Fire ants are on the move.

[raccoon]

I moved from Columbia, SC, to upstate SC a little over a decade ago. Back then I didn't see many fire ant nests around. I thought it was because they didn't like the clay soil.

Now they are more numerous here; it is no longer rare to see their nests.

I know this is anecdotal, but anybody else notice increases in the population of the little buggers?

[rug]

1. The only defense is water bugs.

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Water bugs????

Tell me more.

[rug]

5. Actually it's a joke.

fire . . . water . . .

:yoiks:

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. I thought it might be....was being very hopeful, tho.

I have permanent marks from the damn ant bites.
the bastards seem to pop up with new nests after the rains, and I hear they are now developing multiple colonies from the same queen.
Our cats and dogs leave the nests alone, they must smell them.

[rug]

11. Wow. I haven't seen any in Pennsylvania. Sound like nasty little bugs.

[dixiegrrrrl]

16. They are very small, half a grain of rice, they get on you and instantly bite, then others join in.

The bite injects acid. Feels like a small bee sting, then the next day a blister forms, itches like hell, after awhile the blister goes away and leaves a permanent round red mark. I have marks that are 10 years old.
They swarm immediately if anything touches their nest mound, but they have underground tunnels under the mounds.
Nasty things.

[alsame]

2. I have relatives in GA and they say the same thing. They've

been there 10 years and have seen an increase in fire ants. They've had to use treatments to get rid of them in the back yard for the last 3-4 years.

[Are_grits_groceries]

3. SC is covered.

Here's a link to a map: http://www.ars.usda.gov/Research/docs.htm?docid=9165

If they adapt to colder weather, they will spread even further.

[monmouth]

7. I stepped barefoot into a nest once. Dear gawd it was awful. Stay

clear of those little nasties.....

[kestrel91316]

10. When I was two or three we lived in Biloxi MS And I got into a little trouble

when I decided to sweep away a fire ant hill in the yard with my little broom. Probably has someting to do with why I'm so wildly allergic to so many insect bites these days.

[monmouth]

13. Oooh, nasty. Bet you're a great housekeeper though....LOL.

[Love Bug]

8. Is this because of climate change?

Perhaps the pissants are moving north because the weather is more temperate for them? Check out this interactive gardening zone map that shows the changes just since 1990:

http://www.nwf.org/gardenersguide/gardenzone.cfm

My old (pre-1980) gardening books have the Twin Cities (where I live) in Zone 3. Now we're practically in Zone 5! We don't need scientists to tell us things are changing -- just ask a gardener or a farmer.

[Are_grits_groceries]

9. It probably has something to do with it.

However, the little bastids are hard to kill, and they probably would slowly adapt anyway.

[deoxyribonuclease]

20. Possibly, They are a non-native, invasive species

from Argentina. They have no native predators in North America to prevent them from spreading and proliferating. Not only are they annoying to people, but they outcompete native ant species and reduce insect biodiversity.

Some research institutions (UT, TAMU, among others) have done some limited trials in introducing certain phorid fly species -- one of the ant's natural predators -- to try to control the ant population. The females use their ovipositor to lay an egg at the base of an ant's head, and when the egg hatches the larvae eats its way out -- thereby decapitating the ant :thumbsup:

[Blue Diadem]

22. Thank you for that link.

I'd seen a zone change map once before around here but never bookmarked it. There are some people I want to send the link to who don't believe we've changed.

[Love Bug]

23. What I find shocking is how quickly we changed in only 16 years

I wonder what it would look like now?

[Blue Diadem]

26. I'm curious about that too.

There has been some new insects in our garden the last few years that I've never seen before. I suspect it's due to the changing climate.

[orleans]

24. great map. i remember talking to some people i know who

think global warming is crap, al gore just wanted attention, liberals are just trying to freak everyone out, etc.

when i told them that we were in zone five in 1990 and now we are zone 6 their eyes widened and their mouths dropped open.

ugh.

[LostInAnomie]

12. Buy one of these.

Problem solved.

[mod mom]

17. or stock up on cinnamon & vinegar

I just read up on how to control ants w/o harming the environment.

[LostInAnomie]

19. I guess if you want to take the pansie way out.

Real American's buy ant-eaters!!!

[BeFree]

27. Hey mom

Grits. Oatmeal, anything that absorbs water that ants will eat will kill them in mass quantities. Seems the food, once ingested, absorbs the liquid in their bodies and desiccates/dehydrates them.

Used it for years now on all kinds of ants. Noticed that the ants learn that grits are killing them and will remove all the grits to outside the pile. But once that generation is gone they forget and return to eating a new dose. So you have to go easy with the applications - just a teaspoon at a time on each mound about once a week. After a month they will almost all be gone.

[mod mom]

29. Thanks, BeFree. I have the problems of large ant hills out in my garden & between

pavers in our yard. I'll give it a try. :hi:

[tuckessee]

14. Just wait until you get killer bees. n/t

[elizfeelinggreat]

15. Met them when we moved to Texas

ouch! I learned to just go ahead and take a benadryl as soon as I was bitten, it really helped with the pain and swelling.

Here is what we found works best - beneficial nematodes. They don't eradicate the ants totally but they do a better job than many chemicals we have tried and they're safer. My understanding is that they also help control other pests, including termites.

[blindpig]

18. They are getting worse.

First appeared in the vicinity of Spartanburg about 17 or so years ago. Seems they move up the interstates, all that open ground suits them and it is speculated that the flying breeders utilize the slipstream to spread faster. Really bad in southern county, quail have disappeared, where they are thick there are no ground nesting birds, small lizards or snakes. Damn them.

[rufus dog]

21. There was a problem of them moving into OC about 10 years ago

The County took a real aggressive approach and knocked them down.

[GTurck]

25. 2 letters and 2 words

In central Texas where we live they are just about the only ants left and the sale of Fire Ant killers is high but we are committed to natural solutions as much as possible so we use DE (diatomaceous earth) and garden molasses. They are both effective and entirely safe for children and pets.
You are right about seeing them after a rain. Their colonies can go 10 feet deep and they make the hills after rain to protect their larva and the Queen (their mother) from drowning and so that is a very good time to apply these two things, but not together. The DE acts like knives that slice through the ecto-skeleton and cause dehydration; but only when it is dry. The molasses, which must be diluted some, simply oozes through the nest and coats the ants so that they suffocate but then the molasses acts as a soil amender after the ants are gone. These are win-win controls.
You are also right about there being more than one queen to a nest but that was caused by the use of the poisons, mainly DDT, used when they first arrived . They evolved to cope with the poisons and also in the way they reproduced. Now there can be up to 25 queens in a nest where there used to be 1. Fire ant nests do have a few good points. That earth they use is more friable than that at the surface and they kill and eat fleas, aphids, and just about anything else. I have even heard of them killing new-born deer unlucky enough to be born on their nests.:dem:

[snooper2]

28. Everybody should have some fire ants to enjoy :)

cutting the grass, stop, use the front right wheel to break up the mound- run mower over it a few times :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

adds a little more of a challenge when cutting the lawn- After done mowing go back and you will see them re-constructing the mound already.


Then you hit them with this :evilgrin: best stuff in the World