No doubt these guys can eradicate the pesky critters.
Posted on 07/05/2002 6:28:18 AM PDT by NYer
ALBANY, Ga. (AP) _ For years, experts predicted fire ants couldn't tolerate frosty winters in the north Georgia mountains. But the aggressive, fast-breeding South American pests have defied predictions, spelling trouble for crops, wildlife and people.
Fire ants have spread to all of Georgia's 159 counties and a new type discovered in the Rome area seems especially adept at hunkering deep in the ground to escape the cold, said Wayne Gardner, a University of Georgia entomologist.
With no natural enemies outside South America, fire ants have spread across about 275 million acres in the past 80 years, mostly in southeastern United States. Isolated colonies have also been found in Delaware, New Mexico and California. They've also turned up in Australia.
The aggressive predators, which crowd out native ants, live in the ground and build mounds above their colonies. Fire ants feed on crop seedlings and can damage farm machinery by their mounds. When disturbed, they swarm out of their nests and sting repeatedly, and can kill newborn deer and quail hatchlings. Their stings usually cause only pain and discomfort to humans, but can prove fatal to people allergic to their venom.
There are two main types of imported fire ants: red and black. The black type is believed to have arrived about 1918 in Mobile, Ala., in dirt that was used as ship's ballast. The red is believed to have arrived in Mobile the same way in the 1920s. The black spread to Mississippi and Alabama, while the red spread beyond to other states.
Before the discovery of fire ants in northwest Georgia's Floyd County, scientists had assumed they would not be able to survive in the northern third of the state, Gardner said. But a Floyd County extension agent discovered fire ants in 1985. Then a U.S. Department of Agriculture Laboratory determined they were hybrids _ a crors$between reds and blacks.
By 1998, the ants had been seen in every county. ``Basically we were hit from two sides,'' Gardner said. ``It (the red fire ant) came from the southwest and moved across the state, but we also had this hybrid that moved in from Alabama into the northeastern part of the state. So it covered the state a lot quicker.''
The hybrids and the reds look identical, Gardner said. It takes a laboratory test to tell them apart. ``The hybrid forms may have adapted some sort of behavior that allows them to survive when the temperature drops,'' Gardner said. ``Or they may travel farther underground than the red ants. We just don't know yet.''
There is no reliable way to eradicate fire ants, even though Americans spend millions of dollars a year on chemicals for temporary control. One fire ant colony can contain between 100,000 and 300,000 worker ants and each colony produces several hundred queens every summer. They fly off, mate and establish new colonies.
USDA scientists have traveled to South America, where fire ants are kept in check by natural enemies, to identify biological controls that could be helpful in the United States. In the late 1990s, they released a disease that attacks the queens and weakens their colonies and two types of flies that decapitate the ants. ``The nice thing about these biological control agents is that they self-perpetuate in the field,'' said David Oi, a research entomologist with the USDA's Agricultural Research Service in Gainesville, Fla. ``If they get established, I think they will help suppress the population.''
AP-ES-07-05-02 0856EDT
No doubt these guys can eradicate the pesky critters.
Must be trained in sharia law.
I then incinerate them with the umpty-ump zillion BTU flame-throwing propane gas torch I have.
I love to watch them burst from the heat, to see the eggs swell and burst.
Once I've done one mound, I then go on the hunt for the next, maintaining a schedule so that my return to the previous is at the point where the survivors have removed the dead and are ready to swarm again, and so we dance once more.
However, I've noticed of late that I am having more and difficulty finding the little buggers.
My research tends to indicate that they have learned to remove themselves from my property and migrate to other property. A few mounds even have been established just across my property line, on the property of a person that feels that we should let nature take it's course and will not allow me to cross over to incinerate the damn things.
No matter, I think they have learned to stay off my property. Perhaps I can get a gubmint grant to prove my theory, i.e., that a dedicated fire ant roaster can effectively teach fire ants where property lines lie.
Hmmm, got to be some money in that somewhere.
It just wasn't satisfying not being able to watch them suffer.....(sigh)
I think you have proven that theory wrong. Gasoline down the mounds (shhhh. . .!) makes for some great muffled BOOMS! when it ignites far underground.
Have heard the ants can put a nasty sting on you. Hope they don't get this way soon. Maybe they'll arrive at the same time as the 'killer' bees. Would certainly liven up those weekend radio garden shows.
Everyone should have a hobby.
Maybe you should go into the extermination business. There's certainly a need, and you would enjoy it I would think.
Is that incinerator useful for blasting weeds? I mean, like in the middle of your parking area or maybe isolated weeds in the flowerbeds? I've often thought it would be easy just to incinerated all those weeds that come up among the rocks.
I haven't met any killer bees, but from what I hear I think they're much worse than fire ants.
I never realized that Mobile is such a hotbed of unwanted species immigration.
Just as I suspected.
The author was talking through his hat!
You are a "natural" enemy of these critters.
With a few more like you the problem will be over.
Thanks.
Just wait till the Sierra Club gets the hybrids classified as an endangered species!
Mind you, moose bites are worse.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
