80 replies to this topic

[Ernteameise]

Some more good news:

Some colleagues at my company (we have 500 employees on site) have asked if I would also give my ant talk to my colleagues at our seminar room.

"Evening Talk and Pizza".

I sent an email around tonight, so far I have 15 interested people, I am sure there will be more signing up tomorrow.

So "Ant Talk and Pizza" might actually be happening at my company.

[ZATrippit]

So cool!!! Is there a recording of the lecture you could grace us with?

[Ernteameise]

So cool!!! Is there a recording of the lecture you could grace us with?

No, there was no recording done.

It also was only at the venue, no online presence.

[Voidley]

 

What intrigued your audience the most, and do you think you made any converts?

Well, I think it was the picture of the ant toilet I posted.

There were already many converts in the audience who keep other inverts.

But most people were intrigued hearing that ants are so clean and organized and then I told them about the latest research that ants even have nurses in war, who do triage and heal (with the antibiotics from their metapleural glands) and amputate in ants that can be saved and recycle the ants that cannot be saved. I told them about the leaf-cutter cities, with air conditioned rooms, rubbish disposal force and worker castes for any duty that needs to be done.

And then I showed the picture of my ant toilet. And the fact that my ants indeed are using these. Minds totally blown.

People who were previously NOT partial to ants came up to me (especially one older lady who looks after a small zoo at the side) and said "I usually did kill them whenever I saw them, but now I actually look at them in a different light. They are so small, but they somehow achieve things that do not even really work in human cities."

I think I did a good job showing that not all ants are pests. Yes, there are invasive pests, but many species are not, and they lead interesting, well organized lives.

At the end of the talk, one of the first questions was "How do they sleep?" and I had to re-enact the sleeping behaviour of my girls: either sitting still or lying on their sides.

And- when I give a talk, I am VERY expressive. I cannot stand still. I act out everything.

People told me "I loved the little interpretative dance you did!" about how my harvester ants transport seed back to their stashes.

 

 

Amazing work! There’s nothing better than seeing people appreciating all the intricacies of real ant societies, not just the glorified, anthropomorphized depiction of them typically used to interest non-ant keepers.

[Ernteameise]

Right, the Veterinary Invertebrate Society of the UK has invited me to give another talk on "Health Issues in Ant keeping".

I am still debating with myself and my company if I am going.

Personally, I would love to go, but travel and fees I cannot really afford, and my company already said they had no interest of sending me to a conference that has nothing to do with my work.

The UK vets already said they would give me a contribution...

I have to discuss it with my superiors.

 

This time, I would love to give a talk on very common health issues in small pet colonies. I have already been told that someone else is giving a talk on large leafcutter colonies. Anyways, I have no experience yet with large colonies, so I would mainly talk about my own experiences and about all the issues I have seen here in small starter / founding colonies.

 

I know that our member Serafine has already done A TON OF AMAZING work concerning ant health.

https://www.formicul...sues/?hl=health

 

I also thought about a few ideas of what I would present (I have 30 mins time and 10 mins for questions). That is not a lot.

But I thought I could talk about the following topics:

- Why do founding colonies die?

- Problems with hibernation

- Case report I had in one of the Facebook groups of a ant keeper with a natural terrarium with slugs and snails, and suddenly the ants bit into the grass- Infection with liver flukes!

- Case report on using flea spray / flea control for dogs and cats near the pet ants

 

This time, I thought I do it kind of differently than last year-

This time, I will open a thread on here and post my conference slides, with relevant pictures, if anyone is willing to share. So we could create an awesome Internet Resource!

I thought of kind of building on the great work by Serafine and maybe adding some pictures.

I have pictures of mould myself, but I think it would be good so see some pictures of other things, too, like a mite infestation.

 

Serafine- would you be okay with it if we expanded your thread? I might even bring back some more ideas from the conference, which we could add?

 

I am still ruminating about this, and as I said, I still have not discussed this with my work superiors.

Non-the-less, I have already started thinking about ideas.

I could also include a little literature review and talk about viruses in ants that some researchers have found already.

[Serafine]

Serafine- would you be okay with it if we expanded your thread? I might even bring back some more ideas from the conference, which we could add?

Sure, go ahead.

[Ernteameise]

Some more great news!

The leading ant scientist, Prof. Hölldobler, has given me permission to use some of his pictures in my talks. I just have to cite him and his coworkers.

This will be especially wonderful for my talk on ant health in the UK in June.

I am stoked.

[FormiCanada]

Hello everybody.

You might remember that a few weeks back, there was a little discussion on "can you take ants to the vet? Do vets even know about ants?"

 

Well, I am a vet.

Back then, I had to admit that apart from vets who keep ants, nobody in my profession knows anything.

Well, instead of sitting on my hands and wait for change to happen (possibly a very long wait) I decided I would be the change I wish to see (as Ghandi adviced).

 

I have to go to the BVZS (UK Zoo vet) conference in Birmingham in November, to help a dear colleague from our UK branch lab with the advertising stall of our company (diagnostic lab).

So I thought to myself, last year they had a talk on tarantula keeping, why do I not just ask if anybody would be interested in ants? Just for giggles I asked the organizers.

They were THRILLED.

I was invited to write an abstract (which I have submitted, see below) for a 45 minute (!!!) Master Class lecture on Ant Keeping.

 

Let that sink in.

 

So yeah, I am going to give a lecture to zoo / exotic vets and nurses about ant keeping, probably one of the first ant keeping lectures ever given to vets.

 

Now I got a problem.

I want to make this PERFECT.

I want to advocate and I want to raise awareness.

I would really like that exotic vets gain some interest in the topic.

 

So I would like to ask you all for help.

If anybody would share, I would love to share:

- some great macro pictures of different ant species

- some of you have some awesome setups

- some of you are real experts on topics (I would like to ask for advice if possible)

- some pictures of common problems (like mites!)

- in general, I would be grateful about advice and suggestions

 

Everybody who shares stuff will be cited in the talk, all pictures I might share will have the name of the source and I will of course will advertise this forum as a great source of information (if I have permission from the mods).

I will also share the talk with everybody who helped.

If the conference organizers record the talk, I will even ask for permission to link the video (no idea if they agree, though).

I will NOT steal anything nor will any of this be posted on social media.

 

It will ONLY be shared to professionals at a scientific professional conference.

 

May I ask if anybody is willing to help?

As I said, I will cite you in the talk (either by forum name or real name, depending on what you wish for).

 

 

I know this is a little late, but we would absolutely love to help you in this regard, and we have a vet on staff as well. We have a great track record of successful remedies & results for most of the common issues that you listed below:

 

Ant health issues

Mites
- Grain mites
- Trash-eating mites (aka normal standard mites)
- Parasitic mites
-- Blood-sucking mites (treatment options like predatory hypoaspis mites, anti-mite meds for bees, formic acid fogging)
-- Intermediate stages (dormant/transport forms on ants)
-- Food-stealing mites (the big ones that sit on ants and can use their front limbs to beg for food)

Mold/Fungus
- Bacterial mold
- Fungal mold
-- Yellow “formiculture” fungus (the ones that is known to wipe out colonies)
- Parasitic leafcutter fungus (a fungus that infests leafcutter fungus)
- Cordiceps (the ant zombie fungus)

Harmless/useful guests
- Isopods
- Springtails
- Booklice/Dustlice

Bacterial infections
- Colored gasters in Temnothorax
-- Issues with antibiotics (ant symbiotic gut bacteria)

Parasites
- Phorid flies
- Nest parasites (Butterfly/Beetle larvae that eat brood)
- Parasitic flies that infect queens during their flights (abandon all hope for treatment here)

Parasites that use ants as part of their lifecycle
- Tapeworms/Roundworms in cows

Care issues
- Disturbance (light, vibrations)
- Lack of hibernation (stunted growth, low activity)
- Pre-hibernation issues when heating temperate Camponotus

Setup issues
- Toxic substrate (playground/colored/bird sand)
- Diatomaceous earth (kills ants)

- Dry nest (crippled new workers)
- Lack of humidity (tropical rainforest ants)
- Deep nest issues with clumsy ants (like Messor)
- U-turn issues (with sun-navigating ants like Messor)
- Lack of heat (meditarranean/(sub)tropical ants)
- Open water areas (with ants like Messor)

Food-related issues
- Food poisoning (pesticides in honey/fruit, treated seeds like grass, caffein)
- Too much ammonia? (shaking ant syndrome, protein-loaded roaches)
- Bad diet/nutritional deficit (only mealworms, milk)
- Food going bad in the setup (S. fugax/ants that bury food, fermenting sugar water/honey)

Other external issues
- Area spraying of pesticides
- Plug-in anti-mosquito devices

Ants
- Feral ant raids (Pharao ants, Fire ants, Black Crazy ants, Bigheaded ants)
-- secure home & setup
- Pet ants breaking out and eating other pet colonies (Lasius niger, Fire ants)
-- secure setups BOTH ways (in and out)
 

[Ernteameise]

 

 

 

 

I know this is a little late, but we would absolutely love to help you in this regard, and we have a vet on staff as well. We have a great track record of successful remedies & results for most of the common issues that you listed below:

 

 

 

I am very happy about help.

I am still in the pre-planning stage for my next talk at the Invertebrate Medicine conference in June.

[Ernteameise]

Just came home from work.
I have single-handedly re-instated the "Pizza and Lecture" at work.
Before COVID, this was a regular feature, we had in-house people talk and we invited people, and the Big Boss paid for the pizza (I work at a veterinary diagnostics laboratory).
A few months back, I was asked if I wanted to present my ant talk (with which I am going to UK and German conferences) also for the people at work.
I asked the Big Boss if she would pay the pizza. She said yes.
I booked the cafeteria, ordered pizza and gave my 45 min lecture.
Well, kind of 45 mins. I had so many questions from the audience, it took 90 minutes.
20 people had signed up by last week. Tonight, the room was packed, I actually had an audience of 30. Luckily I ordered tons of pizza and it was enough for everyone.
That had been my biggest fear, not enough pizza.
Went very well, we had a great time, and I had a room packed full of victims (ahm... audience I mean) who listened to me talk about one of my favorite topics (ants) for 90 minutes.
I am still totally hyper.

Edited by Ernteameise, February 19 2024 - 12:15 PM.

[ANTdrew]

That’s awesome! COVID ruined so much of the social spirit, especially at work. I’m glad you’re helping to rebuild it.

[Ernteameise]

So my talk at the first Invertebrate Medicine Conference in the UK is coming up in June.

I will come prepared!

This is the t-shirt I ordered and which I will be wearing for my talk:

 

[Ernteameise]

Very excited:
I am going to travel to the UK tomorrow to take part in the first Invertebrate Medicine conference.
As I have written above, I will be giving a 45 min lecture on Ant Health.

 

Muhahahaha- a whole room full of victims where I can drone on and on about one of my favorite topics. No escape!

 

I am really looking forward to this.
It is just so unusual and so different and weird and wonderful.
Completely different to my day-to-day work.
And yes, I am weird.
But weird is better than boring.

 

I think I might also publish some of the not copyrighted slides of my talk on here (of course not the ones featuring pictures by University of Würzburg / Professor Hölldobler, as per agreement).

We will see.

[Ernteameise]

Right!

Reporting back from the conference!

In the past couple of days, I traveled to the UK to take part in the first Invertebrate Medicine Conference. I gave a talk on ant health. It was a very nice cozy veterinary conference that reminded me a lot of the cozy little conferences we had during my PhD time in New Zealand. Lots of interesting talks and discussions, plus the venue was a dedicated Invertebrate Zoo, the Bug Parc. They have a huge hall with a very large Atta cephalotes colony (Leaf-cutter ants) and they plan on adding more ants and have a dedicated ant hall!

The Bug Parc (Lenwade, UK) is definitely worth a visit and they are still expanding.

For me, the conference was a great success.

Lots of interesting people to meet, some great chats and discussions, plus, people seemed to have liked my talk. So yay!

 

I am going to share some pictures of the event plus some pictures of the amazing leaf-cutter exhibit.

 

 

Silly old me talking (and yes, I did wear that "Ant Whisperer" Tshirt)

 

 

 

And now the AMAZING leaf-cutter ant exhibit.

This is a 2 year old Atta cephalotes colony with an estimated 900000 workers currently. Growing fast and strong.

 

 

 

The ropes are held up by VERY strong fishing line. Sadly, the big majors can cut the line in one bite. They have to renew the line every couple of days.

 

 

Right now, they have two of these fungus chamber / nest areas

 

 

And there is indeed a minim worker riding on every cut leaf to defend against decapitation flies!

 

 

 

 

The majors out patrolling

 

 

 

I even won a cute decorative ant in the raffle!

 

 

And of course one simply cannot visit the UK without having some nice fish&chips in a pub.

 

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

WOW the Atta cephalotes is stunning!

[IdioticMouse26]

Amazing! 900000 workers in two years is crazy! Do all leafcutter ant colonies grow this quickly? Because the colony I saw at the Victorian Bug Zoo is also around two years old and I estimated about 10~20,000 ants strong.

[Ernteameise]

Amazing! 900000 workers in two years is crazy! Do all leafcutter ant colonies grow this quickly? Because the colony I saw at the Victorian Bug Zoo is also around two years old and I estimated about 10~20,000 ants strong.

It depends on the species. Some species stay smaller and are more manageable (for example some Acromyrmex).

Atta can form really huge colonies with 2-6 million workers easily. And they only live to 10 to maximal 15 years before the queen dies (in "the Ants" it is even hypothesized that the queen dies because she has used up all the sperm for her massive population and is therefore no use for the colony anymore and not because of old age).

So these colonies have to grow quickly to survive and thrive for the limited time they have.

And this colony in the Bug Parc has been spoiled and pampered extremely and the plan is to have them fill a hall as a star exhibit in a dedicated ant hall.

[ANTdrew]

You need some ale with that fish ‘n chips.

[Ernteameise]

You need some ale with that fish ‘n chips.

Would have liked to, but I had to be at the airport at 4am the next morning so I refrained from alcohol since it messes with my sleep cycle.

[Stubyvast]

 

And of course one simply cannot visit the UK without having some nice fish&chips in a pub.

 

Aw man that looks so good! It's amazing how the a. cephalotes developed those instincts to have the minim ride on the major's leaf to fend off the flies. So cool! I also had no idea the majors' mandibles are that strong. I mean that's like pretty strong plastic right there for fishing lines. Awesome!