4 ms·

One important restriction on mailing is that you CANNOT mail fertile ants through USPS. Which means that all of those ant farms you see being sold to kids? Yo

by btilly 5y ago

One important restriction on mailing is that you CANNOT mail fertile ants through USPS. Which means that all of those ant farms you see being sold to kids? You pay money, and get some sterile workers who are guaranteed to die pretty fast, leaving an unhappy kid. If you want a real ant farm, you need to either collect ants locally, or buy ants in person from someone who did themselves. And you'd better known the rules if you want to cross state lines with your ants. (Source, I have a teenager who loooves ants and knows everything about them. He now has multiple species of ants that he keeps.)

vishbar 5y ago
That is really interesting! I never had an ant farm, and I'm glad I didn't given what you've said. Are ants similar to bees in that there's one egg-laying "queen" that you have to gather, or can you just gather a collection of individuals from a colony? Your kid probably already knows about this, but have him check out the YouTuber AntsCanada. I'm not particularly into ants but I find his videos fascinating.
- JulianMorrison 5y ago
  Ants have queens. Ants are a kind of flightless wasp, they have a lot of commonalities with the wasp/bee family.
- btilly 5y ago
  My kid has been aware of AntsCanada for a long time, and has purchased lots of supplies from them. Yes, most ants are similar to bees in that way. In fact ants and bees are very closely related. But a few kinds of ants (for example the invasive Argentine ants), can have multiple queens in a colony that cooperate with each other. The reason for this rule is the ease with which ants become invasive species, and how much damage they can do.
  - hashkb 5y ago
    Does your kid know about SimAnt?
    - btilly 5y ago
      He's at school so I can't just ask him. But if it comes to ants, I'm willing to bet money that he knows it. I remember being at a bug fair with him a few years back. There was a grad student with a display including some fossilized ants. My son came over, looked, identified the genus, began pointing out the identifying characteristics and named multiple related current species. The grad student's jaw dropped open. The only things that the grad student knew which my son didn't was how old the fossil was and where it was found. And here is some fun trivia. If you look, between the thorax (where the legs grow) and the gaster (the bulb at the end), there is a very, very skinny petiole. The only food that can pass through that and keep the ant alive is high energy fluid. So a major problem for every species of ant is how to turn the world around into such a fluid so that they can eat it.
ApolloFortyNine 5y ago
Actually there are two species that were made legal to ship in the US last year. More information (and for sale) here. [0] [0] https://tarheelants.com/pages/ant-queen-and-colony-adoption https://tarheelants.com/pages/ant-queen-and-colony-adoption
- btilly 5y ago
  Awesome. I wish they were legal a decade ago when we were trying to figure out how to buy ant farms...
ethn 5y ago
This whole time I thought I did something wrong.
bonnie76 5y ago
Tell your teenager the world needs more people like him if we’re going to save the worlds insects. We need more entomologist.
- wincy 5y ago
  I don’t know, insects have been doing pretty well for a long time, and only one large group of insects that we know of has ever gone extinct, even during the absolutely horrific Permian-Triassic extinction event. I know as humans our impulse is to “do something about it”, but I think insects are gonna be fine.
  - ryanianian 5y ago
    Sure insects in general will be "fine", but ecosystems will have to be rebuilt over time with the different dynamics. Take bees/pollinators. Another species could evolve or otherwise step in to fill the gap, but it could well result in many other plant and animal species also going extinct in the process. Similar scenario with climate change. The earth will continue to exist and there will continue to be weather. But that weather could be a lot more inhospitable to our very narrow definition of habitable.
    - onemoresoop 5y ago
      Yes, I know global warming doesn't mean the end of the (human) world as many suspect and are skeptical about. Humans will find a way to survive in special habitats and in much smaller numbers. What's at stake is the current civilization. With civilization's collapse we're bound to repeat this progress to self-destruction cycle.
  - btilly 5y ago
    Insects may do fine, but individual species are another story. For example through most of Los Angeles, if you see an ant it is probably an Argentine ant (Linepithema humile). Over my son's life, the variety of native ants to be found near me has visibly declined.
Jun8 5y ago
Yep, my son did buy his first colony from a local college kid, through the GAN Project: https://www.antscanada.com/queen-ants-for-sale/ https://www.antscanada.com/queen-ants-for-sale/. Since he was away, his mom brought the colony to us, we met discreetly at a library, felt a bit like a spy transaction :-)
kelnos 5y ago
Can you ship fertile ants through UPS or Fedex?
raxxorrax 5y ago
Huh, this is certainly legal in Europe. You get colonies with a queen and some workers, even non-native species. Always asked myself if that wouldn't facilitate invasions of foreign species into the eco system because ants are pretty apt at escaping.
- btilly 5y ago
  That probably varies by country. I'm familiar with US laws because I live under them.

by btilly 5y ago

vishbar 5y ago

That is really interesting! I never had an ant farm, and I'm glad I didn't given what you've said. Are ants similar to bees in that there's one egg-laying "queen" that you have to gather, or can you just gather a collection of individuals from a colony? Your kid probably already knows about this, but have him check out the YouTuber AntsCanada. I'm not particularly into ants but I find his videos fascinating.

JulianMorrison 5y ago
Ants have queens. Ants are a kind of flightless wasp, they have a lot of commonalities with the wasp/bee family.
btilly 5y ago
My kid has been aware of AntsCanada for a long time, and has purchased lots of supplies from them. Yes, most ants are similar to bees in that way. In fact ants and bees are very closely related. But a few kinds of ants (for example the invasive Argentine ants), can have multiple queens in a colony that cooperate with each other. The reason for this rule is the ease with which ants become invasive species, and how much damage they can do.
- hashkb 5y ago
  Does your kid know about SimAnt?
  - btilly 5y ago
    He's at school so I can't just ask him. But if it comes to ants, I'm willing to bet money that he knows it. I remember being at a bug fair with him a few years back. There was a grad student with a display including some fossilized ants. My son came over, looked, identified the genus, began pointing out the identifying characteristics and named multiple related current species. The grad student's jaw dropped open. The only things that the grad student knew which my son didn't was how old the fossil was and where it was found. And here is some fun trivia. If you look, between the thorax (where the legs grow) and the gaster (the bulb at the end), there is a very, very skinny petiole. The only food that can pass through that and keep the ant alive is high energy fluid. So a major problem for every species of ant is how to turn the world around into such a fluid so that they can eat it.

ApolloFortyNine 5y ago

Actually there are two species that were made legal to ship in the US last year. More information (and for sale) here. [0] [0] https://tarheelants.com/pages/ant-queen-and-colony-adoption https://tarheelants.com/pages/ant-queen-and-colony-adoption

btilly 5y ago
Awesome. I wish they were legal a decade ago when we were trying to figure out how to buy ant farms...

ethn 5y ago

This whole time I thought I did something wrong.

bonnie76 5y ago

Tell your teenager the world needs more people like him if we’re going to save the worlds insects. We need more entomologist.

wincy 5y ago
I don’t know, insects have been doing pretty well for a long time, and only one large group of insects that we know of has ever gone extinct, even during the absolutely horrific Permian-Triassic extinction event. I know as humans our impulse is to “do something about it”, but I think insects are gonna be fine.
- ryanianian 5y ago
  Sure insects in general will be "fine", but ecosystems will have to be rebuilt over time with the different dynamics. Take bees/pollinators. Another species could evolve or otherwise step in to fill the gap, but it could well result in many other plant and animal species also going extinct in the process. Similar scenario with climate change. The earth will continue to exist and there will continue to be weather. But that weather could be a lot more inhospitable to our very narrow definition of habitable.
  - onemoresoop 5y ago
    Yes, I know global warming doesn't mean the end of the (human) world as many suspect and are skeptical about. Humans will find a way to survive in special habitats and in much smaller numbers. What's at stake is the current civilization. With civilization's collapse we're bound to repeat this progress to self-destruction cycle.
- btilly 5y ago
  Insects may do fine, but individual species are another story. For example through most of Los Angeles, if you see an ant it is probably an Argentine ant (Linepithema humile). Over my son's life, the variety of native ants to be found near me has visibly declined.

Jun8 5y ago

Yep, my son did buy his first colony from a local college kid, through the GAN Project: https://www.antscanada.com/queen-ants-for-sale/ https://www.antscanada.com/queen-ants-for-sale/. Since he was away, his mom brought the colony to us, we met discreetly at a library, felt a bit like a spy transaction :-)

kelnos 5y ago

Can you ship fertile ants through UPS or Fedex?

raxxorrax 5y ago

Huh, this is certainly legal in Europe. You get colonies with a queen and some workers, even non-native species. Always asked myself if that wouldn't facilitate invasions of foreign species into the eco system because ants are pretty apt at escaping.

btilly 5y ago
That probably varies by country. I'm familiar with US laws because I live under them.