# Vacuuming Up Ants **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 7, 2017, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuuming-up-ants/793024 "2017-08-07T18:37:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Brother\_1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_brother_1/32/3513_2.png) [@Little\_Brother\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Brother_1)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2017, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuuming-up-ants/793024/1 "2017-08-07T18:37:11Z")
Today’s home-page recycled SD question began _“My mom once screamed bloody murder when, at the age of nine, I attempted to keep a banana cold by putting it in the refrigerator.”_ Well, _my_ mom screamed bloody murder when she came upon me vacuuming up a trail/cluster of tiny “sugar ants” who’d discovered a residue of spilled soda by the back door. Mom was convinced that either: 1) the ants would escape, and/or 2) the trapped ants would reproduce inside the waste bag and turn it into an ant farm. My own view was that some ants might survive the trip into the bag, but wouldn’t survive long enough to reproduce and/or organize. I also doubted that those tiny ants could escape the sealed bag by exiting the way they entered under their own power. Was Mom right to insist that vacuuming up ants would backfire? FWIW, I’ve long since outgrown playing insect Terminator. But I’ve always wondered if Mom’s objections had merit. Oh, and I may as well provide technical details: we’re talking about a 1970s-era basic Hoover upright vacuum cleaner with a disposable bag. I was using the hose attachment and crevice tool. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2017, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuuming-up-ants/793024/2 "2017-08-07T19:31:37Z")
The ants may have escaped (they are clever that way), but there’s no way that they could have set up a colony - no Queen. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2017, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuuming-up-ants/793024/3 "2017-08-07T19:47:18Z")
Queen is the wrong music to play when you’re vacuuming up ants. You should sing the Pink Panther theme instead. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2017, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuuming-up-ants/793024/4 "2017-08-07T19:57:07Z")
Ants, meet: spiders. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2017, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuuming-up-ants/793024/5 "2017-08-07T20:55:22Z")
Putting the vacuum bag in the refrigerator afterward only seems like a good idea at first … it will slow the ants down and keep most in the bag itself … but you know mom as well as I do, she will not wait for the explanation … ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2017, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuuming-up-ants/793024/6 "2017-08-07T21:39:12Z")
Just vacuum up a few anteaters and everything will be fine. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2017, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuuming-up-ants/793024/7 "2017-08-07T22:01:39Z")
If the vacuum bag were a better environment for them than wherever they were before, then they would have already found it and crawled up in there themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Hopeful\_Crow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/da6949/32.png) [@Hopeful\_Crow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hopeful_Crow)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuuming-up-ants/793024/8 "2017-08-08T00:10:31Z")
I used to vacuum up spiders. I didn’t have anything against 'em but that particular house always seemed to have an overabundance of arachnids. I always figured the interior of the bag, being full of dust, dirt and whatnot, would be present an environment so dry that the poor fellers would die of dehydration pretty quickly. On reading the OP’s post, it occurred to me that during the ant’s or spider’s rapid ride up the hose and into the bag or bagless chamber, the little critters would probably be violently slammed against many dirt particles and other, tiny, sharp-edged bits. These would cut into their exoskeletons and cause them to dry out even faster. Even if they managed the trip unmangled, I doubt they’d be in any condition to find a way out. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuuming-up-ants/793024/9 "2017-08-08T00:19:21Z")
The thing about ants is, even if you vapourize them, they leave a trail. Vacuuming them does not remove the trail. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuuming-up-ants/793024/10 "2017-08-08T00:31:54Z")
Since the OP has little to do with that column(other than a screaming mom), this one is moved to General Questions. **samclem** , moderator. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuuming-up-ants/793024/11 "2017-08-08T00:35:20Z")
Don’t know but if you want to see Charlton Heston fight an army of big ones, _The Naked Jungle_ (1954) is on TCM right now. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuuming-up-ants/793024/12 "2017-08-08T00:43:39Z")
Right, if it gets to the point where the trail consists of safari driver ants, don’t bother reaching for the Hoover either, just move out of the house. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2017, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuuming-up-ants/793024/13 "2017-08-09T23:30:33Z")
That’s an interesting question: does the velocity achieved by the ants/spiders/bugs exceed their terminal velocity sufficiently enough to cause damage to their exoskeletons during collisions? ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuuming-up-ants/793024/14 "2017-08-10T00:00:36Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > That’s an interesting question: does the velocity achieved by the ants/spiders/bugs exceed their terminal velocity sufficiently enough to cause damage to their exoskeletons during collisions? In a bagless ‘cyclone’ vac it is, what I see is the ant segments all individual as small balls and not any connected to it’s former parts. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuuming-up-ants/793024/15 "2017-08-10T00:16:26Z")
What’s the point? You’ll never get them all. ---
**Author:** ![ChickenLegs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@ChickenLegs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChickenLegs)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuuming-up-ants/793024/16 "2017-08-10T00:22:30Z")
They breathe through their exoskeletons. The dust will plug them. They suffocate. (I have confirmed this.) ---
**Author:** ![sbunny8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@sbunny8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sbunny8)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuuming-up-ants/793024/17 "2017-08-10T19:18:57Z")
> [@](#): > > The Oregon State University Entomology Department goes one step further. In their website of recommendations to schools, they state that in order to make sure the insects die after getting sucked into a vacuum, also use it to suck up a tablespoon of cornstarch, which suffocates the insects. > (snip) > Eduardo Ramires at Tuiuti University of Paraná in Brazil, along with four other scientists, [found that] death occurred when a corrugated flexible tube, a crevice tool, or a soft vacuuming tube was added to the device intake. Vacuums without these tools were not effective and resulted in live insects. [http://www.atticpestauthority.com/vacuuming-ants-kill/](http://www.atticpestauthority.com/vacuuming-ants-kill/) ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuuming-up-ants/793024/18 "2017-08-10T19:37:41Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Queen is the wrong music to play when you’re vacuuming up ants. You should sing the Pink Panther theme instead. 😃 Dead ant, dead ant, Dead ant, dead ant dead ant dead ant dead ant Duh duh duh dead-ant ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuuming-up-ants/793024/19 "2017-08-11T01:01:51Z")
It’s the terror of knowing What this world is about Watching some good friends Screaming, “Let me out!” ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuuming-up-ants/793024/20 "2017-08-11T11:54:59Z")
> [@Little\_Brother\_1](#): > > Mom was convinced that either: 1) the ants would escape, and/or 2) the trapped ants would reproduce inside the waste bag and turn it into an ant farm. You are correct, the conditions in the vacuum cleaner are quite deadly to insects. They get dry powder all over them. Thats not food as its too dry, its in fact clogging up their breathing holes and suffocating them. If its only carpet fibre, due to the place being very clean, then its tying them up like a weeds seed in your socks. The ant certainly can’t escape the vacuum cleaner . There’s no way for dust to get out , and dust is smaller than ants. Suppose an ant did try to go back out the hose… its relatively long way, and its filthy with dry dust too. They won’t do it. The only issue is that ant, and other insect, parts - eg shell fragments, and their liquid insides may clog up the bag or filter. If you have you use disposable paper bags, then there’s no build up issue. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuuming-up-ants/793024.md?page=2)