Looking for an ant-swer: will these ants bite or sting?

June 2, 2021 5:49 PM

How can I test an ant to see whether it and it's family will bite or sting? Other than to get it to bite or sting me, I mean.

Should I try presenting it with piece of hot dog? Another insect, like a cricket? A rival ant? A leaf that is annoying it?

I'd like to know if the ant will sting, and also if it bites with a lot of force.

Surely there's some way to test this. Anybody?

posted by amtho to Science & Nature (5 answers total)

The answer, really, is to learn enough about which species are present in your area, and to learn to identify them.
posted by pipeski at 6:12 PM on June 2, 2021 [2 favorites]

Seconding identification - from the NC State agricultural extension:

A Guide to House-Invading Ants and Their Control

Red Imported Fire Ant in North Carolina

Some photos would be useful here.
posted by ryanshepard at 6:19 PM on June 2, 2021

Response by poster: I'm working on ID-ing them. Ants do not want to be still ever, which is confirmed by the many descriptions of special ant photography techniques I have found. Currently I'm chilling some in the refrigerator. In the meantime, my frog is hungry for bugs, and it's hard to find crickets small enough, and I found some perfectly sized ants under a rock out front.

I am wondering if I could just test whatever ant I have and see if it's gonna bite hard or emit venom.
posted by amtho at 7:20 PM on June 2, 2021

Only fire ants do that. Most ants are harmless, although their presence inside gets really annoying.
posted by Rash at 10:21 PM on June 2, 2021

Response by poster: Here are photos of the ants on iNaturalist.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/81402477

Sorry about the image quality. Of all the times not to have a macro lens handy.
posted by amtho at 12:04 AM on June 3, 2021