3 ms·
That is fascinating. Growing up we called these sugar ants or kitchen ants. I can't read the article but I assume this is similar. Do you know why they are ave
by sigspec 5y ago
That is fascinating. Growing up we called these sugar ants or kitchen ants. I can't read the article but I assume this is similar.
Do you know why they are averse to diatomaceous earth? They are so small I would not have thought they would experience a tactile aversion to a material. Nature is so neat.
Edit: I see now. It's not an aversion. It sticks to them and get into their joints. Interesting.
- fullstop 5y agoYes, the powder cuts their exoskeleton and they perish from dehydration. It sounds like an awful way to go, but I'll do it if that's what it takes to keep them out of my kitchen. As for diatomaceous earth, it works best in dry places. If it gets wet they can walk right over it without issue, or it will just wash away in the rain. It's also an ingredient in toothpaste and is included in animal feed to allegedly kill parasites. The research on that seems to be propped up by those invested in selling the stuff, though, so take that with a grain of salt. Nature is really quite incredible. This blew my mind when I saw it, and it unravels a lot of the mystery behind ant locomotion: https://i.imgur.com/7Zh6Im5.gif https://i.imgur.com/7Zh6Im5.gif -- It's so simple, but it works amazingly well.
- gadders 5y agoWe use DE in our chicken coops as a treatment against mites.
- fullstop 5y agoI can see that being useful since it's external. The things that I saw and questioned were feeding it to cows to kill internal parasites.
- ASalazarMX 5y ago> mystery behind ant locomotion: https://i.imgur.com/7Zh6Im5.gif https://i.imgur.com/7Zh6Im5.gif This is awesome. They walk like us, but instead of two legs they use two tripods.