Fire ant attack! This is war!

Not to the Northern part, at least I've haven't heard of any. Don't know about Southern Cal.

But West Nile Virus made it last year. Some of these scorges travel fast.

Please don't forget the Ana-Kit. Maybe your DW should phone the doctor ahead of your appt., so S/HE remembers to ask YOU about it. =)

Excellant idea!

You should be very careful of an allergic reaction in the future. Watching an emergency show on tv it showed a Florida woman who had been exposed to these in the past and had no reaction. The one time she ran into a hill again she began to feel dizzy and went to lie down. She was found near a coma by her son and had to be rushed to the emergency clinis. From then on I was very careful (as careful as you can be) around the mounds. The ones in my yard seem to bite right away and so I can sweep them off quickly without further bites.
Move as far away from the army of attackers as you can quickly and then brush the biters off or hose them off.
The bites do not so much itch as they do burn! I never saw such a ferocious little beastie. The reason for the pain and swelling is that they inject you with a small amount of poison. This many bites would send a lot of poison into your body. Be careful. I tried a powdered killer and they just walked right through it for weeks, so I am sure it does not work.
My neighbor pours gasoline on the mounds. I would not recommend that.

My first reaction was much worse than this one, although I had hives with both. I was bitten on many occasions prior to these two bad ones. I made a serious mistake the 2nd time by taking a wait and see attitude! I have learned my lesson. One must act quickly in these situations. I did the first time and do not know why I didn't the 2nd time. I have earned my username in more ways than one!

First I think you should change your name and start being "Iamgettingsmarter"! :) An Epi-pen is what you need on hand. I worked for allergists and fire ants are baaaaaad things to have allergic reactions to. My neighbor's are getting worse each time. I buy orange oil and pour it on the mounds. I mix a small amount with water in a milk jug and throw in some soap (from Whole Foods, so it's safe) and pour it all over them. They die quickly and it melts that weird mound. I can't say if it gets to the queen, but it sure as heck will kill the eggs and all those it gets on and soaks into. If I'm pouring it around plants, I add something like Garret Juice to it too. So far I've had more luck with this than anything else. They are one of the few reasons I hope for a cold winter. (unless it doesn't kill them)

Windy, is right...future encounters may be more of a problem..get that kit from the Doc. and keep it around...
My problem is that I have little feeling in my left leg, due to knee surgery, and I don't feel them bite me on that leg..I have been lucky and not gotten into them like you, way-to-dumb!
Years ago, a Veternarian that we knew, was taking a Lady Vet. around after he had just hired her...he got into fire ants, and started to dance...well, they had gotten down into his pants..and in order to take them off, he had to take off his boots...so picture this semi- naked man, out in the middle of a pasture, in the presence of a new Lady Vet...she looked at him and said..."You really know how to impress a girl, now don't you?" I really liked that woman!
I have tried the Grits, it didn't work, although I had really hoped that it would work as I was told it would. I really hate those things, and them exploding, had a certain appeal...Now I like the idea of boiling them, although getting the queen, that way, probably is not going to happen..I think she is deep inside the mound, not much gets down to her, unless it is taken by the worker ants...Nice idea, though.

:-) Guess what! Had a routine Dr. appt. yesterday and forgot to bring it up again. One more example of being way 2 dumb!!! :-(

Okay, just call his office and ask that he call one in, for you..it is important! The next time could be deadly!!!

I second melvatoo's suggestion. It really could be a matter of life or death. Call NOW or we're gonna bug you worse than those fire ants!

If you want to get rid of them in your whole yard for the entire season ....
.use OVER AND OUT in the early spring and it will last the entire spring and summer season. Then follow up in the fall with TALL STAR in the fall and winter. Believe me they work for us to keep the red fire ants out of our yard so give them a try you won't be disapointed. (and I'm not a salesman, just a gardner who hates fire ants)

I was not able to find info on "Tall Star" on the net. Who sells it?

I think it is 'Talstar' a friend of mine on the gardenweb has it and she says it works really, really well...only problem is, that if you are not real specific about targeting just the ants, it will kill everything else, too. I will ask her where she found it.

What you are looking for is Talstar. Below is a web address for one place that sells it.
http://store.doyourownpestcontrol.com/cgi-bin/pestcontrol.storefront/419b95030288ee9627434200c1490652/Search/Run

Garden Tech's Over 'n Out is a good product; however, it is not a bait & therefore may or may not kill the queen. I prefer to use Amdro, which is quicker acting, kills the queen & is not as harmful to the environment here in coastal Alabama. I too am allergic to fire ants. Get the Epi-Pen.

Good luck with the fire ant control.

Thanks guys.

My then 2 year old daughter fell into an fire ant hill in North Carolina and thus my war began. My neighbor had me dump "regular" grits, not the instant coated with powdered sugar right into the holes while it was sunny out for a couple of days. Then she had me water the yardthe hole so those suckers would get all the water they wanted (they "drink" the water off each other to keep dry...... Yahoo - bursting fire ants anyone? After a summer of buying loads of grits, my yard was pretty free of them. I would have used other poisonous granules available but I heard that songbirds would eat them and die. Anyway, it worked for me, perhaps it was the powered sugar that made them eat it and the timing of the available water.

mindy

Oh no, poor little gal! They actually did burst? You saw that? Wow, thats great!!! LOL!

Glad we don't have fire-ants up here, but....when I visit my parents in Florida...I always go out into the easement and kick over fire ant nests, just for the H8LL of it, LOL!

I wonder if this invasive species will ever be rationalized into acceptance (e.g., natuaralized)! LOL

http://www.invasivespecies.gov/profiles/fireant.shtml

This message was edited Nov 22, 2004 6:32 AM

LOL...good one john!! Would be at all surpirzed if it does.....

I am glad that all we have to deal with here are rattlesnakes and scorpions....that looks so-o-o nasty-hope it heals well!

Just a bad memory now but, the need for revenge/justice continues!

Ha,ha,ha Ahh sweet revenge.

I get bit so often I don't pay a lot of attention. In another month we will have wiped them out for this year. I use boiling, used cooking oil where I can. Even cold it works on the smaller mounds. Spectricide and water on the big ones, then keep the small ones oiled.
When I get bit now, I spit on the spot and rub it very hard for a few seconds. Quick. 10 minutes later, it's like nothing happened.

John, you don't have enough spit.

Trois's Spit Spot,available at all fine bait shops.....lol! sorry trois...lol!

A loogy (mine!) might work even better!

rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball, RUB, don't "pat" it on the bites. It will help dry them up. I have been using Andro-fire ant killer, but I think the ants just "relocate", they are MEAN things.

Mary

Hi, I'm new here but after reading this I had to post.

I finally may have the ultimate revenge on these little red demons from hell. The other day while warily observing a large nest as I pulled grass out from under a orange tree I noticed little itty bitty bugs flying around the nest. Last fall I remember reading about a wasp or fly that attacked them and made their heads fall off. A phone call today and description of how the little bugs were acting confirms, I have head hunters !! YES !! Here's a link to an article about the little angels.

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/kids/suburb/story1/antheads.htm

So they are now in South Venice.

Well, welcome kwetz. and thanks for the link. I would like for them to test those wasp here. Sidney

I hate fire ants! I hope the wasps come here and kill all of them! We use Amdro with pretty good success. The raccoons got into my garage the other night and got into my bag of Amdro. I don't think it hurt them, last night they raided my garbage!

careful with the Amdro around dogs. they put something sweet in it and it will kill a dog.

i keep a big bottle of white vinegar outside. the minute i get a bite i pour some on. never an itch or bump or welt. the acid neutralizes the poison. debi

Debi, I wondered if it would hurt my dog. I will be very careful with it from now on.

cala, i think in very tiny writing somewhere on the bag is a warning about dogs or maybe animals in general. i know my vet warned me of it too.

I know this is a bit late, but I've been away for a while during the sort of non-garden season, but now that it has begun again in earnest, I've popped back in to Dave's Garden.

So I've read most of this thread now - except for the alergic reaction posts, as I admit to knowing next to nothing about that - and I'd like to give my advice, information, etc. I'll admit to being a little bit biased towards not killing every bug in the yard, because I like bugs - it's my job - but a lot of what I'll be sharing does make sense. This information comes from 4 years of working in the field as a research assistant on fire ants in various field projects that studied their behavior and various methods of control. Here is my advice and information. This will be very long, so I apologize in advance and will provide a quick summary at the end. For those who don't want all the gory details, please skip to the summary section.

GRITS - As far as I know grits do not work - at least not in the making them explode sense. Adult ants of all species can not consume solid food. Their mouth parts have a filtering mechanism that only allows them to eat liquid food. It is the larvae that eat solid food. The adults bring the solid food back to the larvae, the larvae eat the food and regurgitate some back as liquid that the adults can eat. That's probably more than you guys wanted to know there - hee.

OTHER CONTROL METHODS - In my opinion, many fire ant control methods are VERY dependent on weather conditions. In the spring, the ants are closer to the surface, so many chemical and mechanical controls such as individual mound chemical drenches and boiling water work best at this time of year. If the temperature is too cool, baits won't work, because the ants will not be foraging - more on baits later. If you target indiviual mounds directly - rather than broadcast all over the yard - this can give similar benefits to baiting. (please see "ADVANTAGES OF BAITING" below for details.)

In summer, fire ants can be waaaaay down in the soil. We would dig up mounds to see how far they would go down, and we would be finding tunnels and ants even after 4 feet down. As you can imagine, the amount of chemical and water needed to get down that far to the place(s) the queen(s) is/are hidden is a lot. I suggest baits. As cyberageous said, Amdro is a good bait to use. The ants love it, because it has a soybean oil base, and fire ants are one of the few ants that like oil over sugar.

I'm wondering about trackinsand's concerns, because as far as I know there isn't any sugar or sweetener in Amdro. Also the hydramethalnon that is the active ingredient is extremely low in toxicity to vertebrates. As far as I know, an animal would have to eat over a pound of the stuff to be killed by it. There is unfortunate experience with that from my boss, who on a trip to the field once got a bunch of his bag of bait that was to be used in the field eaten by a cow - cows will eat almost anything people!! We learned that by unfortunate experience. My crew and I spent an afternoon once flagging fire ant mounds with colored and labeled flags and mapping them out only to come back the next day and find nothing but the wires. The cows had eaten evrey single flag! Well except one, which a cow was eating as we drove into the site. Anyway, the thing was that nothing happened to the cow that ate the Amdro, and she'd eaten quite a lot of it - probably a couple of pounds. To be safe though, best to keep the pets away just in case.

ADVANTAGES OF BAITING - there are a few big advantages to baits. One is that the ants bring it back to the nest and feed it to everyone, so it has a better chance of reaching the ants in warm conditions. Two is that except for a few other ant species, Amdro especially, is formulated for the fire ants' taste. This may not seem important, but as someone here mentioned - I forgot who: sorry, because it was a very astute observation - if fire ants are in your neighbors' yards, or anywhere really within your neighborhood, they can reoccur. This happens because on certain days when the weather is right, the new queens (winged) fly way up into the air and mate, then they come down and find a place to hide and start a colony. When they land, one of the largest predators on these new queens is other species of ants. When a general insecticide is used all over the yard - and I think Over and Out is one of those kinds - it can kill off these other species of ants, leaving the yard open for the next flight of fire ants. I think this is why the commercials say "only once per season," but if you think about it, a "season" is only 4 months long, so even with that claim, their product only has to work for 4 months and still make the claim true. And once the other ants and insect predators are gone, it might be a vicious cycle - making it necessary to keep treating the yard. Three - wow it took me long enough to get to three - if you only have a few mounds, this can be a quick and easy control method.

BAITING - That said, baiting can fail miserably if not done correctly, and there are a LOT of things to keep in mind while baiting. 1) It should be warm, but not hot. Fire ants will not forage when it's cool (soil temp below about 70 degrees), but they won't forage when it's hot either (if soil tempertaure is above 90 degrees). There are a few ants that will grab the bait if the temperature is hot and the fire ants aren't out. So in the summer, the best time to bait is in the late afternoon. Fire ants will forage at night if the temperature is warm wheras they will not forgae in the heat at all. 2) Hydramtheylnon (Amdro's active ingredient) breaks down quickly in sunlight. This is actually a good thing in that the poison does not stay active long enough to effect many other critters. If conditions are right, the fire ants will get the bait within a few hours, which is sufficient. If I remember correctly, the Hydramethylnon breaks down in about 6 or 7 hours in sunlight. Some granules will be protected by shade, but that just leads to... 3) Baits are not effective if they get wet. This includes rain, dew, irrigation, and "watering in" - which you SHOULD NOT do with Amdro especially (but which I have seen people almost do). Once the granules get wet, that's pretty much it. So the bait shouldn't be applied if the grass is even damp or if there is any chance it will get so within 4 or 5 hours. 3) Fire ants will not forage if they are angry, and they don't forage on top of their mounds, so if you put the bait on top of their mound they won't find it (they'll be too busy running around looking for enemies) and they'll be angry - both meaning they will be more likely to sting you than pick up the bait. Fire ants forage by going through undergound "tunnels" and popping up in various areas around their mound, so sprinkilng the bait in an area about a foot to three or four feet from the mound is a good radius. 4) Too much bait will look "fishy" to the ants. If a little is good, a lot will be better doesn't usually work with baiting. The ants' senses can be overwhelmed with too much bait clumped up in one spot - it will smell too much and they will be much less likely to eat it. Label amounts are best to use. 5) Remember the temperature restrictions. If the soil temperature is too cool or too hot, the ants won't be active so won't find the bait.

OTHER TIDBITS - In their native land, fire ants nest near water. Pools and reflective things that look like water from up in the sky attract them to come down and land nearby.

Despite all of that, and the fact that it might take a little while, the baits are usually a longer lasting and environmentally friendly way of killing fire ant mounds. You likely will get more ants visiting your yard, but hopefully there will still be other ants and predators to pick them off when they get there.

Wow - I wrote a lot there. Sorry about that. So here's a recap for those who don't want to read this whole thing...

SUMMARY:
1) Fire ants won't be killed by being exploded by grits. They can't eat solid food at all.
2) Good fire ant control is very dependent on season and weather conditions.
3) If fire ants like your yard, they might keep coming back.
4) (In my opinion) Targeting the fire ants themselves rather than all the bugs and ants in the yard might in the long run be a more long term solution (see the section on the advantages of baiting).
5) Baiting takes planning for it to be effective. Read labels carefully.

Feel free to ask me any ant biology questions or questions about anything else I've talked about here.

Wow! Thanks NB!! That is GREAT info! No wonder the ants seem to become "immune" to the Amdro! I'm doing all kinds of things wrong with it. I have been using a bait that I think is by Ortho, in a black bottle, and it's the same ingredient and cheaper than Amdro.

Since you say that a variety of ants are a good thing, please advice me on how to control the kinds. I have large ones that are the up and down various plants, pollinating and eating I'm assuming. These seem to be the same ones that are hiking across my fence or over and around my backdoor. They also seem to be the ones that have dug holes in the corners of some areas in my bathroom and come inside. I have killed some of them with bait but it's not easy.

Now I have these tiny, lighter colored ants that are on one bathroom counter around the sink and then I found them in another bathroom on the shower door in the corner. Are these coming for water? Something sweet? Last year I had some in the kitchen that were on the counters. Ugh....

So far the best way to kill the actual ants and deter them for a day a least is spraying them with TKO then wiping the counter down with it.

HELP!!! Thanks again! :)

Paige

Ants coming indoors can usually be killed with a sweet based bait. Place small drops where you see them foraging. they'll take it back to the nest and distribute it. This will also be more selective and allow the ants on the plants to stay and do their thing - killing pest insect, pollinating etc. To reduce the chances of ants getting inside - especially carpenter ants - make sure that tree branches and bushes do not touch your house, especially the roof. Ants can use branches as a highway to get into the house, and the roof is especially a good way for them to do just that.

I'm not sure that they are necessary, though I seem to remember from my childhood that Peonies and ants went hand in hand, and someone saying that the peonies didn't do as well if you took their ants away.

i walked into a fire ant nest in florida while on a writing assignment and was stung repeatedly on the foot. i was told not to break the infected bites. big mistake the result was severe scaring that took two years to heal. i later talked to local landscapers and was told they always break the pustules. i have since been biten several times and use a sterlized needle to open them and extract the venom and them clean them with hydrogen peroxise and once they have closed i use scar gel, and the result is quick healing and no marks! walgreen's sells packages of crushed walnut shells that are supposed to work if you apply them quickly which i wasn't able to do in the first attack.

NB's correct. Don't waste your grits.
A friend swore to me it worked a few years ago, so I tried it and had everyone laughing at me.
I didn't phase them. one person suggested I must have Southern fire ants and needed to put some country ham and redeye gravy with them.

bump - cause I want to read again in a week or 2

CHILI,
I think you got the same treatment as snipe hunting, cow tipping, or submarine races there, re: grits, lol

Keep some liquid benedryl (Diphenhydramine sp) around in addition to an epi-pen, if you are allergic. The liquid works faster than the pills. Just my two cents worth.

Regards;
bluelytes

Fire ants are a never ending story for me the best thing I have found is a bait containg spinosad I spot treat every mound being careful not to disturb the mounds and by summers end they are gone but I have to start over in spring talestar spread about once every month and a half worked better by far than anything else but I eventually quit using it due to evvironmental concerns wanting to bait them now but its been raining off and on for about two weeks and the rain melts the bait rendering it useless Good luck