Fire ants

C

CarolfromTX

Senior Member
Location
Central Texas
I hate ‘em! I washed the dogs’ collars the other day and hung them on the clothes line outside to dry. One fell off, and when I went to pick it up, there were a few fire ants on it, which I didn’t notice until OUCH! The little devils bit me about four times before I could do anything. For those unfamiliar with the little bastards, their bite leaves a nasty blister that itches like mad and burns like fire. We treat for the ants when we see them, but these were well disguised. Grrr. My granddaughter is allergic and I took her for allergy shots for a couple years.
 

Oh, The red ants? As a little girl scout in Montana, we laid our sleeping bags out
on the ground. In the morning, it turned out we were near a red ant pile and I had
a few in my mouth that I had chewed up. ew-w-w!
 

Gaer said:
Oh, The red ants? As a little girl scout in Montana, we laid our sleeping bags out
on the ground. In the morning, it turned out we were near a red ant pile and I had
a few in my mouth that I had chewed up. ew-w-w!
Click to expand...
I don’t think red ants and fire ants are the same thing. No way you could have gotten fire ants in your mouth and not immediately known it. The stinging would have been excruciating. And they would have invaded your sleeping bag.
When I was a child we did not have fire ants in upstate SC. They gradually moved up from further south. The sting is painfully but doesn’t last long. The itching, however, goes on for days.
 
MountainRa said:
I don’t think red ants and fire ants are the same thing. No way you could have gotten fire ants in your mouth and not immediately known it. The stinging would have been excruciating. And they would have invaded your sleeping bag.
When I was a child we did not have fire ants in upstate SC. They gradually moved up from further south. The sting is painfully but doesn’t last long. The itching, however, goes on for days.
Click to expand...
Oh! Sorry! No, These were red ants, larger than the little black aunts.
Fire ants must be something I'm not familiar with . No, no stinging or itching. Only crunching.
 
Yes, the bites will get infected easily....I start using antibiotic cream as soon as they bite. It is usually my feet as I wear sandals in the yard.....horrid little creatures.
 
Actually fire ants are interesting. They are not native to the US, only introduced some time around WWII. When I was a kid we did not have them in the part of Florida where I lived, they are there now.

E O Wilson, probably the most famous Ant biologist more or less discovered them, or discovered them in the US, and studied them extensively. I met him once and asked him about fire ants, he spoke for probably 20 or 30 minutes, non-stop, fascinating:

At age 13, Wilson discovered a colony of non-native fire ants near the docks in Mobile, Alabama and reported his finding to the authorities. By the time he entered the University of Alabama, the fire ant, a potential threat to agriculture, was spreading beyond Mobile, and the State of Alabama requested that Wilson carry out a survey of the ant's progress. The resulting study, completed in 1949, was his first scientific publication. Wilson received his master's degree at the University of Alabama in 1950, and after studying briefly at the University of Tennessee, transferred to Harvard for doctoral studies.

He spent his whole career, over 50 years at Harvard.

https://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Wilson,_Edward_Osborne
 
And the bites can itch for weeks if you're extra sensitive to them.

My worst experience with fire ants came at a Pioneer Days weekend at a folk center I was on the board of.

I was dressed in a long pioneer dress and bonnet and had stepped into the bushes to pick up trash. I stepped into a fire ant nest and the little bastards swarmed up my legs and slip. I literally had "ants in my pants". If you've ever been attacked by fire ants, you'll know that "dignity" is the last thing on your mind.

One of my friends likes to tell the story of how he met me......as I burst out of the bushes, dress tucked in my armpits while trying to divest myself of my ant-infested long half slip and slapping at my underpants with my bonnet. As I said earlier, dignity falls by the wayside when fireants are involved.

I actually ended up going to the ER for a shot because I had so many bites and they hurt and itched so bad.

I haven't lived that incident down to this day and that was almost 40 years ago.

I always look out for fireants.
 
Ouch, jujube...it's amazing how fast they can get up on you and into your clothes.
I've spent a small fortune on fireant poison, you just never get completely rid of them.
 
There used to be a very effective powder that killed them, but it became prohibited as toxic, and you can't buy it anymore.
 
They are all around here. I get bit occasionally. I think when one bites it puts out a pheromone that triggers the others to gang up on the victim. White vinegar on the bites works for me.
 
From what I just read, red ants are a type of fire ants. They had red ants in Florida. When you stepped on a red ant hill while wearing sandals or flip flops, they would crawl on your feet and bite. It felt like a painful sting when they bit you.
 
jujube said:
One of my friends likes to tell the story of how he met me......as I burst out of the bushes, dress tucked in my armpits while trying to divest myself of my ant-infested long half slip and slapping at my underpants with my bonnet. As I said earlier, dignity falls by the wayside when fireants are involved.
Click to expand...
OMG jujube, I apologize for laughing out loud at your pain. My husband wondered what I was reading. You did paint the picture too clearly.
 
db92848ec180349b6855b29e175d0b30--fire-ants-pharmacy-humor.jpg
1667132106650.jpeg 1667132155372.jpeg
 
I keep a bottle of clear ammonia under the kitchen sink just for fire ant bites.

I stepped into a mound of fire ants last summer while out walking ..... oh, the agony!!
I had the small blisters for weeks, but that ammonia is a god-send for the pain!
 
Actually we detest the harvester or "leaf cutter" ant mounds more than fire ants. Got a great
homemade bomb for them though, thank heavens. Makes life a lot easier.
 
Wife found out why you never wear sandals in Texas.

Maybe if someone could figure out how to make them more tasty to their feral hogs, problem would be solved.
 
Last edited:
My first dove hunt in the southern part of the USA was in Mississippi. One morning while hunting, I was setting on a small stool in a field, where I had set a few shot doves alongside my bucket. When we finished, I started picking up the dove to put them in my carrying bag. I suddenly felt a painful burning on my hand and going up my arm. When I looked down, I saw these tiny red ants moving up my arm and biting as they went. I could not believe how painful these little buggers were! I quickly beat and wiped my hands and arms, grabbing my chair and other stuff I ran to the nearest road. After my son stopped laughing, he knew exactly what had happened, he went over and cleaned off the doves and off we went. I grew up in Colorado and live in Missouri no fire ants in either place, than God! I hate them...
 
About 3 months ago, we had a problem with 'crazy ants'. They were quite annoying and were all over. Ex terminator took care of the problem.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top