Posted on 08/28/2017 10:38:36 AM PDT by Red Badger
One danger evacuees and first responders are dealing with along with the flooding in Houston is fire ants.
Islands of fire ants!
CBS News correspondent Omar Villafranca tweeted a photo from Houston as the ants formed a protective island in the high water.
According to Orkin.com, fire ants can exist in colonies of up to 250,000 workers and will sting intruders repeatedly. Fire ants feed on animal or vegetable sources of food according to the web site.
No reports yet of anyone getting bitten by fire ants.
Tropical Storm Harvey continues to head back toward the Gulf of Mexico at a slow pace.
In its 10 p.m. CDT Sunday advisory, the National Hurricane Center reported that the storm still had sustained winds of up to 40 mph and is centered 20 miles east of Victoria, Texas, about 120 miles southwest of Houston. It continues to creep to the east-southeast at 3 mph.
That means it remains virtually stalled near the coast and continues to drop heavy rain on the Houston and Galveston areas. In the past 48 hours, numerous spots in the region have measured more than 25 inches of rainfall.
The hurricane center says Harvey’s center was expected to drift off the middle Texas coast on Monday and meander offshore through Tuesday before beginning “a slow northeastward motion.”
Nasty little critters.
Spray with kerosene (charcoal fluid), and light.
Best part is listening to their little screams.
5.56mm
Used to see floating fire ant islands all the time in the floods that occurred in Metairie, Louisiana when I was a kid.
People that like to walk around in flood waters know about them. Avoid them!
However, this is probably caused today by Glowbull Warming and Donald Trump.
=8-0
I had a mound of fire ants like that in my backyard when I lived in Fla., didn’t call the press.
Gas - match.
We’ve got them here in Alabama, and they are nasty little buggers. They’re tiny but one bite feels like you got injected with acid. I accidentally disturbed a hidden nest of them in the yard one year, and a half dozen bites was all it took for my hand to go numb up to my forearm.
WD-40, Lighter.
My dad used to pour gas on fire ant beds in our yard in south Georgia. Didn’t light them on fire. So there were these big brown splotches in the yard, and the fire ants would just build a new bed about 6 feet from the old one.
I hate those bastards. Use whatever you’ve got including tactical nuclear weapons then hang their little heads on sticks as a reminder to any survivors.
I’ve tried these granular products for regular ants - after using the whole can I found no decrease in ants.
Biblical
Less dense than water.
They are common whenever there is flooding in fire ant territory. I have seen them floating down river after floods in Texas. I am usually more concerned with the water moccasins though.
I think most southern states have fire ants now.
Unfortunately, yes they are.
I am quite familiar with the bayou area just to the east of Houston permeated with gators, water moccasins , nutria rats, and vermin of many distinct species . These areas are expanding into huge areas of coverage and we are gong to see some strange things in our populated ares.
Basic training in San Antonio. Lay a rake in the wrong place for a minute, go to pick it up, and it’s covered in ‘em. Nasty.
These boogers can swim. And they can bite the fire out of you while swimming.
Trust me, I know.
Nuke them from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.
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