Are common house ants cannibals?

[Donita Luddington]

Are ants cannibals?

A huge trail of ants (many hundreds) was on my kitchen counter last night so I sprayed them with vinnegar (I was out of windex so I used vinnegar instead). Being late, and wishing the vinnegar to discourage new foragers, I retired for the evening.

Much to my chagrin, another, even larger swarm of Argentine ants had taken over my counter top, this morning - and the dead ants seem to have disappeared. I was surprised.

So, I sprayed 'em again and left the area for a while. Sure enough, yet another swarm replaced the second, and I noticed some carrying away the dead bodies of their camerades.

My question..... Are ants cannibals or did the inadvertant pickling entice them to cannibalism?

[mjciccarel]

In my experience they are cannibals. I have seen them eat horn worms, crickets and a snake. Let me say for the record all of these were Outside, not inside.

MJ

[RicodJour]

Sure, they'll eat any old dead bug.

Stop spraying and get some ant traps with the poison they take back to their nests, and put down some boric acid powder such as Terro

. It's the best way to control them.

R

[dadiOH]

They were carrying off their fallen comrades in order to give them a proper burial and memorial service. No flowers please...

[dpb]

dadiOH wrote: ...

I was sorry I didn't get see the obituary announcement. Is there a memorial established somewhere for contributions?

[Red Green]

Donita Luddington wrote in news:wex9wkbjvadg.y9x4yss3ypyg$. [e-mail]:

Something to be learned here? Maybe ants marinated with vinegar taste good?

[gfretwell]

They aren't bad in chocolate

[henrypenta]

dont be silly, if they were there wouldn't be but 1 left, henry

[HeyBub]

Your ants are either omnivores or carried away the bodies of their loved ones for proper Christian burials.

I say this because cremation is probably not an option for an ant.

[mm]

I don't know about most ants, but in the tropics, like Costa Rica, there are leaf-cutter ants, that cut little crescents out of leaves, bring the pieces back to the hill and feed them to the fungus that they cultivate. As the fungus grows, they eat some of it, take the waste out of the hill and pile it outside. Amazingly complicated I think.

[Father Haskell]

To the fabled Ants' Graveyard.

They're jewish?

[Dave Bugg]

Only those who are circumcised.

[dadiOH]

No, they'd just prefer donations to the UAAVF (United Ants Against Vinegar Fund).

[Father Haskell]

It is for an eight year old child with a magnifying glass.

[Flikina Rosalka]

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[Ants104475237]

replying to dadiOH, Ants104475237 wrote: "no flowers please" soon instead of taking food they take your flowers

[Ant]

Mmm, flowers. ;)

[azigni]

I didn't catch the beginning of this, but they sure won't say no to the nectar in flowers if they can get to it.