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Old 23-08-2008, 08:49 PM posted to alt.home.repair,rec.gardens,sci.bio.entomology.misc
HeyBub[_3_] HeyBub[_3_] is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Apr 2008
Posts: 22
Default Are common house ants cannibals?

Donita Luddington wrote:
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?


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.