My Thoughts....
Red and Black Indian Carpenter ants
Red and Black Indian Carpenter ants

Red and Black Indian Carpenter ants

Well, to be frank enough, I love all the creatures. In the morning, when I open my eyes, I feel like I check the plants on my balcony. I do it every day without fail. One day, surprisingly, I saw the red and black Indian carpenter ants crawling behind the plant pots.
I tried to touch them gently. In return, I got stings on my fingers. My mom asked me to stay away from the ants. But, the love for insects kept growing in my heart. I started spilling the leftovers on the balcony floor so that they continue to visit my balcony. They started coming in batches like almost ten to fifteen ants at times. I felt happy.
I requested my mom not to use any exterminator. She said OK but asked me to keep the balcony doors closed. Always!. As long as the ants don’t come inside the house, it’s OK. So I followed her advice without fail.
I started feeding them regularly. Sometimes I try to play with the Ants gently. Still, they sting me. But I learned to play it safe these days. They are like regular visitors to me. To make the ants happy, I steal the leftovers from the kitchen to feed them.
People may find it funny, but I seriously feel like, these ants are important to me. I want to take care of them. If you find the ants on your balcony, don’t kill them. Parents and caretakers, please encourage your child to take care of them. Don’t hate ants. All the ants can not sting you. But beware of Female ants. Are you wondering how to identify gender? I will let you know.

Female Carpenter Ant

Facts:

Only female ants can sting. The Stingers are present in their abdomen. Next time, when you happen to see an Ant take a pic, and zoom it deeper. You can see clearly the stingers. If you don’t have a phone with you, do not disappoint, you can use a magnifier instead. You can find stingers in the ant’s abdomen area. If you find those stingers, that means, it is a female ant. Stay away from that ant.
Female ants sting because they contain poison. I caught a female ant, touched it with my finger, and caught it stung two times. So beware of female ants.
A female Ants can poison a plant, you know. They can poison a fruit, too, with their stingers.
Male ants can not sting. They can only grip, bite, tear. These Carpenter ants hate black pepper irrespective of their gender. I never think of adding black pepper to my balcony because these ants are important for me.
These ants are omnivores and can eat live worms. I fed them a live worm from the mud. They ate it very quickly. The other day I fed them cabbage leaves. Some they ate the rest of all they threw the pieces.
Now I clearly remember the incidents which lead the ants to my balcony. That day, my sister spat the fish rice on the balcony, and we forgot to remove the food immediately. This leads the ants to the balcony. Ever since, they have started conquering the balcony. I am yet to see the ant queen. She might be hiding somewhere and sending her workers to get food from the balcony.

Red and Black carpenter ant


She must be biggest than her workers, can lay eggs. The entire group of ants might have built the ant colony. You know, they make the chambers and rooms inside.
They like dry places. They hate wet places. My sister poured water on the balcony; they emptied the place in minutes. Few of them drowned too. When it rains, ants come to your balcony to shelter. They keep coming every day, and I think that they need protection from predators like anteaters, birds. I also observed that the rapid change in the weather scares them a lot.

Carpenter ant avoiding the wet area


I care for the ants and feed them leftover food every day without fail. Sometimes I give dead fish to them. My mom says no, but I think that I need to help them.
I feel like insects are very independent and successful. They are independent in many ways, but most people think that they are useless and try to kill them. We humans need to learn from ants. They work collectively with proper discipline.
We need to care for them. I do care for them and nurture them. That is the reason they now visiting my balcony every day. One day I suppose, those ants will migrate to my balcony. That would be the happiest moment.

19 Comments

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