[Daffynition]

[sinanju]

We have those all over Pearland (1st city South of Houston). They cover the yard, and have no visible beds. You might not see them until you put your hand on the grass and suddenly have 50 of them on your wrist in 10 seconds. We pest-treated the house, and we sweep up 2 or 3 dustpans full of ant bodies in the house every day, and it doesn't seem to slow down their spread one bit. They're crazy pests, and terrible for the ecosystem, but in my experience they never bite people. We've been dealing with them for years, and it's generally understood that they aren't biters, and since they killed off the fire ants, ant bites seem to be down. I'd rather deal with fire ants rather than the Raspberry ants. FYI, Raspberry was the name of the exterminator in League City who first identified them as a unique species, and mailed samples to a lab at Texas A&M, who confirmed that they were preiously unidentified.

- Joel, Pearland Texas, 25/9/2011 21:34

[sinanju]

See HG Wells' story "The empire of the ants" written in 1905.

- Mike A, Channel Islands, 24/9/2011 09:01

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

They don’t bite people or large animals, but they overpopulate so intensely that it is truly amazing. They also do not make or follow distinctive trails, which is why they are called “crazy ants.”

They have multiple queens in their nests, to breed that much, and can even overwhelm fire ants by sheer number. Dogs quickly learn they cannot go into a yard without being completely covered by them.

Other than being so huge in number, they also consume plants, and at a huge clip.

Obviously, pesticide will not solve this problem. This has to be solved with biological attack, either bacteria or viruses. But even this is made difficult because their nests are not easy to locate.

For example, a means of attacking fire ants is to set out a jar with some honey in it. Then when it is swarmed, pour water in the jar do drown the ants, and seal it, putting it in a warm, dark place until it grows mold. Then it is poured on the fire ant nest, and can wipe out several colonies in an area through disease.

[NakedRampage]

Problem solved.

[NakedRampage]

Problem solved.

[Alex Murphy]

[Happy Rain]

“THEM!!!”

[webschooner]

When I read the headline I thought this was a story about Liberal Democrats ...

[ToxicMich]

[Doogle]

"..had to bring up the scratchy itchy stuff, now I'm gonna be up all night"

[sphinx]

Would it help to nuke Texas and the Gulf Coast, or would that just drive them further north?

[SkyDancer]

Boric Acid. Lots and lots of boric acid.

[US_MilitaryRules]

Just buy dish soap and spray it all over your yard. The soap kills them instantly and they won’t stay where the soap is.

[RoseofTexas]

Last summer we had a bad case of carpenter ants...they scared the hell outta me cause I had never seen black ants that huge. We usually have small red ants and that’s it. But these suckers were HUGH they skeered me. They were hard to get rid of, they usually enter the home be eating their way through the wood. We solved the problem by removing any accumulation of water or leaks near our house. They are nasty boogers though.

[JoeProBono]

[Clay Moore]

I for one, welcome our new insect overlords.

[Clay Moore]

These ants, like the fire ants, are attracted to electrical currents for unknown reasons. They wipe out a lot of electrical equipment.

[Lady Lucky]

Try diatomaceous earth. It kills most bugs.

[Lady Lucky]

Baking soda is good on some insects too. And then there’s beer. If you get a cockroach drunk he will lose his inhibitions and let you kill him. Pill bugs (which are actually not bugs but crustaceans) can’t handle beer. It should work on ants also.

[SunkenCiv]

Simple Green.