Hello from Thompson Falls Montana

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lunarae

Hello from Thompson Falls Montana

Post: # 7860Post lunarae
Sun Jun 26, 2016 12:26 am

Hello everyone! Glad to become part of the community. I am a stay at home mom who has recently within the last year or so found a huge interest/love for the insect and arachnid world. It started with tarantulas because of my hubby and now it has progressed into the world of ants. Mostly because I have a huge fear of ants.

Growing up I had several really bad encounters with ants. Specifically down south between fire ants and sugar ants. One would think sugar ants couldn't traumatize a child considering they don't bite. But after eating some of your cocoa pebbles and suddenly realizing it's swarming with ants....well you stop eating cocoa pebbles and you have trouble with even the harmless ones. Fire ants kinda don't need a detailed story, just ending up on the top of an ant hill that was so massive it was thought to be a hill not an ant bed....well yeah, it wasn't a fun experience. Nor was getting swarmed another instance by fire ants during a nuptial flight. Me and ants in the past have not had a very good history when I was a child.

So needless to say, the girl who can catch a wolf spider and put it outside without freaking out (I have two pet wolf spiders currently, three tarantulas of various species, and just caught another little spider to add to our menagerie) you would think ants wouldn't be a thing to shake a stick at but no, I have been known to shriek, jump, run, and flee without so much as a thought. Just suddenly I'm on the other side of the room and that single little ant is crawling along minding it's own business. I have found that despite the frustration it has caused me, it at least makes for a very good laugh for family and friends.

Regardless though, despite my fear I have always enjoyed watching documentaries and such about ants. I do enjoy movies and the like. So it's not a phobia, it's just a gut wrenching reaction. Or it was before I started my own black carpenter ant colony this year. Now it has gotten a lot better from exposure. I am still paranoid about any being ON me, but the fact I'm willing to have a colony inside the house where I can watch them, see them, etc. I feel I'm making progress.

And make no mistake, I never held any hate towards these creatures. I love all creatures on this planet as everything has it's place in the world. I just held a high level of fear of being in the vicinity of them. In the past I worked to find as many natural means to keep them out of the house as I could, but once they all failed I resorted to ant bait, and then seeing dead ants all I feel is intense guilt. So as suggested by my hubby I started my own colony and here we are, now I'm trying to start more and more, I go out hunting for queens and learn what I can. All through it I have our three year old son that I try and share and show everything to so that he will grow up not just with an interest with insects. But I really hope to instill a respect and care for lives so small, because I feel if he is willing to hold respect for something so small that the majority of society find insignificant, then that will only pass on up to everything else. Least I hope it will.

Anyways, glad to be here. ^.^ Oh and if anyone has any questions about tarantulas feel free to ask. I've grown pretty knowledgeable about them and a few specific species. (Still learning every day) I'd say ask me about ants but I am still very fresh on the subject and learning a lot so I can't offer advice on such things just yet.

AntsRule
Posts: 813
Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2016 2:02 pm
Location: Chester County Pennslyvania

Re: Hello from Thompson Falls Montana

Post: # 7874Post AntsRule
Sun Jun 26, 2016 9:27 am

Welcome! :D Great to see that you are starting the hobby!
With all the things ants can do, you wonder, who rules the planet :?

Keeper of:
Camponotus Pennsylvanicus
Pheidole sp.

lunarae

Re: Hello from Thompson Falls Montana

Post: # 7879Post lunarae
Sun Jun 26, 2016 10:30 am

Thank you. ^.^ Yeah I'm really looking forward to doing multiple colonies soon as I get more queens from various species, and giving them the most natural types of set ups. ^.^ I'm really big on creating vivariums for all my critters, even my feeders have a semi-natural set up XD

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