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• ada@piefed.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I don’t think they’re talking about the dead/distressed ant smell. To the best of my knowledge, everyone can smell that. They’re talking about a general smell of ants

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  • LeapSecond@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Wait, everyone can smell dead ants? Pretty sure I can’t

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    • em2@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      They smell like paint thinner

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      • edwardbear@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        they smell funky, a bit like a salty battery doused with acid, if it makes sense?

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    • VoteNixon2016@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I can’t smell them, but I can hear them

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  • Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    It could be the same smell, formic acid.

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    • Danquebec@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Same, never smelled ants.

      And I’ve watched ants a lot when I was a kid. I still do sometimes.

      I used to even bring pieces of food from the pantry to give to the ants.

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  • Biffsbraincell@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I’m pretty sure that’s the smell they’re talking about, they make more of it when disturbed or crushed but it’s always a tiny bit there. But pretty sure that’s the smell they’re speaking of.

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    • ada@piefed.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      The reason I doubt that is because I can’t smell ants “all the time”. And I can definitely smell them when they’re disturbed. But most people who talk about smelling ants describe the smell as “damp” or “mouldy” or “earthy”, and I have never smelled an ant that smells like that.

      The only smell I’ve ever smelled from them is acrid and acidic, and that only happens when they’re disturbed or dead.

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