Dr. James Wetterer

jim wetterer Jim (pictured here with a cicada) has traveled all over the world to study insects and other arthropods. One of the insects he has studied the most are the leaf-cutting ants of the tropics.

More About Ants

Leaf-Cutting Ants (Atta cephalotes)
Project Atta: student research of Atta texana
Ant Safari/Zafari Hormigas: curriculum plan for ant study

Question: Ant Jaws

Dear Dr. Wetterer,
I am interested in ants, because they have powerful jaws, because if they were as big as a person they would rule the world. I am specially interested in carpenter ants because they can gnaw through wood. A year ago my dad brought one home and showed me the "owie" on his hand. I want to know more about their jaws. What they look like and how hard they can bite. The books I have don't show close-ups of the jaws. Please help me if you can.
Thank you, Clint

Answer Hi Clint,
I've been bitten and stung by many ants. Many ants have very strong bites. Large leaf-cutting ants in South and Central America can easily cut through your skin and make you bleed. They can cut through clothes and even the leather of shoes. Their jaws look like two saws. They use them to slice through leaves.

In addition to biting, ants can have strong stings. Fire ants are often small, but their sting is painful. There is one ant called the bullet ant whose sting feels like being shot by a bullet. I was stung once by one. Now I am very careful when I see one.

For good pictures of ants, you should find the book "The Ants" by Holldobler and Wilson.
Jim

Question: Stingers

Dear Dr. Wetterer
My question is, What is the difference betwene a Bee's stinger and a wasp's stinger?

Answer: One major difference between the stinger of a honeybee and the stinger of a wasp is that the honeybee has a barbed stinger and the wasp does not. When a honeybee stings, the stinger stays in you, even if the bee is knocked away, because the barb hooks in the skin. So even after the bee is gone the stinger still keeps injecting poison. Because of this, honeybees can sting only once. Once a honeybee has stung and lost her stinger, she dies. Wasps can sting again and again.

Question: Atta Pets? I would like to start raising my own colony of Atta texana (I live in Louisiana) in my house. However, after reading up on them I have found that the colonies of atta can be quite large--possibly too large to keep in my house. Can you give me any tips on how to set up cages for these ants? I was planning on keeping the fungus gardens in empty coke bottles connected by plastic tubes that would ultimately lead outside for a food supply. Would I have to provide a humidifying system for them? Is this idea even feasible? I would appreciate any tips and information you could send me. Thank you very much for your time. Thanks.

Answer: Needs of Atta Leaf-cutting ants make terrific pets. I have kept many colonies. Although colonies in the wild can grow to include millions of workers, lab colonies tend to grow much more slowly. I know of some colonies kept for several years whose fungus garden is still only about 2 liters in size.

I have seen many people with systems like the one you are proposing. At the Sonoran Arthropod Studies Institute in Arizona, they have an inside colony of Atta mexicana that collects vegetation outside via tubes. It has been thriving for years.

The ants will do their own adjustment of humidity if given a chance. I always make sure they have a supply of water and a way they can regulate humidity by openning or closing a hole. For the water supply, you can take a large glass test tube filled with water and plugged with cotton from the drug store. As the water is used or evaporates, the plug is pulled back into the tube. I know some people who use plaster which they wet, but I don't like this method. The plaster quickly becomes slimy.

One thing that is essential: you must have a mated queen. If not, not only won't you get any new workers produced, but the workers you do have won't care for the garden. Workers give up caring for the fungus if there are no new larvae to feed. In Atta texana, the queen is much larger than any worker. Still, she will be almost impossible to find except in a colony younger than two years old. Good luck, Jim