what do fire ants do and cause that make alot of damages ?
Oct.10, 2011 in
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what do fire ants do and cause that make alot of damages and how dangerous are they what state has them ?
what do fire ants do and cause that make alot of damages and how dangerous are they what state has them ?
October 10th, 2011 at 3:37 pm
I can give you a first hand experience.
My late wife was gardening and ignored the ants on her body.
Until they stung her so severely that her face had swollen into unrecognizable features.
I rushed her to ER and on the way, she passed out intermittently. When we arrived at the ER, her brain had swollen and the doctors said that in 30 more minutes she would have died. She did survive that
ordeal.
This was the first discovery of fire ants in Harris County, TX. After that, the city sprayed our entire neighborhood. This was back in the 60s.
Fire ants have an uncanny ability to communicate, and when they attack a victim, they all sting at the same instant, which is extremely painful as they all release their venom at the same time.
They can kill a young calf. They enter every orifice of the animal and when they all sting simultaneously, the animal is paralyzed.
On farms and ranches where electrical equipment is used for wells or other purposes, fire ants are very attracted to electricity. They will sometimes infest the electrical equipment to such an extent that they short out the system. I’ve seen this first hand.
These pests create very large and sophisticated tunnels underground and can escape many treatments.
I had a man who worked for me who decided to pour gasoline into a hill of ants and ignited it.
A tree, at the far end of his lot became consumed in flames and nearly burned his house down.
To my knowledge, fire ants are common in nearly all moderate climate states. I have not researched that.
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October 10th, 2011 at 3:37 pm
I can give you a first hand experience.
My late wife was gardening and ignored the ants on her body.
Until they stung her so severely that her face had swollen into unrecognizable features.
I rushed her to ER and on the way, she passed out intermittently. When we arrived at the ER, her brain had swollen and the doctors said that in 30 more minutes she would have died. She did survive that
ordeal.
This was the first discovery of fire ants in Harris County, TX. After that, the city sprayed our entire neighborhood. This was back in the 60s.
Fire ants have an uncanny ability to communicate, and when they attack a victim, they all sting at the same instant, which is extremely painful as they all release their venom at the same time.
They can kill a young calf. They enter every orifice of the animal and when they all sting simultaneously, the animal is paralyzed.
On farms and ranches where electrical equipment is used for wells or other purposes, fire ants are very attracted to electricity. They will sometimes infest the electrical equipment to such an extent that they short out the system. I’ve seen this first hand.
These pests create very large and sophisticated tunnels underground and can escape many treatments.
I had a man who worked for me who decided to pour gasoline into a hill of ants and ignited it.
A tree, at the far end of his lot became consumed in flames and nearly burned his house down.
To my knowledge, fire ants are common in nearly all moderate climate states. I have not researched that.
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October 10th, 2011 at 4:36 pm
Ed provided an excellent answer for you. He forgot to mention that fire ants multiply at incredible rates and their mounds ruin lawns, pastures and hay fields, and other crop lands.
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October 10th, 2011 at 5:36 pm
Fire Ants(red) were brought here in 1929 from South America on a cargo ship that docked it Mobile Alabama.A young friend of mine died from the bites, he was only 22 and had heart failure due to the reaction from their poison.A lady in south Florida sat on a mound while her husband changed a tire, she was dead by nightfall.They thrive throughout the southern United States early on but now are moving farther north.Fire ants are very regimental and their mounds are like a glacier, what you see on top is only 1/3rd of the mound with 2/3rds under ground (up to 5 ft deep).Worker ants have 2 stomachs one to keep their food and the other to share with the colony.A product called Myrex was one of the only products to control them, but in the 70′s the EPA had it removed from the market. This left us without any sure control until American Cyanimid came up with Amdro several months later.In the mean time the fire ants ran wild.People will talk of all of all the different ways to kill them, but in reality will move rather than endanger the queen.Killing the queen is the only way to get rid of the mound (some have 2 queens she can live up to 7 years bearing up to 1600 eggs per day). The Amdro is a bait that is eaten and regurgitated till it reaches the queen, the bait left in the 2nd stomach kills the carrying ants.Its a slow process but effective. Gas…soil drenches etc. just cause the colony to move the queen and set up house elsewhere.They are one of the strongest animals on earth, they can carry 5 times their weight. elephants can only carry 1/5th their weight.They are social insects and depend on each other for survival much like us humans.Their mounds can be seen for miles along highways in lawns, pastures and farms.They will feed on everything and anything,includung insects,animals.trees ,bulbs,and fruits and will attack anything the threatens their mound.
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October 10th, 2011 at 6:36 pm
They are not inherently dangerous. They leave us alone for most of the time. But they are such mean little guys when you disturb them. The bite really hurts and i am a tough guy. You just rub them off and don’t go back there..
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