What in tarnation do ants have any business doing building nests in my kitchen?
125277
I currently live in a log home and get carpenter ants all the time. I wipe the walls with bleach water as soon as I see one and they don't come back for a year. I try to wipe the walls with bleach water at least 2times during the summer(once to get rid of them and the second time to keep them away).\n\n\nJust thought I would let you know that rmaylaura is interested in ya. I seen a question she asked and she wants you to take notice in her. To bad I was hopin' I caught your eye. I guess too little too late;( Also I have a question for ya. Just click on my profile and it will be under the questions I asked.
51932
no idea, sorry I could not be of more help, I will try better nest time.
233463
Ants are always out exploring, and two things happen here:\n\n1. One ant will come across the sugar and will make a trail from there to the colony, soon hordes of ants will follow the trail to bring home the bacon.\n\n2. As long as there is moisture, a nearby and will actually smell the sugar from a few yards away. It does have a smell too. Once he stumbles across it, the same will happen as described earlier.
464194
The answer to this question is no.  The word "Brain" refers directly to the Cerebral cortex found in higher animals.  Ants are surprisingly intelligent nevertheless.  Ants, like other insects have networks of nerve cells called Ganglia.  Each ganglion is in charge of simpler tasks that help the simple organism cope with challenges presented by its habitat.  On the other hand, a Human cerebral cortex with ten billion cell bodies is by far the most ingenious cellular network in the universe capable of processing vast amounts of information.  The difference between brain and ganglia; ten billion minus five thousand.
452478
Ants are insects and don't carry disease ironically you can buy chocolate covered Ants as a snack in Asia it's only the western world where we don't eat insects.
279549
Army ants found in Africa are called driver ants. Driver ants form huge colonies, which in some cases consist of between 10 million and 20 million workers. Driver ants have extremely powerful mandibles. Their massive swarms are capable of immobilizing and killing large prey.\n\nIf attacked you won't be dismembered and eaten, but bites from large soldiers (workers) can inflict excruciating pain. Once their jaws have snapped shut, nothing can shake them loose.\n\nColonies of these ants have no permanent nests. Instead they make temporary bivouacs by interlocking their bodies in a protective dome over the queen and her young. Periodically they use a hollow log or decaying stump for a slightly more permanent shelter. This is for about 20 days and allows the queen to lay her eggs, possibly up to 30,000 of them.\n\nThey have been known to kill Elephants believe it or not. The very few cases with human fatalites most are of them being unconscious and their calls for help being unheard.
238171
This time of year woodpeckers are looking for mates and they start pounding on things that make loud noises, such as houses.   Every spring I get randy woodpeckers pounding on my house.  I have friends who have a woodpecker that pounds on a metal grill high up on their house, at 5 in the morning!\n\nIt is possible you have insects in the wood of your house, and if so, food is the culprit. You might climb up on the roof and see if the woodpecker is eliminating an insect problem before you chase him away. Termites are much worse than a woodpecker.\n\nIf the woodpecker is drilling holes in the house, you could put some metal up there to protect the wood. If he's looking for a girlfriend, he'll keep pounding on the metal though.... \n\nOne of those giant squirt guns is a good alternative.
556218
African Driver Ants are vicious.  Some tribes leave their dead out for the ants for one night, and collect the clean bones in the morning (This is NOT an exaggeration).
486859
Miner and Carpenter.\n\nMiner - Miner bees are one of many familiar black and yellow summertime solitary bees often mistaken for bumble bees. They do not collect honey nor do they sting.  Miner bee populations can be enhanced by providing dried mud blocks for nesting.\nhttp://www.moraybeekeepers.co.uk/solitary_bees.htm\n\nCarpenter - Carpenter bees get their common name from their habit of boring into wood to make galleries for the rearing of their young.♥\nhttp://www.killfireants.com/carpenter-bees.htm\n\n(>>Have a look, bee can be a doctor too:<<)\nhttp://www.londonstimes.us/toons/cartoons/display.html?image=fall_BEEDOCTOR.jpg
586389
The so-called "Sausage Fly" is actually the reproductive male of a group of African ants called driver ants (Subfamily Dorylinae).\n\nIn this group of ants, only the males have wings and fly from their home nest in search of wingless females (queens) from other nests.\n\nThey are called sausage flies because their abdomen is enlongated and swollen, filled with sperm.  They are the largest form of any ant known.\n\nThe other driver ants, that make up the majority of the species, look more like normal ants (although they are eyeless).  Some of them have several different sizes of worker ant, and the largest workers often act as specialized soldiers.\n\nHere is a page about them http://antbase.org/ants/africa/clog7.htm\n\nIt includes a good picture of the male 'sausage fly' form, as well as pictures of the more typically ant looking workers farther down the page.
13144
Okay, anther crazy one: leaf-cutter ants are not only well versed in agriculture, but they also emply the use of antibiotics.  The leaves that they take are not directly eaten.  They are taken into the moldy bowels of the ant colony, where they are allowed to grow moldy.  The ants subsequently eat that mold.\n\nWhen researcher tired to understand that mold better, they kept running into a problem.  Every time they took the mold cuture, it was rapidly over-run by a downy white mildew.  They were confused.  Then someone discovered that the ants working down in the fungus farm were covered with a white powedery appearance.  As it turns out, that white coating was a symbiotic organism which produced a sort of antibiotic that managed to keep the growth of the mildew down, hence protecting the fungus that the ants needed to eat.  By maintaining the symbiont, the antibiotics were able to help feed the colony.  Crazy stuff!
319835
i'll start coding instructions 4 them .... so that they could join ur lazy army ... they'll b good 4 u ... coz bees r very active so they'll make ur whole army active.... just like a rotten apple rots all apples ....same way ... kkk ...;)
276059
When it looks like they need more room and are making comb that has honey in it instead of baby bees. Probably pretty soon. You want them to have a place to store the extra honey they are making if it is 'honey' season in your neck of the world.
329403
I've heard of attacks by mockingbirds and bluejays and have seen both of these birds swoop on other potential predators such as cats. They only do it when they feel their nest (with eggs or nestlings) is threatened. The solution is just to stay away from the nest.
46178
I don't think anybody will be able to pin it down to one specific insect species, because first, how do you measure smartness, and how do you compare it between species, which show very different behavior. \nAs far as complexity of behavior and brain size is concerned, I think the social insects as a group will be smarter than the non-social ones. Being social adds a whole new repertoire of behavior due to the need to constantly interact with nestmates versus non-nestmates. In addition, social insect species have a home - which they have to find again!\nSocial insect behavior range from dance communication of honey bees, to pheromone communication of ants, pathfinding in ants, individual face recognition in some wasps species. \n\nAs far as specific sources are concerned, there are many papers published, below a link to a random one which came up when I typed in "learning memory insect". You will be able to find thousands more.
445796
Ants have highly notable evolutionary mathematical instincts - just observe their colonies, chemically-organized behavior, and communal actions (e.g. marching, hunting, defending, etc.) as ONE creature.  They often build multilayer interlocking bridges (many times out of their own bodies), for instance, for other ants to cross over - suggesting that their geometrical instincts and architectural abilities are at least 3D)   ... However, if you like to "suppose" that they possess mathematical "reasoning", then why simply limit yourself to dimensional worlds?   ... Why not suppose that a first ant geometry can describe anomalously Transdimensional worlds, as well?   ... See, it pays to think like an ant, or at least a mathematician!   lol
46698
That's a tough one.  They are persistent little critters.\n\nTry using boric acid - you can get it at any department store.  It is a powder, quite inexpensive, and harmless to humans.  Put it in any places you see signs of silverfish, along cracks in wood, etc.  We use boric acid on our sailboat and it seems to control most pests.\n\nIf you have silverfish in your kitchen cupboards try putting loose bay leaves around all the shelves and corners.  They won't kill the silverfish, but I have found that bay leaves spread around like that tend to keep most insects away.  There seems to be something about the bay leaves they don't like.  I've never used them for silverfish, but they work for ants.\n\n\nThere are special insecticides for silverfish, including Drone Dust which actually dries them out when they pass through it.  And there are things called silverfish packs.  Any powder you put down has to go in the dark places and cracks where they like to live, not out in the open - around your foundation, inside electrical outlets, around plumbing, under sinks, places liek that.\n\nThey are particularly attracted to wet, humid areas, so getting everything as dry as posible will help.  Fix any leaky pipes, maybe get a dehumidifier.  Regularly ventilate closed rooms.  VAcuum cracks with the special crevice tool regularly.  Use silica gel to help keep things dry.  Keep all food tightly covered to remove their food source.\n\nDid you do an Internet search related to this?  You might get more ideas.\n\nIf all else fails, or if you have a big problem, you might need to call an exterminator, which of course will be expensive.\n\nI hope this helps!  Good luck with it!