Rambling about fire ants...

[Richard]

Discovered maybe 2 years ago, a mound in the woods... looked suspicious and fortunately, since it was on the path, I didn't step on it. I did however, poke it with a stick and as you probably realize, a wash of black mobile pinchers (or would they be stingers?) swarmed out of it.

Just a day or so ago, I found another mound, maybe 6/8 inches diamater in the field by the house. This is the field I walk the dogs in and interestingly enough, I found this one by stepping on just a part of it.

I told the wife I need to feed them (what ever that poisen is called) so they'll go their own way.

I later got a little sadistic thinking... what if I grabbed my propane torch (MAP gas), poked a stick in the mound so they'd come swarming out and simply fry the little buggers that dare to show their pinchers to me

I then realized the little boggers would probably have a rear door and could sneak up behind me to ambush me.

Are fire ants simply an annoyance? Do people have allergic reactions to them? (I'm sting allergic to bees/wasps/other and am taking shots for that situation)

I stomped on the mound today and nothing happened. I'm presuming since it's a bit cool out and rained earlier, they might be deeper underground and simply tolerating my assult. I'm also presuming that when the weather dries up a bit and/or warms up a bit, they will rebuild the footprint I left them and if they do, I'll know they're still active there and can spread some lunch for them

 

[Richard]

Another comment I forgot about....

I was messing with some dry ice one day (received order of ice cream )

Anyways... got to thinking about dry ice. As I recall, it's frozen carbon dioxide. Might I presume ants breath oxygen?

Is carbon dioxide heavier than air? (part of me thinks not) I'm asking because as the dry ice is set in water, it will 'boil' and fall to the floor. Even as it sublimates and evaporates away, it seems as though it will collect as a fog at the bottom of the sink or maybe the container in which it was delivered.

That got me to wondering... could you put something like that on top of an ant mound and if so, as it thaws, could the Co2 fill the mound and suffocate the little buggers?

(I presume the answer is no but as I said, I'm rambling)

 

[Bird]

Richard, there's been all kinds of stuff written about the fire ants, and most of it's probably true. In cold weather they'll be pretty deep down in the tunnels. They have to keep the eggs the right temperature so they supposedly move the eggs up and down in the mound. So there are times when you disturb the mound and see thousands of little white eggs. But also, sometimes disturbing the mound will cause them to move elsewhere. You can't get rid of them, but you can keep their numbers down, and/or keep them on the move. Unfortunately, I have some neighbors who have large fire ant mounds and never do anything about them, so I know that the ones I kill on my land will be replaced. You can apply Amdro, or you can broadcast Logic, or some of the other "baits" and maybe in a couple of weeks, the mound will be killed out. If you stepped on a mound and nothing happened, it may have been abandoned; they may have moved elsewhere. I keep a couple of gallon jugs with a couple of ounces of Ortho Malathion plus in water mixed so that everytime I see a mound, I slowly pour about a gallon of that mixure on it. I pour slowly so as to not disturb them too much and to give the insecticide time to run down into their tunnels. I may go for a month or two without seeing any sign of fire ants, but when we have a good rain, you can bet on having some new mounds. You know 5 days ago, we got over 6" of rain and it's stayed cloudy, overcast, and just a trace of rain nearly every day since. So my year was in dire need of mowing today and I did that this morning. In the process I also found two new fire ant mounds, to which I applied a good dose of Malathion.

I certainly do not like being stung by fire ants, but I don't consider it to be any more painful than any other any, and even less painful that wasp or yellow jacket stings. The problem is that you may have such a huge number of stings if you tarry in or on their mound.

You comment about the torch reminded me of something a cousin told me. He said he likes to light a cigarette, then stick it in a fire ant mound, with the lit end up of course, and watch the fire ants attack it. He said they'd swarm up that cigarette and commit suicide in the lit end.

 

[Barton]

Richard, my boy, I can't answer your question because I have never tried it. However, I think you should try it and report back to us ( with pictures, of course).

 

[Bird]

Of course I've also heard of people who just poured a little gasoline on the fire ant mounds. I suspect the fumes would kill most of the ants, but the environmentalists wouldn't approve. And of course, you wouldn't want to light that gasoline. I had a fellow who worked for me who once found a big red ant mound in the pasture across the road from his house. He poured gasoline on it, then lit the gasoline. The property owner and the fire department were not happy about the 3 acres he burned off.

 

[warhammer]

You can sometimes tell by looking at the mound whether it is still occupied or not.
If the dirt looks dry the ants have moved on. Not sure how they keep the mound looking moist in the midst of a drought but it is a pretty reliable indicator in my yard at least.

Warhammer

Discovered maybe 2 years ago, a mound in the woods... looked suspicious and fortunately, since it was on the path, I didn't step on it. I did however, poke it with a stick and as you probably realize, a wash of black mobile pinchers (or would they be stingers?) swarmed out of it.

Just a day or so ago, I found another mound, maybe 6/8 inches diamater in the field by the house. This is the field I walk the dogs in and interestingly enough, I found this one by stepping on just a part of it.

I told the wife I need to feed them (what ever that poisen is called) so they'll go their own way.

I later got a little sadistic thinking... what if I grabbed my propane torch (MAP gas), poked a stick in the mound so they'd come swarming out and simply fry the little buggers that dare to show their pinchers to me

I then realized the little boggers would probably have a rear door and could sneak up behind me to ambush me.

Are fire ants simply an annoyance? Do people have allergic reactions to them? (I'm sting allergic to bees/wasps/other and am taking shots for that situation)

I stomped on the mound today and nothing happened. I'm presuming since it's a bit cool out and rained earlier, they might be deeper underground and simply tolerating my assult. I'm also presuming that when the weather dries up a bit and/or warms up a bit, they will rebuild the footprint I left them and if they do, I'll know they're still active there and can spread some lunch for them

 

[forgeblast]

I have used talstar granular on some big ant hills it worked pretty well.

 

[J_J]

This I have heard, but never tried. Grits and yeast. They eat the grits swell up and die.

 

[dmccarty]

Amdro works. Fireants migrated into my county over the last few years, I guess they followed me from FLA. Hate the danged things. They are very aggressive and if you step in the nest you will have a problem. If I see the nest I put down Amdro. It might take a couple of applications over a month or so but it works. Can't have these things where the kids might step in the nest. The kids have been told to look out of the nests and to not step in them since if they do its gonna hurt.

Later,
Dan

 

[Richard]

I went out yesterday to see the little mound. Interestingly, it took me a minute to find it. For a brief moment, I thought the little buggers moved on or I was fooling myself when I first thought I saw it...

Seems I was simply not looking in the right direction.

The mound looked a bit different. I don't know how to describe it but I got to thinking, maybe they HAD moved on as it wasn't this perfect mound. What did I do? Stomped on it again of course Nothing happened. Mind you, it had been raining.

I finally concluded they had simply gone deeper and were not worrying about this attack from above. When I cut the field last night, I even made sure to accidently drive the loaded rear wheel over the mound. I still saw nothing happen.

Perhaps they've moved on... I personally think that is dangerous to presume as someone might get lazy and poke around, only to have them come swarming out.

So, until further notice, I'm going to presume it's still a live nest/hive and once these silly storms pass over and we get some dry time, I'm going to look at it again and offer them some gormet Amdro for lunch.