10 replies to this topic

[Redmoth27]

I have an ant colony and 2 cats. The cats enjoy a fair bit of catnip and I got to think, what if my ants had something that they could relax on at the end of the day? So I was thinking it's okay that we give our cats drugs so maybe we should give ants some as well, I live in a place where weed is legal and if I don't give them too much they should be fine.

But what do you guys think?

 

If it's okay what should the dosage be? 

[Nogbert]

if ants don't consume cannabis in the wild there's a reason. i would avoid this experiment

[ANTdrew]

They probably don’t even have the chemoreceptors for THC. At worst, it could be a toxic phytochemical for them. Use it yourself if that’s your thing, but I don’t recommend giving it to ants.

[futurebird]

Cannabinoid receptors are absent in insects. I found one experiment that showed THC was related to "social impairment" -- 

[Serafine]

No, but you'll probably end up poisoning them.

Insect nervous systems are VERY different from ours, there's a study with spiders being exposed to various drugs, you can probably find a few videos about it on Youtube (i'm sure SciShow made one).

[RushmoreAnts]

Yes, exactly. For example, even other mammals are so different from us physiologically that certain foods and chemicals which are harmless to us are deadly to them, or vice versa. Consider how we eat chocolate very often, yet it is toxic to dogs and other animals. Imagine how different literally anything would affect an insect compared to us. Mammals and insects aren't even remotely comparable in the context of these types of stimuli. So no, cannabis would almost certainly not have the intoxicating effect that it does on humans. It's not worth the risk, as it has no benefits.

[T.C.]

Unfortunately I know the answer to the question. I know someone who mixed it in honey. They didn't drink it. They likely picked up on the scent of it. Although the idea behind it is just dumb since intentional intoxication is usually irrelevant in the natural world. Although science has suggested some mammals (I'm not sure which mammal) will intentionally try to get "high." But it wasn't any insects doing dope or ants snorting cocaine in their tunnels.

[Roll Me-Wan Kenobi]

Based on my profile name I thought it would be appropriate form me to post in this thread . If only insects had more advanced brains they could enjoy "the finer things" in life, ha!

[Serafine]

I guess ants are smart enough to not voluntarily drink most of the stuff, in experiments insects are usually exposed to fumes/mist containing the drugs.

The only drug that might have a tangible effect on ants is probably cocaine as it makes bees overestimate the quality of food. Since bees and ants are relatively closely related it's reasonable to assume they have similar neural pathways.

I wouldn't recommend trying to find out though because you're almost certainly going to overdose (which might kill them) and well... you need cocaine, which isn't exactly legal in most places.

 

 

[ANTdrew]

Bees can become addicted to the caffeine in coffee flower nectar. Male fruit flies drink more alcohol from rotting fruit when denied the ability to mate. Those are two examples that came to mind reading this thread.

[MysticNanitic]

Thc is concentrated in trichomes, mostly on the flower of the plant. My understanding is that trichomes evolved to make animals and insects think twice before eating by tasting bad. Marijuana is wind pollinated. Don’t waste your concentrate, friend.