The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/05/09/new-disease-abandoned-foreign-snakes-threatens-britains-native/?WT.mc_id=tmg_share_fb

This article is talking about snakes, but just because the animals it discusses aren't in the same family (or even the same phylum) does not mean it can happen with ants.

Releasing animals is an irresponsible practice that has the capacity to threaten your local diversity and devastate wildlife. We have seen this devastation in so many species; whether it be dogs in Australia, cats in Hawaii, or even goldfish in Europe, it is obvious that the harm of animals that were once pets does not stall along taxonomic lines.

Here is another article showing even more the impact of pets and animals being reintroduced into the wild:
http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/what-happens-when-people-release-exotic-animals-into-the-wild/

Although this deals with more "tropical" animals, similar occurrences may happen anywhere.


The act of releasing ants is no exception to this. If many of the currently invasive species are able to be transported in and upon cargo and plants, why should ant keeping be an exception? The pathogens your ants carry may not be native to your area, especially if they are an exotic, imported colony.

Instead of preforming such an irresponsible and uneducated act such as this, give your ants away or kill them via freezing or another method. Do not release ants.

I would not think native ants would pose a threat to nature. It is not like a human house is very far removed from the outside. If your ants have a disease it could very easily get out even if you do not release them via the trash you throw away in the garbage from your ants, Via escapees and also Via air.

If a disease were to develop anywhere it would be outside.

antnest8 wrote: ↑

Thu May 10, 2018 1:57 pm

I would not think native ants would pose a threat to nature. It is not like a human house is very far removed from the outside. If your ants have a disease it could very easily get out even if you do not release them via the trash you throw away in the garbage from your ants, Via escapees and also Via air.

If a disease were to develop anywhere it would be outside.

Reread what I said.

The threat may not be directly from what those ants, but perhaps an unseen mite or pathogen that makes their way onto your colony from their food source or another area.

This pathogen may be nonnative to your ecosystem and cause harm to those without an immunity to it. A good example of this in insects is the Varoa destructor mite in honeybees.

As for "not releasing them" and the pathogen still arriving outside, this could happen, but the risk is far, far less than that of actively releasing a colony into the wild.

OK i see.