35 replies to this topic

[AntsCali098]

You are releasing invasive ants into the wild, and nobody "ratted" you out (I assume you do not know what that word means), they just told you that it is extremely irresponsible. It doesn't matter if they are local, releasing an established invasive colony only hurts native ants more. Especially one as destructive as geminata.
It's so weird how you are practically BEGGING for support here, but no one will ever be on your side because it's people like YOU that make the ecosystem worse.
Good job doubling down on being a scumbag.

There is a much better way of expressing your opinion then simply going off on someone right away, he'd get your point if you put it in a better way. These threads are not the place.

Let's just get back on topic, these threads always evolve into something like this.

Edited by AntsCali098, June 14 2023 - 6:41 PM.

[antsriondel]

I agree that using the term "scumbag" is a rude way to go about it, however the topic being discussed is very much on topic with the thread. Two members are talking about releasing invasive species into their ecosystems, one of which is a VERY destructive, aggressive species. He cannot handle keeping them himself, so he wants to dump that responsibility on his local habitat instead of just throwing them in the freezer for a day.

That is wildly irresponsible and I am SHOCKED that this community is not willing to stand up for the environment, and instead wishes to change the subject.

And for the guy stating "well my ants are invasive but they don't negatively effect the environment", just because you don't see it doesn't mean that they don't. They compete with native ants for at least SOME resources, and they multiply like crazy. That, in turn, does impact the local species.

This may just be a hobby to a few people in here, but your decisions impact the entire planet.

I feel like this post is a far more polite, and potentially (hopefully) more educational one. Unfortunately, I have such little faith in humanity that I am almost certain that no one is going to change their mind here.. especially since the people who need the message the most seem to be doubling down on their actions and opinions.

I find this topic tiring but I will tell you what I see. I see two different opinions both are valid. Opinion one is that releasing non-damaging or already established invasives is fine. I personally think if it does not or has not damaged the ecosystem it is fine. especially if it has been in that ecosystem for ten-plus years. Opinion two is that releasing any harmful invasive is wrong. I agree entirely. Releasing ants that only damage the ecosystem further is not right. But I must also say that releasing invasives that have been in that region for a while and have not entirely damaged the ecosystem is not awesome but if they do not affect the region I do not think that that is wrong. I also believe that when you say you have little faith in humanity I entirely disagree with this. I believe that as humans we can change but we have to choose to change which I think everyone is capable of doing.

[antsriondel]

And to all of those who just want to get back to the topic I agree, but I also think that if we do not talk about our frustrations in the ant keeping community we will keep fighting until this forum dies.

[Tanks]

One time I saw an ant unboxing video on a small ant keeping channel and when the first ants he unboxed were a large looking species of Camponotus  and they had a tiny space. The queen also had 2 workers! I don't understand what the company who sold the YouTuber  the ants was thinking. Then, he proceeds to unbox a colony of Formica rufa  with the same amount of workers as the Camponotus and those Formica had double the space the Camponotus had! I haven't kept Formica before, maybe they need more space than other species, but still, it just seems crazy that those Carpenter ants had such a cramped space! Keep in mind this isn't the keepers fault as they are new to ant keeping and are just documenting their journey.

[Flu1d]

I just loaded all of my colonies into the freezer, I'm done with this community.

Everyone acts like releasing invasives is bad but here we are, an entire thread of people simping for the people doing just that.

Disgusting.

[antsriondel]

I just loaded all of my colonies into the freezer, I'm done with this community.

Everyone acts like releasing invasives is bad but here we are, an entire thread of people simping for the people doing just that.

Disgusting.

Everyone has their own opinions. No reason to quit ant keeping because of a thread, you are allowed to have your own opinions and try to change others, but this is not the way to do it.

[Flu1d]

How do I delete my account? I'm done here.
Or tell me what I need to say to get banned. Either one works for me.

[AntsCali098]

I don't think this thread should continue. Something else is bound to happen.

[AntsCali098]

I just loaded all of my colonies into the freezer, I'm done with this community.
Everyone acts like releasing invasives is bad but here we are, an entire thread of people simping for the people doing just that.
Disgusting.

We are not. I think most of us agree with you, but we think there is much better spot for such rude and inappropriate replies.

Leaving the hobby for this is disgraceful, and freezing your colonies after this is unacceptable in my opinion. Someone ban this person.

Unbelievable.

Edited by AntsCali098, June 14 2023 - 7:59 PM.

[Flu1d]

I just loaded all of my colonies into the freezer, I'm done with this community.
Everyone acts like releasing invasives is bad but here we are, an entire thread of people simping for the people doing just that.
Disgusting.

We are not. I think most of us agree with you, but we think there is much better spot for such rude and inappropriate replies.

Leaving the hobby for this is disgraceful, and freezing your colonies after this is unacceptable in my opinion. Someone ban this person.

Unbelievable.

You'll fight for ol boy to release his invasives but get bent right out of shape over an invasive colony (my only colony) getting frozen.

Get over yourself.

Absolutely agree, ban me. This community is literally dogshit.

[Ants.co]

Ooops, no idea "controversial" would get this controversial    

Either way, I hold to my values - by releasing them (which haven't been fed anything that isn't locally wild sourced and have no contact with anything that couldn't exist in their environment already) I will be causing no harm whatsoever. 

[AntsCali098]

Someone should lock replies on the thread

Edited by AntsCali098, June 14 2023 - 8:56 PM.

[Locness]

Bit of an overreaction. I'll take the colonies.

[bmb1bee]

You'll fight for ol boy to release his invasives but get bent right out of shape over an invasive colony (my only colony) getting frozen.

Get over yourself.

Absolutely agree, ban me. This community is literally dogshit.

 

To be fair, you never mentioned them being invasive in the first place. I actually don't have a problem with you and Serafine's views regarding invasives, and do believe that calling the problem out definitely helps in protecting native species. That being said, keeping invasives isn't quite the problem here. It's the act of releasing them back into the wild that's the issue, as what you pointed out earlier. Although I don't think going off on people and freezing your only colony was the right choice, I believe that you were somewhat advocating for the right thing.

[bmb1bee]

Ooops, no idea "controversial" would get this controversial    

Either way, I hold to my values - by releasing them (which haven't been fed anything that isn't locally wild sourced and have no contact with anything that couldn't exist in their environment already) I will be causing no harm whatsoever. 

You can still contribute to the conversation without trying to win approval of releasing your geminata colony. Please don't take offense, but freezing the geminata colony at this point would be the best thing to do. Releasing them would only add to the geminatas' gene pool and cause them to proliferate even more. Thailand has a lot of interesting native species that don't deserve to be wiped out by invasive species.

 

Additionally, I agree with AntsCali's suggestion to lock the replies. Apologies to EnderAnts as well. Maybe you could make another thread and limit the "overly" controversial topics?

 

(Strange time and place to add this in, but I love your channel... and welcome back of course.)

[Ants.co]

No offence taken, I agree, in any other circumstance freezing them would be the best option 

I'm not trying to win approval, just writing out a... well, controversial topic for this thread. 

 

It's good to see so many people concerned about the environment, and I totally agree with not harming the Earth.  After all, I am a fellow citizen on our planet, I'm not martian.

 

However, in my specific circumstance, releasing them would cause no harm whatsoever, as they were raised, and fed with stuff found in the exact habitat that they were caught in, and as a species, they have already been there for decades, and thus are very well established. I am not introducing anything that wasn't already there.

 

If the circumstances were not exactly as they are, I would have frozen them without a second thought, or more likely, wouldn't have even considered keeping them in the first place. 

 

Again, I second everyone's enthusiasm for protecting the environment, and it's good to see so many people who are concerned for it. However, it is worth mentioning that there are many other, more pressing issues worth mentioning - for example, each steak we eat depletes more resources than my poor Fire Ants could deplete in a year (when you add into account the crops needed to raise a cow to be turned into steak, the water needed to grow the crops, etc). So, let's not go over our heads over these small matters 

 

Lastly, apologies to Ender Ants for creating an argument that ruined your thread. (I love your videos BTW )

Edited by Ants.co, June 14 2023 - 10:14 PM.