Ants: Big or Small I Hate Them All…
A few days ago on our white board the question was asked: would you rather be eaten by a lion or eaten alive by ants (the insect)? Of course, the resounding reply was to be eaten by a lion. I too would rather be eaten by a lion but not because it would be faster, but because I have developed a serious phobia of ants!
I must say this phobia has deep roots and thus dates back to my early childhood. But let me be clear, one ant doesn’t bother me… it’s when three or more congregate together that my palms get sweaty, my mind starts racing and I have a nervous breakdown (not really, but you get the point). As you may know, ants use chemicals called pheromones to leave scent trails for other ants to follow as one of their forms of communication. Recently Back-in-the-day I used to find a group of ants, drizzle dish soap in a circle around them and watch them bounce around like little ping pong balls- unable to find their scent. I KNOW, I KNOW horrible, but don’t worry, they retaliated by infesting my closet, bathroom and other random places in my freaking house! Needless to say, ants and I developed a hate-hate relationship early on.
The worst part of all this is that ants are EVERYWHERE! Ants have supposedly been on Earth for *more than 100 million years and consist of *more than 20,000 different species. I don’t know about you- but just the mere thought of that many ants drives me crazy (not in a good way). I am generally accustomed to the little black Carpenter ants we see marching around the kitchen, or backyard, but I read an article the other day on Huffington Post about “crazy raspberry ants,” formally known as “paratenicha species near pubens.” The headline read: Ants Invade Houston, Eat Computers. WTH?!?!?!?! First: that should be a movie title not an article headline and second: I’m sorry, but if that “headline” doesn’t disturb you… I have no words (seriously, read the article).
Let’s just say my phobia is alive and well! Untill further notice… I’ll probably have it for the rest of my life.
(((BTW…my phobia is STRICTLY with ants, all other creepy, crawly insects are A-OK with me)))
*Jana please note that I used the term “more than” rather than “over”
May 16th, 2008 at 11:11 am
May 16th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Do you see my face right now?!?! I know you do!!!!
I have no words…