57 replies to this topic

[Leo]

yay, people actually post stories in this thread i started 

[FSTP]

This antdude sounds legendary.

[Canadian anter]

This antdude sounds legendary.

he's the definition of a grammar nazi

[MrILoveTheAnts]

 

This antdude sounds legendary.

he's the definition of a grammar nazi

 

He means well but operates with a robotic efficiency. He started the first ant forum for a North American audience. His insane grammar rules did get actual experts on the forum, so he's not all bad, just went a little mad with power is all.

[Vendayn]

My first ant colony, that wasn't Argentine ants. It was also my first successful colony. I've told this story before, but hey I like sharing it and it works in the thread.

 

Solenopsis invicta.

 

So, for six months they grew faster and faster. At that point, half a year of keeping them they had grown to 100,000 workers from just one queen and a couple hundred workers.

 

First problem?

I used stick bridges to connect up the different formicariums. That worked actually really well, until the colony grew to such a huge size that they'd pile all their pupae on the sticks. So, here we had a rain of ants and pupae falling on the ground in the garage, and getting all over the place.

 

Next problem at the SAME time?

They got through my barriers (forgot what I used,), and at the time on Antdude's forum, someone told me the worst idea ever "hey, use vaseline! its an amazing ant barrier!". Well, figured I'd try it as I had thousands of ants escaping all over.

 

Also. No. Vaseline is not a barrier at all, its the worst barrier anyone can even think of lol

 

So, I put a bunch of vaseline on the sides.

 

The ants crossed that vaseline like they were walking on the sidewalk.

 

So, here we have thousands of ants escaping. Hundreds every minute falling off the stick bridges. All wanting to sting and get all over the garage. And then I just used the worst barrier imaginable (there is no "barrier" worse than vaseline), and that actually helped MORE of them escape since vaseline is SOOOOO easy to walk on. So I had to spend 6 hours wiping off the vaseline (it is the most annoying thing to clean, literally 6 hours to wipe most of it off. And I was getting very mad that I even used it), while ants were escaping, stinging and getting all over the garage.

 

Then Argentine ants came in the garage and there was a huge ant war in the garage. So, not only is the garage being invaded by Solenopsis invicta...Argentine ants wanted in on the action too!

So, here we have a huge ant battle. Tens of thousands at this point of Solenopsis invicta had gotten into the garage, and multiple thousands of Argentine ants. I, very frustrated and as a kid I didn't think about the consequences. I just put the Solenopsis invicta by my front door and threw away all the containers in frustration (as even after 6 hours, some of the vaseline was STILL too hard to clean up). Looking back, being older and knowing more, those Solenopsis invicta could have really harmed the environment. Luckily they got killed by the millions of Argentine ants by the front door.

 

But, wow was that whole thing a complete disaster. But it was pretty hilarious (except releasing invasive ants, but I was a kid, and no one told me it was bad). But luckily Argentine ants greatly outnumbered them.

 

Also, never use vaseline. 

Edited by Vendayn, January 28 2017 - 1:48 PM.

[Alabama Anter]

This is when I knew absolutely **** about ants. It was my move from Maryland to Alabama. Also the first time I saw a Solenopsis invicta nest. So as a young and stupid me (yes I understand I still am a young and stupid soul,) I decided to sit on the wonderful dirt mound for a break from the car ride. Alas, I saw ants coming out and thought Oh my god this is so cooool! And watched them advance to my exposed feet. Let's just say I had to go to through 4 weeks of itchiness/pain.

[Vendayn]

As for Antdude. While kinda still fitting the thread.

 

When I first went to Antdude's forum: my typing, grammar and spelling sucked. In real life, I was (and am) very good at that kind of thing. Still some learning to do. Some of the things like ; : , and ... I still overuse or don't use properly. But, as a kid I didn't care about it on the internet at all. 

 

As much as he became not very nice, if it wasn't for him, my typing would be still terrible. Because of his forum, I actually type far more proper posts all across the internet.  

 

So, Antdude did accomplish what he wanted, with me at least. He taught me to type better posts. He wasn't all bad. I'm sure I'm not the only one he "taught" proper spelling and grammar. The posts and threads DID come out a lot more professional on his forum. But, he went a bit overboard with it.

 

Anyway, that is my story of how Antdude helped me become a better poster for all forums/messageboards/chatrooms I go to on the internet. His constant (sometimes annoying) corrections made me post better.

Edited by Vendayn, January 28 2017 - 5:58 PM.

[Kevin]

One time while anting I caught a camponotus queen, then when I got home I realized I dropped it . The next day I went to the same location and found her next to a log in a test tube, that would have been the end for her if I didn't find it again.

 

Speaking of losing things, once an apheanogaster colony slipped through my rack and I couldn't find it until today in my pool table's ball return (the rack was on the pool table). I found it while changing my myrmica queens tubes (all 70 of them -/+). It's been several months and they went from 6 workers to over 20 with no food and minimal water, living off the mold growing on the cotton (the reason why I misplaced it first of all was to change the test tube). The workers have obviously gotten smaller in size, and I'm surprised they are still alive let alone gaining more than 3 times the workers they had.

Edited by Kevin, January 28 2017 - 6:35 PM.

[Connectimyrmex]

As for Antdude. While kinda still fitting the thread.

 

When I first went to Antdude's forum: my typing, grammar and spelling sucked. In real life, I was (and am) very good at that kind of thing. Still some learning to do. Some of the things like ; : , and ... I still overuse or don't use properly. But, as a kid I didn't care about it on the internet at all. 

 

As much as he became not very nice, if it wasn't for him, my typing would be still terrible. Because of his forum, I actually type far more proper posts all across the internet.  

 

So, Antdude did accomplish what he wanted, with me at least. He taught me to type better posts. He wasn't all bad. I'm sure I'm not the only one he "taught" proper spelling and grammar. The posts and threads DID come out a lot more professional on his forum. But, he went a bit overboard with it.

 

Anyway, that is my story of how Antdude helped me become a better poster for all forums/messageboards/chatrooms I go to on the internet. His constant (sometimes annoying) corrections made me post better.

#relatable. When I was on that forum (as OchetellusPheidoleGeminata, which are species that I have) he would always help correct my grammar. He said that there was a spellchecker but it never appeared for me.

[Connectimyrmex]

My first ant colony, that wasn't Argentine ants. It was also my first successful colony. I've told this story before, but hey I like sharing it and it works in the thread.

 

Solenopsis invicta.

 

So, for six months they grew faster and faster. At that point, half a year of keeping them they had grown to 100,000 workers from just one queen and a couple hundred workers.

 

First problem?

I used stick bridges to connect up the different formicariums. That worked actually really well, until the colony grew to such a huge size that they'd pile all their pupae on the sticks. So, here we had a rain of ants and pupae falling on the ground in the garage, and getting all over the place.

 

Next problem at the SAME time?

They got through my barriers (forgot what I used,), and at the time on Antdude's forum, someone told me the worst idea ever "hey, use vaseline! its an amazing ant barrier!". Well, figured I'd try it as I had thousands of ants escaping all over.

 

Also. No. Vaseline is not a barrier at all, its the worst barrier anyone can even think of lol

 

So, I put a bunch of vaseline on the sides.

 

The ants crossed that vaseline like they were walking on the sidewalk.

 

So, here we have thousands of ants escaping. Hundreds every minute falling off the stick bridges. All wanting to sting and get all over the garage. And then I just used the worst barrier imaginable (there is no "barrier" worse than vaseline), and that actually helped MORE of them escape since vaseline is SOOOOO easy to walk on. So I had to spend 6 hours wiping off the vaseline (it is the most annoying thing to clean, literally 6 hours to wipe most of it off. And I was getting very mad that I even used it), while ants were escaping, stinging and getting all over the garage.

 

Then Argentine ants came in the garage and there was a huge ant war in the garage. So, not only is the garage being invaded by Solenopsis invicta...Argentine ants wanted in on the action too!

So, here we have a huge ant battle. Tens of thousands at this point of Solenopsis invicta had gotten into the garage, and multiple thousands of Argentine ants. I, very frustrated and as a kid I didn't think about the consequences. I just put the Solenopsis invicta by my front door and threw away all the containers in frustration (as even after 6 hours, some of the vaseline was STILL too hard to clean up). Looking back, being older and knowing more, those Solenopsis invicta could have really harmed the environment. Luckily they got killed by the millions of Argentine ants by the front door.

 

But, wow was that whole thing a complete disaster. But it was pretty hilarious (except releasing invasive ants, but I was a kid, and no one told me it was bad). But luckily Argentine ants greatly outnumbered them.

 

Also, never use vaseline. 

This, kids, is why you use a lid.

Okay, I know that barriers work better, but a well fitting lid works great as well. If no ventilation can be given, I just stick a plant in there next to their tube.

[Connectimyrmex]

My Story for Today, which happened last year when I was relatively new to ant keeping 

 

I was flipping rocks searching for a new colony (At the moment, I had Pseudomyrmex G. and Ochetellus G. The Pseudomyrmex passed away and the Ochetellus have a few workers now). After some time, I had found a nice Pheidole colony that happened to have maybe twenty queens. I caught maybe fifty minor workers, three majors, and three queens.

I had placed all of these ants in a early design of tissue-dirt setup (ask me for instructions, they work well with solenopsis, tetramorium, and pheidole). They had made a tunnel through the dirt and had a few eggs. Eventually, though, they disappeared.

After a month of not seeing them, I removed the tissues and dirt from the container for future use (I found out that with the same species, nest dirt of a related species helps ants settle in. As usual, I placed the tissues and dirt in a large ziplock bag. I left the bag in a closet and forgot about it for a month.

 

The next month, when I was better at ant keeping (I had fire ants, ochetellus, tetramorium bicarinatum, and brachymyrmex, which I still have today) I found that bag. My eyes nearly popped out of my head.

 

THE BAG WAS STUFFED WITH ANTS! The queens were incredibly fat, there were maybe two hundred minors and thirty majors, and a whole lot of brood. They had chewed an exit hole out of the bag.

 

Upon closer inspection, they were sneaking drinks from the sugar water bowl I use to prepare food for the ants while I slept. They also ate fish food flakes. The ants probably were nesting in the tissues, which explained why they weren't in the dirt.

 

Out of the good of my heart, I released the ants, but they wouldn't leave the bag. I ended up shaking the entire nest out under a log at school when no one was looking. To this day, they live there. Whenever you get the chance to go to Punahou school, go to the track and flip the log on the end of the track. There will be ants (and myrmecophile silverfish!) there to greet you. 
I sometimes stop by there to give them snacks. My friends sometimes wonder why I always bring a little piece of candy on the way to band or PE.   

[Martialis]

Hey Hawaiian, can I have those instructions?

[Connectimyrmex]

Sure. I think that I will actually make a new topic just for the instructions of the formicarium. It may take me a while, so be patient

[Leo]

hm, why don't you got catch a few queens from the colony?

[CrazyLegs]

Once upon a time, in a past all but forgotten, there was a young man trying his hand at a little traffic controlling.

High atop a range, far enough away from the Australian coastline that the ocean appeared as a thin blue line on the horizon, that young man stood.

Dressed head to toe, including a full brimmed hat, to prevent him becoming nothing more than one of the toasted carcasses that often lay beside dusty outback roads. Spinning that stop/go lollipop like a true professional.

All of a sudden there was a disturbance on the radio.

" Argh, I've dug up a bloody bull ants nest! "

Words from the excavator driver enticed laughter across the channel.

" They're all over me digga! "

He exclaimed, as he continued to contour the earth into a canvas for an eventual winding tarmac road, with beautiful scenic,hinterland views of the Sunshine Coast.

" They're trying to get in."

Nervousness crept into his voice as he began to doubt the quality of the sealed door of his air conditioned enclosure.

 

As this young man pondered from afar at the possibilities of owning an excavator and digging up all the bull ants he ever wanted, he glanced down and saw the biggest bull ant he had ever encountered. It had to be the queen! Escaping from the carnage responsible for literally turning her world upside down. She was attempting to cross the road in front of him but he had three cars stopped and was awaiting clearance to let them through.

He had to think fast, he did have a container but it was in his car, which was parked off the side of the road just out of reach.

So he ended up standing over her and moving his feet around to keep blocking her path.

He thought of the drivers in the cars he had waiting, watching his every move.

He would've looked like a guy who was well overdue a bathroom break.

He kept up the hot shoe shuffle for what seemed like an eternity before deciding he had to get this ant secured or miss his chance.

He simply bent over and picked her up,....

 

To his surprise, he didn't feel the intense pain of the sting he remembered as a child when unknowingly standing on a bull ants nest at his aunties house like an idiot.

She just stayed inside his closed hand and didn't move around much at all. He turned his sign and watched as the cars went by, the looks on there faces need no describing.

After the last car had passed he moved toward his car and gently lifted the handle............

 

All of a sudden his childhood started rushing back, searing pain, burning heat. It was as bad as he remembered and worse.

He gave out a yelp and instinctively shook his hand with a violent whip, sending the queen flying across the road into the bushes.

In all his excitement, he had attempted to lift the handle on the car door with the same hand that was holding an armed and very capable monster.

 

By the end of the day, his middle finger had swelled enough to account for both fingers on either side.

Obviously leading to numerous, hysterical jokes about what he was doing with it all day when he returned to base.

He maintains to this day that he picked up a bull ant.

Nobody believes anyone would be so stupid.

Edited by CrazyLegs, January 29 2017 - 10:20 PM.

[Connectimyrmex]

hm, why don't you got catch a few queens from the colony?

Where do you think my current Pheidole colony is from? ;P

[anttics]

funny stuff eh. well ants have no sense of humor. or so I thought. until the queen laid an egg on the head of an worker. who tried to get it out for almost 2 hours. until another worker felt sorry, and pick the egg from its head.

I also tilted the a test tube once. and most larva were stuck on the ceiling of the test tube. by the time I realized it. I had the set up all done and screwed. it took a day for the ants to get all the stick larva.

[Mettcollsuss]

So last year I went to a summer camp. My reputation as an ant expert spread pretty quickly. One day someone came up to me and said that they were laying down and then ants started crawling all over them.. They said that they wanted me to ID them and find out if they were a stinging species. They showed me where they were laying down, and I found a nest entrance about as wide as a key on a computer keyboard. I saw a lot of ants milling about the entrance. Looking into into the hole, I say a glimmer of wings. It turned out to be a nuptial flight. When one of the queen alates came out of the hole, I ID'd it as Lasius latipes. The workers let the queens wander a few inches from the nest, but wouldn't let the males even step out of the hole. When I came back 30 mins later, the hole was abandoned. Later that day, I say empty holes like that all over camp.

Edited by Mettcollsuss, December 15 2017 - 5:20 PM.

[anttics]

my colony has one super major. it was lying motionless in the heated side of the nest. I touch it died. so I open the nest. poke her with a stick. a minor was walking by. got into attack mode. and as the major woke up the minor confused the major with the stick. it bite her leg. 20 minutes later the minor was still attached to the stress runing super major. who did not bite her in half for some reason. at that point I picked them up I could not get the minor with out taking the majors leg. so I threw then in a cup of water. problem solved. ants can be stupid too.

[Connectimyrmex]

@anttics, looks like someone needs the yuku forum for a day

Funny story though.