So, I've been thinking about getting into ant keeping. Anyone have any idea when Nuptial Flights happen in Israel? I imagine no, but better to ask!

Ants are intensely interesting to me and have only grown more-so as I've studied ant keeping and ants in general. A lot of what I thought I knew has turned out to be exceedingly basic and narrow in focus.

I'll keep you guys up to date once I get things rolling.

@Surasanji I was just talking to @mngrif about wanting to get into ant keeping myself!

@freemo @mngrif I've been watching hours and hours of Ant keeping videos on YouTube, and joined an Ant Keeping discord server.

It's a very supportive and kind community of enthusiasts.

@Surasanji @freemo @mngrif I keep bees... I am not sure what one gets from keeping ants though. Or is it just voyeuristic?

@Absinthe @freemo @mngrif Partially, I also just find them extremely interesting. How they act and work- in Ant Keeping, a lot of set ups are designed so you can see the ants in their nest and observe them being ants.

They don't give you honey or anything like that. It's just, for me at least, fascinating to watch an insect with such a complex social life.

@Surasanji
First, I didn't know ant keeping was a thing. Looks awesome.

When I was in Australia there were this green bottom ants, people ate that green part. It wasn't that bad frankly, i tried quite a few of them (You won't get your belly full, but it's something)

@Absinthe @freemo @mngrif

@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. :)

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@Absinthe @Surasanji @freemo @mngrif

Honestly, I think it would make a good business too... I'd personally buy ants to eat.

@freemo @arteteco @Surasanji @mngrif If you can find a queen I assume they are social ants. I don't know if there are a lot of solitary ants, but I guess there could be. The old cow-killer is definitely one, and thank goodness. :)

@Absinthe @freemo @arteteco @mngrif Cow-Killers are a solitary wasp, not an ant. I do not believe there are any truly solitary ants.

@Surasanji

My Aunt Martha hasnt come to a single solitary family gathering in years. I think she would count!

@Absinthe @arteteco @mngrif

@freemo @Absinthe @arteteco @mngrif I come from the land where we pronounce the U in Aunt.

That's right: a-YOO-nt.

@Surasanji @freemo @arteteco @mngrif I think if you don't say AUnt you should ad a Y (ie) to the end and say antie. Like "Bob's your uncle and Fannie's your auntie!"

@Surasanji @freemo @arteteco @mngrif well mine too, I had to even look it up. Vowels, why can't I have vowels!!!?

@Surasanji @freemo @arteteco @mngrif "velvet ant" is in fact flightless wasp. But she has ant in her name :)

@Surasanji @freemo @arteteco @mngrif ant, wasp, they are both hymenoptera, if they want to share names, who am I to tell them not to.

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