La Fée Verte @Absinthe@qoto.org

@arteteco @Surasanji @freemo @mngrif Actually, seems if you look for them online, Australia is where you can easily buy queens. Imagine that. There are so many cool looking ants, some of them must be delicious. :)

@freemo dank je.. I will proceed with such in mind.

@freemo @Surasanji @mngrif I mean, I recognize this is a cultural difference, and definitely one that is foreign to me. Certainly, these folks have decided that this is something important and I would not mean to cast aspersions on such things.... As long as I am not asked to participate :) It is odd that intentional infliction of pain and potential bodily injury is so much a part of some cultures. Some of which we embrace, and other we call our as human rights violations.

@freemo @Surasanji @mngrif Wait, is it insensitive to say people are crazy for that?

@freemo @Surasanji @mngrif the idea that every male of that village does it as a right of passage, but one full grown adult coldn't ... it must massively suck to become a "man" in a lot of cultures.

@freemo @Surasanji @mngrif is he the same one that did the bullet ant mittens too? That was insane!

@Surasanji I just looked, and it doesn't seem that they are easily available in the US either. The online places seem pretty steep in AU dollars. Who knew. You can get a mated Honey Bee Queen here for about $40 and the USPS is required by law to deliver them :)

@Surasanji @freemo @mngrif As for the stings, I always liked the particular descriptions of Schmidt

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schmidt_sting_pain_index

@freemo @Surasanji @mngrif rhubarb is sufficient for me :)

@Surasanji @freemo @mngrif or oxalic as well, since that is definitely in the dietary realm for them. Now that I think of it, kind of reminds me of shamrock or sorrel in a way.

@Surasanji @freemo @mngrif do they dance like bees?

@Surasanji well one could certainly dig up a wild colony to find her, but like the tardis those things are much larger on the inside :) Ever see the molten aluminum things they do with them.

Probably don't want introduction of foreign species or anything like that.

@freemo @Surasanji @mngrif I have found that ants at least raw have a sour quality to them.. not sure why. Definitely not my bag, and would certainly take a lot to make a meal.

@Surasanji @freemo @mngrif Hmmm, well as long as they stay out west that'll be fine with me. We do, however, have these kcuffers here:

https://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.asp?identification=Cow-Killer

@Surasanji can't you just buy mated queens?

@freemo @Surasanji @mngrif can they be trained? Maybe they can be like guard dogs or something. I know people have tried tarantulas, though I think the sign was sufficient.

@Surasanji @freemo @mngrif never eaten Escamoles. I have heard that the French will do drone larva in some sort of fried dish. I don't have much opportunity to eat bugs that don't live in water.

@Surasanji @freemo @mngrif I am not sure I care about their nationality, I just know they are mean and have a good reason for their name. Ouch.

@freemo @Surasanji @mngrif Okay, our ideas of delicious may not coincide.

There was a petstore that had those "Arrow" frogs. The kind that are supposed to be poisonous (and venomous too, yes I know the diff :) )

I asked the guy why these were safe for pets. He said they develop their poison from their diet of fire ants. And since you wouldn't provide that they were perfectly safe.

He went on to add, that there was someone who setup a huge indoor environment containing many of these and the requisite ant colonies. There was some strange accident where he slipped and fell into a group of these frogs and was dead before he could right himself.

Sorry, that was very tangential. Ooh, math, tangents. :)