I’ve been away from Cardtalk for quite a while, busy with life and such, and have been lurking a bit lately. I missed the old Killer Ant thread so I just had to look it up. Not quite dead yet!

These are for Don….some interesting ant facts!

Ants stretch before they wake up. They also appear to yawn in a very human manner before taking up the tasks of the day.

An ant always falls over on its right side when intoxicated. (I’d like to see how they test this in the lab!)

Thanks Rich!
I have heard however, that ants never sleep. They used to run a bit about this on the Kid's Discovery Channel. Perhaps they go dormant for a while.

As to ants always falling over on their right side, I cannot dispute this... on the instances when I have been intoxicated, I beleive I fell over on my right side as well.

Sorry i have no ant stories to tell everyone, this has been neither a very dry or very wet summer, and we have had no ant problems, but i just killed one of the largest spiders I've ever seen recently.

39 pages of Killer ants, are they dead yet?!

Hi Don. I had a large, very ugly spider try to ambush me last week. It spun a web across my door in the night and I only just saw the spider itself in time not to walk into it. It's web covered most of the lower half of the door! It had been busy! I relocated it to my yard.

As for ants sleeping, you may be correct. I saw conflicting info on that while looking for something to post. I found this on the San Diego Zoo's website:

"Do ants sleep?
It hasn't been studied much, but some scientists say that yes, ants do sleep. It's not exactly like human sleep, but ants seem to go through cycles or periods of rest and inactivity in which their body functions and brain activity slow down. It may seem like ants don't sleep because some part of the colony is always busy, but individual ants do need to rest."

I decided to post that weird fact after seeing this info. Sounds like no one is really sure. Maybe you can research it and let us know!

Strange that they don't know for sure if they sleep, but know which side they fall on when they're drunk!

It must be said that I haven't seen many ants this Summer. Not like the Summer of '03 at all. However, my new flat does seem to attract spiders. I spent about 10 minutes the other week trying to capture one. It was a wily bugger I tell you. Massive too. In fact it may well have been a Killer Spider...

I had an ant problem a few years back but they stopped coming in the house when dryer sheets were placed at the point of entry. For some reason they do not appear to like them. Which of course is good for me. Im just hoping that my cat doesnt decide to make them toys.

Glad to say I didn't have any ants getting into the food problem this year. Woot!!

And now from the news desk, the most recent story on ant activity comes from a location just heading into the new fall season:

"Here we've had a rather unfocused invasion last week. While there didn't appear to be a singular target, enemy forces took a lethal beating upon their intrusion. Regardless of the fate of their kin, nothing seemed to stem the tide of these insect invaders for a couple days. Fortunately, enemy activity was very localized, and ended as quickly as it began. If past years are any indication, this continuing problem won't recur until mid spring next year. This gives us ample time to prepare defences against this mindless invasion."

quote:

It must be said that I haven't seen many ants this Summer. Not like the Summer of '03 at all. However, my new flat does seem to attract spiders.

Has it occurred to you that the reason you haven't seen many ants lately is that the wily spidey has been eating them all?
Au Res.,
Paul

quote:

Originally posted by Quaint1:

quote:

It must be said that I haven't seen many ants this Summer. Not like the Summer of '03 at all. However, my new flat does seem to attract spiders.

Has it occurred to you that the reason you haven't seen many ants lately is that the wily spidey has been eating them all?
Au Res.,
Paul

if you watch the asian film "Old Boy" there is a giant ant riding the subway, and there is a scene where the main character gets swarmed by ants.

they are breaking onto the big screen

Hey Don, I bet there are some great Killer Ant's in Breygent's new Poster set! I can't wait!

Yes Rich, THEM! featured giant ants - I'm sure this one must be in there.

Another film had giant grasshoppers destroying Chicago - anyone recall the name of that one?

i was thinking of resureccting this post the other day, but had no news from the front line.

What's the point of this topic. Do you all have ant problems?????????

Or maybe instead of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers".

"Invasion of the Killer Ants"

(found via Google Images - I thought it might be a fun seasonal post!)
Au Res.,
Paul

lol

Cool- it's "Anta Claus"!

My favorite thread has been quiet, so I thought I'd try an ebay search to see if Killer Ants were represented and of course, they are!

Attack of the Killer Ants by Betsy Haynes (1997)

"The school picnic is crawling with ants. So Ryan and Alex step on them and drown them. They think they've seen the last of the ants--until something big and ugly and hairy follows them home."

By the way, I'm not the seller of this item (and I'm not buying it either!)

Oh, and suddenly I feel slightly more tan, maybe even, you could say, Bronze!

Oohhh! Ya beat me to it!

No better place to happen than in the "Killer Ants" thread too LOL

I wonder if there still any dopey queen ants wandering around in the bathroom at work... they should be kinda hungry by now.