FRIENDLY FIRE ANTS

I love a good oxymoron -- two words, used together, which have different meanings. A favorite oxymoron is: "Military Intelligence". A double oxymoron would be: "Fresh Frozen Jumbo Shrimp".

Fire Ants are NOT friendly. They are the perfect oxymoron.

Years ago, I had "encounters" with Fire Ants in Florida & again in Texas. Such a "meeting" can leave welts, pain & itching ... sometimes for several days.

In Florida, the above ground part of their "nest" is rather large, but flattened out & can "hide" if the grass around it is quite high. Not a good place to be wearing flip-flops, which is my usual foot apparel in Florida. OUCH !!

People from Texas love to say -- "Everything is bigger in Texas". Well, they got that one right, when it comes to the nests of the Fire Ants down in that state. The nests are built up HIGH. I remember a cow pasture, full of nests, in a visit one time. The nests were so high they looked like high-rise buildings in a city scape.

The ants down in Texas are not any friendlier than their relatives in Florida. Maybe that is why Texans all seem to wear boots. No flip-flops.

I remember reading about Fire Ants some time ago; explaining how the ants got here from South America in cargo ships. The article concluded the ants were a problem " .., down in the Southern states ..." but basically were restricted from moving northward due to the colder temperatures in the higher latitudes. The ants could not take conditions which include temperatures below freezing.

WRONG EINSTEIN !!

Fire Ants are in central Arkansas. They showed up in the state several years ago & moved to my property about two years ago. Maybe when they came North they wore little coats, since we get our share of cold temperatures in the Winter & the ants are surviving & multiplying.

I have to "treat" the nests when I spot them. [Not hard to see; like the Florida version, the nests tend to to be low, but easily spotted if in a viewable place. The picture above shows two nests.] I use the standard treatments found at Lowe's. Their intent is to kill the Queen Ant, which will then prevent the colony from reproducing/growing/continuing. Sometimes the applications to the nest seem to work. Other times not. It appears the ants will simply "move" the colony. They just resurface a few days later in a different part of my property.

For ... "fun" -- & to get revenge on the bites I have suffered in three states -- I some times put bleach on the nests. Another way to kill a few thousand Fire Ants is to douse the nest with boiling water. Very middle ages.

I still wear flip-flops all the time when outside at home. I try to watch were I am walking & standing when I "tour" my four acres, always on the lookout for the ... non-friendly Fire Ants.