No. I once intentionally killed an ant when I was probably 6-ish, but not by burning. I felt terrible about it, and still do.
Singed but not burned alive I've tried to burn ants, but I don't think my magnifying glass was good enough to finish the job. It did make them start to run and act "funny" though. I also pulled the wings from flies and tried to drown flies in glasses of water. No regrets here. I considered it somewhat scientific and important in learning about my enviroment. I encourge all interested kids to give it a try. However, I did stop this behaviour after seeing a younger neighbour tossing large rocks onto a helpless toad. It was the first time I actually felt any sorrow for an animal smaller then a cat. Since then I've become more of an observer. However, I have been known to still throw live bugs into spider webs to see what happens. Even though I am really far too old for this behaviour.
I can't even understand how anyone could hold a magnifying glass on one ant long enough to burn them. I do know you can burn a sibling who is sleeping in a hammock.
I did, but I preferred to tear the wings off of flies and then throw them on spiderwebs. Then I graduated to finding ant holes in close proximity and enticing a war. It only worked once. These days I prefer tearing the limbs off of cripples.
According to an annual questionnaire given to a class by one of my professors, about 20% of boys are still burning ants when they reach his graduate level class. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I never burnt ants, but I did kill them and drown them.... My grandma's house used to be infested with them when I was a child. I would carefully study their behaviour and devise ways to exterminate them. I managed to actually decrease their numbers quite a bit, but never managed to completely get rid of them. Then my dad decided to renovate the entire house. Afterwards, there were no big ants left, only a much more peaceful species remained. No wonder... the place looked like it was nuked.... LOL!!! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Good olde memories...... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I've never burned ants, torn the legs off spiders, or ripped the light out of lightning bugs. It seemed needlessly cruel. I did, however, once set a guys hair on fire while we were experimenting with magnifying glasses outside in physics class. We were sitting in the bleachers putside listening to the teacher blather on. It was quite boring so I focused my magnifying glass on the black hair of the guy in front of me. Smoke starting rising from his head! I stopped before he even noticed anything. It was pretty funny to see smoke rising from his head while he was completely oblivious. But ants? Never.
I never burned an ant, or killed anything for entertainment, actually. I've killed a lot of insects and animals, but for reason. It still seems kind of weird, to me - abusing for entertainment. I remember the first time I saw that, when some new kids moved in next door, and one of the older boys would shoot frogs with a BB gun for fun. He didn't even take them home and eat them - just left them shot in the ditch. They also played frog baseball - which kills the frog quickly and without much pain, and is kind of funny, but still - - - It's an obliviousness I can't quite fathom, but I know it's OK in general - even decent, good, kind people can have that blind spot. It's how they learn. Like a kitten toying with a crippled mouse. You learn more by watching, though. When it came time to trap gophers for money, I was better at it than they were - from paying attention to gophers, and having some empathy for them.
i never did such a stupid thing. i try to respect life except things like mosquitoes etc. Splat, it's me or them.
I remember my Mom finding out my brothers were putting firecrackers in toad's mouths. She went scarey crazy pissed! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! She was certain they were gonna grow up to be serial killers. How do you get an ant to stay in one place long enough to burn it??
