Fire ant attack! This is war!

Tried out my new camera on a plant. When I knelt down to get the shot I set my knee down on a small fire ant mound! See I am way too dumb! That was three days ago. This is my knee this a.m.

OMG! That hurts just looking at it! I would have hated to see it 3 days ago.

Eeeek that makes me itch

iw2d, don't break those blisters!! I didn't know this on my first encounter with the @#$#% ants. I only had a few bites. The places I broke the blisters made sores and took forever to heal. The ones with the blisters intact just gradually disappeared. My neighbor told me this is common knowledge among bitees. Boy, you really got a dose of them.

I don't know what you use for ant control, but I use a kettle of BOILING water. Revenge is sweet!!!!
Pati

Wow - that looks awful! I had several fire ant hills earlier this summer and I put that Spectricide fire ant killer granuals on them and the dose of water that goes with it. I was thinking "wow, that stuff works great" and then here I am a few weeks later and I have ten times as many ant hills as I used to have. Let me know if you find something that really kills fire ants and doesn't just disperse them into more new ant hills!

Cindy Lou

Pati, promise I won't break them (my DW wants to tho) your absolutely right about them healing faster plus, you reduce the chance of further infection. Fire ants are really "filthy" creatures to begin with, hence the (pus) blisters. They eat feces, carrion, etc. They also attack our friends such as catapillars, baby birds and have even been known to bring down grazing pasture animals!

Usually, I'm a live and let live kinda guy but, I draw the line at fire ants and poisonous snakes (on my property).

hmstyl, I think there are probably a number of things that work but, unless the property owners around you are as serious about fire ant control as you, its a losing battlle! e.g., it will be neverending.

I hate those ants. I got into them at least 3 times on Saturday. They are evil, they hide under leaves and then attack. I have tried many things when bit but have discovered thru trial and errror that white vinegar truly works the best on the bites. If you apply it soon after being bit most of the time it will not sting, itch or pus up. You have to get to it pretty fast though. Good thing you are'nt allergic with that many bites, you would have had to make a trip to the emergency. Good luck.

413, boy me too! Thanks for that white vineger tip. Its a stock item around here but, I didn't know about that tip at the time. Next time ! WILL! A few years ago I put that same knee down on a larger mound hidden in the grass and I had a sever enough reaction (hives all over me) that I went to the er. They loaded me up with steroids and made me stay a few hours until they felt I was ok. Had a only a few hives this time. The er is 30 miles from me so I kept a very close eye on myself. I think I probably should have gone this time, too. Would have been the prudent thing to do. Sometimes (often?) I amaze myself with how stupid I can be!

ouch ouch ouch, is it just that side or did they get the entire knee? When I went to Florida at the end of June my biggest fear was that I would stand on a fire ant mound and never know it. I think I saw one mound and it was big enough to see from 20 feet away, I stayed 40 feet away, LOL.
Anything else you can do besides wait now?

Oh my goodness, please becareful next time

Dravencat, only a few outside the area of the foto. If you ever stand on one of their mounds, you WILL know it! :-(

Kaleem, ah but, don't forget that I am way too dumb!

another possible help after being bitten: citrus juice or peel (orange, grapefruit, whatever's around). we had fire ants all over our old property & had several citrus trees - sqeezing juice on the bite site ensured no blisters or other after effects. someone told me that the acid neutralizes the bite which is alkaline. don't know if that's true.

we used to pour bleach onto the mounds. killed them off and relatively cheap (??)

someone else told me to take a shovelful of ants from one area and put them into a mound elsewhere on the property & they would kill each other. sadly, that never worked.

I do that shovel thing, too, from time to time. May not solve the problem but, seems like a bit of justice/revenge! I am going to try the bleach next cuz, diazanon does not seem to work anymore. I wish the ant war technique wotked. That would be such sweet justice!

Iw2d you certainly have some nasty creatures down there......time to change your name methinks to NoMoreFireAnts.

My father is allergic to wasp stings and carries an emergency kit with him, is there something similar you can get?

Probably! Venoms are similar. I need to look into that. Thanks for reminding me!

I'd heard one year on the news that you could use grits to kill them off. You were to sprinkle dry grits all around the mound (didn't say how thick, but... ). The ants take the grits into the mound, eat it and when they get ANY moisture... they blow up (like dynamiting each one ~ hehehehehehehe)! Oh, I'm sick, I guess... but I hate the little buggers too.

Aside from that, we were able to get something from the local feed store (name brand) that we put in our fertilizer spreader and broadcast over the whole yard. By treating each mound individually, you run the risk of have the entire colony just MOVE. And relocation is NOT the desired outcome! :-)

Hope this helps even a little.

Cajun2 -

I had heard the grits story, but the version I heard was "rice".

Thanks all. I continue to gather all information. There will be a sneak attack soon! Weapons are in development.

Im very interested in your attack plan, pics of you sneaking up on the tyrants would be cool. LOL I can see you now with your face painted and your combat boots on.

Ha, ha, ha, ha. Your are giving me ideas.

Clorox is what I've been putting on "stings" for 58 years. Bee, wasp, hornets, fireants, etc. Full strength on cotton ball, or anything when it HURTS. Immediate relief and often no bumps. I rinse it off after 20 minutes or so. (PS vinegar for sunburn. Stink alot, but no peeling.)

Imway .. hee hee ... I MOVED !! .. and indeed that ridded us of the problem !! .. hee hee

Did you have much scarring take place ? ...

Those suckers are really tough when our little ones, would get into them .. and when it rained, the fire ants moved .. naturally .. to higher ground. And if you went out into the yard after a rain, or a deluge - any of us could get into the nasty stickin' good fer nuffin' vermin .. without even realizing it!! For they were all spread out .. heading to other parts unknown !!! ...

Of course, we exchanged the fire ants and skeeters .. for the tick ..
But, hey .. I can easily handle the dadblame'd ticks .. far easier than we could the Fire Ants .. any day !! ha

No, its healed up now. Managed to keep from popping those pustules this time. I think thats why it healed up so fast. I know all critters have a place in nature and have to make a living. But, this critter I can do without!

Absolutly, nasty little buggers.

We have cleared almost all fireants just using ordinary Spectricide and not using the water. Use about half a cup scattered around the mound, don't water, and they are gone. I saw a new mound today for the first time in months. If it wasn't for the blackberries, you could put your hand on the ground and get it back.

i've tried all that stuff except the hot water and that is next for me...gonna boil them.

That is one of the weapons in the plan, weeds!

Good! Myt new cry is SCALD the queen!

The fire ants 'listen' you know ... They're already sayin' .. "something wicked this way comes" !!! LOL

OUCH! Been there, done that but never quite this bad. Usually I find myself standing in a mound hidden by grass. I've learned to be very wary when my foot sinks slightly. I do a lot of roadside walking. Imagine what people think as they drive by and see me doing the fire ant dance and tossing my shoes around. I've learned to wear my rubber boots more often than not. They're way safer than Tevas!

Hey Stacey......I do believe I have seen you dancing!

Yes, I do believe you have...quite a sight isn't it??

I think folks in fire ant country know fire ant 'sign' when they see it. :-)

Guess you didnt see that one. LOL

pfffffftttttttt! (how do you spell a raspberry?) LOL

LMBO Ive wondered the same thing

Last time I moved to a farm that was empty for awhile. What appeared to be wheel barrels of dirt were huge fire ant piles. Amdro was the only thing I found that successfully killed and kept them out. They take it to the nest and feed it to the queen. Most other poisons just make them move.

Our new property has fire ants so bad it looks like the ground is moving. I thought I was getting them under control then I bought a cheaper kind of poison granule for fire ants and I don't think it's working.

Amdro now has a granule that you can put in a spreader and do mass eradication.

There is something about boiling water that gets me all excited!

IMWAY-- Do you have that emergency kit yet? Anaphylactic shock can kill, and if you're 30 miles away from a doctor, you NEED a kit. You've had two severe reactions already. (I had an anaphylactic reaction 40 years ago and the shot saved my life. Sometimes you can lose a person before you can get him to hospital) Don't mean to be a nag, but DO IT!

BTW, I travelled to Austalia a couple of years ago, and they have poisonous jelly fish. And right at each unmanned safety station all along the beach, they had containers of white vinegar. Apparently it helps with more than ant bites.

No mam, I keep forgetting to mention it to my doctor! I AM WAY TOO DUMB for sure. Thanks for nagging me. I have a routine appt. later this month and must bring that up then. Again, thanks for being a nag!!

BTW, have fire ants made to the Golden State yet?

John