the blunt tip syringe i was using to get ants out of small crevices was a legit medical needle and i got security called on me. Everything was fine in the end but it sure was traumatizing!

That’s my favorite so far omg.

[ANTdrew]

One time at my local greenhouse someone thought that the blunt tip syringe i was using to get ants out of small crevices was a legit medical needle and i got security called on me. Everything was fine in the end but it sure was traumatizing!

That’s my favorite so far omg.

Yeah, dang!

[ANTS_KL]

Got a recent one I just recalled. Short one but embarrassing nontheless. So I was at a park near my house and I was disturbing a large BCA colony cuz why not
and that's when an old lady asked what I was doin'. So I explained everything to her and that I liked ants. She just gave me weird looks and walked away

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[Idontexist]

I’ve run into friends from school while out anting. Definitely not fun having to explain to them what the heck I’m doing. Most people however are interested in it and are always nice about it. I’ve never had anyone threaten me or anything. The only slightly bad case I’ve had was when a lady thought I was drunk because I was walking around in woods looking for Stones to flip and looked kinda disoriented.


Another unrelated story but kinda embarrassing was when I was digging up a small Formica limata colony. I got the queen early on since it was spring, but I dug deeper to get all the workers and I found a unused condom. Luckily nobody saw but I was kinda weirded out.

thqt is one of the most unexpected and disgusting things you'd find in a colony

[Idontexist]

I was at a July 4th party once when I found a Tetramorium queen floating in a pool. I put her in a container and set her to the side, but someone ended up stepping on the container and breaking it open. My coworkers were talking crap about me while I was swimming, apparently. I’m old enough now that I don’t give a crap about that stuff anymore, though.

did she survive?

I was at a July 4th party once when I found a Tetramorium queen floating in a pool. I put her in a container and set her to the side, but someone ended up stepping on the container and breaking it open. My coworkers were talking crap about me while I was swimming, apparently. I’m old enough now that I don’t give a crap about that stuff anymore, though.

did she survive?

I was at a July 4th party once when I found a Tetramorium queen floating in a pool. I put her in a container and set her to the side, but someone ended up stepping on the container and breaking it open. My coworkers were talking crap about me while I was swimming, apparently. I’m old enough now that I don’t give a crap about that stuff anymore, though.

did she survive?

[ponerinecat]

If I don't get that good ol "what are you doing without your leash and why are you in the bushed bordering my property line" at least once a month I know I'm doing something wrong. Getting odd looks from passerby in vehicles is always fun too, even better when they slow down to a halt and you silently put the rock back in it's place, turn around, and crawl back into the brush.

[Kaelwizard]

 

I was at a July 4th party once when I found a Tetramorium queen floating in a pool. I put her in a container and set her to the side, but someone ended up stepping on the container and breaking it open. My coworkers were talking crap about me while I was swimming, apparently. I’m old enough now that I don’t give a crap about that stuff anymore, though.

did she survive?

I was at a July 4th party once when I found a Tetramorium queen floating in a pool. I put her in a container and set her to the side, but someone ended up stepping on the container and breaking it open. My coworkers were talking crap about me while I was swimming, apparently. I’m old enough now that I don’t give a crap about that stuff anymore, though.

did she survive?

I was at a July 4th party once when I found a Tetramorium queen floating in a pool. I put her in a container and set her to the side, but someone ended up stepping on the container and breaking it open. My coworkers were talking crap about me while I was swimming, apparently. I’m old enough now that I don’t give a crap about that stuff anymore, though.

did she survive?

 

Don't click the post button multiples times or this will happen^

[SYUTEO]

One time, I had to climb a steep hill just to get a trap jaw ant queen and everyone who passed by gave me strange looks.

[ANTS_KL]

One time, I had to climb a steep hill just to get a trap jaw ant queen and everyone who passed by gave me strange looks.

Omg I climbed a wall of my aunt's house to get a Polyrhachis queen. She never laid eggs. What a wasted effort... I also had to crawl into a drain to get one of the 3 queens in my tetra colony cuz she fell in

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[azzaaazzzz00]

Once there was a Tetramorium queen on the sidewalk in front of my house. Problem was that there were a group of people biking down the sidewalk about to crush her. I went in front of them and said "STOP! STOP! QUEEN, DERE'S A QUEEN!!!!!"...I think they would have ran me over if I didn't catch the queen quick enough. Some of them actually got of thier bikes and asked if I was ok and if I was going through a midlife crisis or something (they even called the ambu ). And the most emmbarrasing part? The queen was pretty much already dead, oh what have I done.

Edited by azzaaazzzz00, June 18 2021 - 5:02 AM.

[gs5248]

Once there was a Tetramorium queen on the sidewalk in front of my house. Problem was that there were a group of people biking down the sidewalk about to crush her. I went in front of them and said "STOP! STOP! QUEEN, DERE'S A QUEEN!!!!!"...I think they would have ran me over if I didn't catch the queen quick enough. Some of them actually got of thier bikes and asked if I was ok and if I was going through a midlife crisis or something (they even called the ambu ). And the most emmbarrasing part? The queen was pretty much already dead, oh what have I done.

Damn.

Edited by gs5248, June 21 2021 - 4:06 PM.

[cap_backfire]

This was funny to me, but on my ONE anting adventure with two seasoned veterans (21 and 19 years old, respectively... I'm 46...) we were looking for a mermica species specifically and conditions were perfect for digging into the sand to get as much of the colony as possible.   So we're digging through the unearthed sand, and these guys were pretty small.   So the vets kept encouraging me to brush or blow them off my hands, which I basically ignored because they were doing NO damage whatsoever... well... by the time we got into the car there were ants all over me and I have an issue with that feeling of bugs on me?   Like... My entire skin crawls when I'm not prepared for it.  So for the next two hours my skin was basically trying to get off of my body as I found these random ants on my legs, my armpits, my neck, etc.   I was visibly shaking from these harmless ants that for sure told me not to mess with their nest and I paid the price for ignoring them.  

I also learned to listen to vets in a hobby no matter how much older I am.   Their advice is PRICELESS.  

[strawnkayden1]

This was funny to me, but on my ONE anting adventure with two seasoned veterans (21 and 19 years old, respectively... I'm 46...) we were looking for a mermica species specifically and conditions were perfect for digging into the sand to get as much of the colony as possible. So we're digging through the unearthed sand, and these guys were pretty small. So the vets kept encouraging me to brush or blow them off my hands, which I basically ignored because they were doing NO damage whatsoever... well... by the time we got into the car there were ants all over me and I have an issue with that feeling of bugs on me? Like... My entire skin crawls when I'm not prepared for it. So for the next two hours my skin was basically trying to get off of my body as I found these random ants on my legs, my armpits, my neck, etc. I was visibly shaking from these harmless ants that for sure told me not to mess with their nest and I paid the price for ignoring them.
I also learned to listen to vets in a hobby no matter how much older I am. Their advice is PRICELESS.

Myrmica sorry had to. Also, I had the same feeling but you can get over it after awhile luckily.

[cap_backfire]

 

This was funny to me, but on my ONE anting adventure with two seasoned veterans (21 and 19 years old, respectively... I'm 46...) we were looking for a mermica species specifically and conditions were perfect for digging into the sand to get as much of the colony as possible. So we're digging through the unearthed sand, and these guys were pretty small. So the vets kept encouraging me to brush or blow them off my hands, which I basically ignored because they were doing NO damage whatsoever... well... by the time we got into the car there were ants all over me and I have an issue with that feeling of bugs on me? Like... My entire skin crawls when I'm not prepared for it. So for the next two hours my skin was basically trying to get off of my body as I found these random ants on my legs, my armpits, my neck, etc. I was visibly shaking from these harmless ants that for sure told me not to mess with their nest and I paid the price for ignoring them.
I also learned to listen to vets in a hobby no matter how much older I am. Their advice is PRICELESS.

Myrmica sorry had to. Also, I had the same feeling but you can get over it after awhile luckily.

 

DANGIT!  HAHAHA, thanks for the correction!  I DID say I'm new.   
And yeah, thank God that feeling goes away.   Like, if someone caresses me gently, like a wife might do?  Or a girlfriend before you had a wife?   Or your adorable toddler?   My skin wants to crawl right off my body.   For at least 10 minutes.  It's the WORST.   Glad someone else understands.  

[strawnkayden1]

This was funny to me, but on my ONE anting adventure with two seasoned veterans (21 and 19 years old, respectively... I'm 46...) we were looking for a mermica species specifically and conditions were perfect for digging into the sand to get as much of the colony as possible. So we're digging through the unearthed sand, and these guys were pretty small. So the vets kept encouraging me to brush or blow them off my hands, which I basically ignored because they were doing NO damage whatsoever... well... by the time we got into the car there were ants all over me and I have an issue with that feeling of bugs on me? Like... My entire skin crawls when I'm not prepared for it. So for the next two hours my skin was basically trying to get off of my body as I found these random ants on my legs, my armpits, my neck, etc. I was visibly shaking from these harmless ants that for sure told me not to mess with their nest and I paid the price for ignoring them.
I also learned to listen to vets in a hobby no matter how much older I am. Their advice is PRICELESS.

Myrmica sorry had to. Also, I had the same feeling but you can get over it after awhile luckily.

DANGIT! HAHAHA, thanks for the correction! I DID say I'm new.
And yeah, thank God that feeling goes away. Like, if someone caresses me gently, like a wife might do? Or a girlfriend before you had a wife? Or your adorable toddler? My skin wants to crawl right off my body. For at least 10 minutes. It's the WORST. Glad someone else understands.

One way to get over it quick is letting one crawl on you, I still don't like having random ants crawling on me.

[NickAnter]

And I'm the person who puts his hand on top of a Camponotus nest...

They just continued milling about with no issue.

[JamesJohnson]

When I was young I would put my hand into the middle of Tetramorium wars and let them climb onto me.   

So personally, I can't relate with strawkayden and cap_backfire, but I would assume you get used to it after enough time in the hobby.

[cap_backfire]

OK to be clear... Bugs I INVITE on me are usually fine.   Surprise bugs make my skin crawl.   Usually those bugs die, sadly.   But if I INVITE them I'm prepared to have them on me in at least a semi-controlled situation.  

[ANTS_KL]

I had to climb a tree to get a Pheidole queen ( don't ask me how or why she was even there ) and I broke the tree hehe I also fell into a drain trying to climb a hill for some Odontoponera.

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[Kaelwizard]

This was before I was into keeping ants so it is embarrassing looking back, but my brothers, my neighbor, and I were in the middle of a nuptial flight on my neighbor's driveway. We started burning queens with a lighter and drowning them in wasp spray