Posted on 05/27/2015 1:58:36 PM PDT by Daffynition
The ants take turns walking on one another to stay out of the water and survive. They eventually build dense circles like the one Nathan captured on his phone.
"I was floored when I saw them," said Nathan's dad, Dwayne. "I had never seen anything like that."
(Excerpt) Read more at wfaa.com ...
Great balls of fire is really what happened. Poor Dad was bitten mercilessly. Those bites are excruciatingly painful. They don’t call ‘em fire ants for nothing.
Jeez, I would have thought water would put out fire.
They are also native to Central America and hitched a ride in un-inspected planters.
They’ve been spreading north from south Texas for at least 30 years. Another thing spread by illegal immigrants and under the table landscaping that doesn’t care about anything but price.
The ants controlled in their own environment by parasites, which Texas A&M is starting to use.
The ants need water, and their numbers are exploding now because of all the rain. If there’s no rain, they’re numbers drop.
thanks!
My parents didn’t live near water and being on a hill, didn’t get flooded. I’m guessing that during our yearly drought, Dad flooded his garden and these ants may have collected in the pools.
The fire ants in the U.S. originated in Argentina and were first imported through the port of Mobile, Alabama. They were probably in a ships ballast.
Great short story. I recall reading it many years ago. It was just as enjoyable this time around.
The only good fire ant is a squished fire ant.
Forced to read it in High School, liked it better years latter too.
Happened to our poodle on the way to Houston. Stopped to let him go potty, didn’t notice anything when he got back in the car until the kids started screaming! Oy, they were everywhere in about 5 seconds. Awful.
Some folks heal faster than others. My DH is extremely sensitive to their bites. Got bit between his toes and took months to heal.
Must admit I did love that movie.
Hubby swears by that smelly Orthene stuff.
Dish soap and they are all dead.
Ortho also makes a (non-smelly) broadcast treatment, in addition to their (smelly) Orthene spot treatment. That combo seems to work well, too.
All my fire ants moved away when the crazy ants moved in.
It's in their chemistry, and I'd much rather have crazy ants!
I live here in North Texas on a small rural piece of property I call Agony Acres. My spring garden is a disaster. My raised beds are underwater and the fire ants, horse flies, and mosquitoes are everywhere and madder than hell. On the good side, the killer bees and crows have disappeared and must be hiding in drier areas. A morning walk (excuse me, wade) through the weeds (formerly a garden) has become a run for your life. Don’t come to Texas.
I have a 20 foot 4-inch diameter live oak tree that I transplanted in the side yard last Spring and tied down with steel cables and t-posts. That sucker has been blown out of the ground twice already within the month by high winds (they call’em straight line winds but they are just like tornadoes). My son and I are getting real good at replanting live oaks when we aren’t clearing the other downed trees on our property. On the good side, we are gettin’ pretty good with those chain saws and will have lots of firewood for next winter. Again, don’t come to Texas.
Our septic system has been over-loaded since the ground is completely saturated with the 22-inches of rain we have received this month. As mentioned previously, water is standing everywhere. It’s beginning to smell a bit like France sans the perfume. Again don’t come to Texas.
If you must come, wait until summer. By then, it will be much drier from the drought and 100-plus degree temperatures. The ground will be full of cracks and the grasshoppers will have cleared the garden of anything of value except the weeds and grass burrs. So we should be back to normal, at least here at Agony Acres.
I would also have to surmise in my best guess that it would leave a brown spot in the lawn where grass wouldn't grow for probably 2-3 years, but that is just a guess since I would never try it, but I'd bet if I did it would pretty effectively kill off the entire colony.
Just an untried hypothesis.
The rain should have put out the “fire” ants.
However, these babies have a very strong will to live and conqueror, like ISIS.
Obama’s answer to fire-ants. Use fly swatters, just like he is using against ISIS, instead of flamethrowers.
They still aren’t dead! lol
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