A taste of REW's Texas

[FUEGO]

This motivated me to proactively put out ant killing insecticide 2x a year ('bait' as they call it). We have a horrible fire ant problem in our backyard.

 

[bbbamI]

I think our fire ants have washed away with the rain.....

 

[REWahoo]

I think our fire ants have washed away with the rain.....

I think someone caught it on video:

Floating Fire ant raft

 

[freebird5825]

I think someone caught it on video:

Floating Fire ant raft

OMG!
I'm assuming there is something underneath them to float on. Right?

 

[REWahoo]

OMG!
I'm assuming there is something underneath them to float on. Right?

Nope. In a flood situation fire ants cling to each other to form large floating masses of angry fury, looking for a target for their aggression. You can imagine the unpleasant end result if you happen to be in their path as they float by.

 

[Rustic23]

Fewer fire ants must be the result of Swine Flue, everything else is!

 

[Poundkey]

This is interesting.

Parasite turns fire ants into zombies

"Researchers have released four types of Phorid flies across Central Texas. They are hoping to release more. So far, they believe the results are promising.
Researchers do not think the parasites will eradicate fire ants from Central Texas for good, but they do think the Phorid flies will help to keep fire ants under control."

 

[W2R]

Nope. In a flood situation fire ants cling to each other to form large floating masses of angry fury, looking for a target for their aggression. You can imagine the unpleasant end result if you happen to be in their path as they float by.

On my first weekend in Texas some 25 years ago, my ex's work had a picnic out by a little lake just north of Bryan. After saying hello to everyone I jumped into some shallow water to cool off, wearing nothing but my Hawaiian bikini. By the time I noticed the fire ants all over me, they were stinging me - - so I tried to get rid of them by washing them off. I ended up with over 300 bites (I counted them). Each developed into a little mini-boil filled with pus. Ewww.

What an awful first experience with fire ants! The moral of the story is that fire ants simply do not drown. They float around looking for somebody to bite.

True story - - Not even an exaggeration.

 

[Westernskies]

...wearing nothing but my Hawaiian bikini. True story - - Not even an exaggeration.

...this thread is USELESS without Pics.

 

[W2R]

...this thread is USELESS without Pics.

No pics of that day, but it was probably the same blue bikini that I was wearing in the photographs I included in the scuba diving thread.

 

[bbbamI]

How about some fire ant earrings....

 

[Nords]

PS. Found the following in Wikepedia. Sounds like FUN.

That reads like it was written by Bill Murray...

How about some fire ant earrings....

Of course they're for pierced ears, and you just squeeze their little mandibles gently together into the hole.

 

[NW-Bound]

Actually it's a sport down south.

We have hunters too here in Arizona. In Mississipi, I am sure you have better critters to aim that shortgun to than fire ants. By the way, it's not you in the picture is it?

 

[CuppaJoe]

For whatever reason the ants up here in hardscrabble (Ellis County) seem to be on the decline. ....

Maybe that's why they're on the route to the nursing home.

Thanks, Ziggy, I was itching by the third post.

 

[Telly]

For whatever reason the ants up here in hardscrabble (Ellis County) seem to be on the decline. People in the area always do the usual treatments of various baits and stuff to keep them in check, but every spring it was like starting over again.
Over the last two years I've noticed a big difference though. Five years ago I would treat over 20 mounds on my 1/4 acre joining lot. This spring I've had to hunt to find one. None of the properties or pastures near me look to be as infested as in the past.

It happened slowly at first, but I have noticed the same thing. I think the fire ant population started to go down sometime after 2000 (maybe they got a Y2K bug?).

What got me thinking of fire ant decline was the new critter that started up... chiggers. Bad. Real bad. Got first chigger bites of this season last week. Last year, first chigger bites were about the end of the first week of May.

The chiggers are everywhere - grass, bushes, concrete... yes, even on concrete far from grass there are chiggers. Lay down on the concrete to work under a car, and the next day, arrrgh! Putting down a carpet piece to lay on doesn't help, they get over that soon.

Never got them years ago here. Somewhere I was reading once that with a high density of fire ants, the crawling insect population goes mono-culture (or something like that), the fire ants prevent other species from taking off.

With the decline of fire ants, have been seeing a lot of Texas-type of carpenter ants, and small red food ants that like to get into kitchens. Never saw any of them before with lots of fire ants.

Sitting here with itchy scratchy oozing chigger bites all over me, and that was even through heavy applications of OFF (my blood alcohol level is zero, but my Deet level has got to be > .1 %). I want the fire ant population back up!

For the last few years, I have only been using Amdro on very select places: Mounds next to concrete, as they dig out dirt or sand underneath it, weakening it. Or on the weird places like opening a window, to be met by a mad flurry of fire ants that have made a nest inside the hollow aluminum frame of a window screen.

I used to go through pound jugs of Amdro per year, but I have been using the pound I have now, into the third year. Wow, that's a real decrease. I never realized that. I have no idea what Amdro costs per pound now.

Never thought that I would think of fire ants as a positive!

 

[Poundkey]

Telly, maybe these fire ant parasites are working. I don't know when they started introducing them, but something is surely different.

I remember the screw worm problem from the late 50's and early 60s. They were destroying cattle and goat herds in the hill country. We had to pen and treat each animal with a spray can of some kind of purplish looking medicine. We had to check eyes, ears, nose, gums, and all other unpleasant parts that were open to the blow flies. It was an awful thing to deal with.

After a few years A&M started the sterile fly project. Small planes would fly over and drop boxes of sterile flies that eventually solved the problem. We sometimes found them in the pasture. They kind of looked like KFC boxes with holes in them. Old memories....

Chiggers (to me)are just a given during spring. Pesky little devils. Old timers used to dust their legs and feet with sulfur as they left to go out. Not uncommon to see a sock of sulfur hanging somewhere near a door. Chiggers seem to be worse if you're anywhere near a field of Johnson grass.

 

[ziggy29]

After a few years A&M started the sterile fly project.

I'd consider inserting an Aggie joke here but then I'd have to answer to W2R.

 

[W2R]

I'd consider inserting an Aggie joke here but then I'd have to answer to W2R.

That you would!

 

[Poundkey]

Lol....with all the Aggies in our family I've probably heard them all by now.

 

[REWahoo]

Then you obviously know the difference between Aggie boots and cowboy boots...

 

[freebird5825]

Then you obviously know the difference between Aggie boots and cowboy boots...

And that is...?

 

[REWahoo]

Poundkey, don't keep the lady waiting....

 

[Poundkey]

Poundkey, don't keep the lady waiting....

Well?.....when I was a young man I rode a motorcycle and I wore tall motorcycle boots. The first time my grandpa saw them he took a long look and as he turned away he says "them aint motorcycle boots, them are sheep herders boots."

You're gonna have to use your imagination a little bit here.....

 

[freebird5825]

Well?.....when I was a young man I rode a motorcycle and I wore tall motorcycle boots. The first time my grandpa saw them he took a long look and as he turned away he says "them aint motorcycle boots, them are sheep herders boots."

You're gonna have to use your imagination a little bit here.....

No, you have to spell it all out for meeeeeeee.

Something along the lines of why farmers wear Wellies (Wellingtons) ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington_boot

 

[Sarah in SC]

Or as my sheep Tess says...Roooooobbbbbbb (our roommate's name), when she hears his truck in the driveway! But what can I say; she's a cracker ho!