Fire Ants are not my friends

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Yesterday, the lady across the street parked her car in the middle of her yard to wash it and get extra use out of the water. North Texas hasn’t had rain in …, uh, a really long time. After yelling back and forth across the street, I went over to talk while she washed the car. She warned me about the fire ants by her front right tire. I grabbed the hose and rinsed and talked as she washed. We were well away from the place that the ants were crawling all over her tire.

However, having a car parked on top of their house and a lot of water pouring on top of them must have pissed them off more than normal. After a few minutes, my shoes & socks were covered. They had worked there way up the hose and were crawling on my arms.

Standing in her front yard, I immediately started trying to removed my shoes & wet sock and was trying to kill the creatures everywhere I could find them. They weren’t hard to find since they were biting me every time they got near my flesh. The neighbors probably didn’t know just how many clothes I was going to take off to get rid of them. After catching several heading up my thighs, I wasn’t sure where I was going to stop either.

Today, I have about 20 little blisters on my legs and a few more on my arms and wrist. I like going over and talking to her, but not at that expense.

I really don’t like fire ants.

Jim

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I hope you feel better soon, Jim, I hate the munsters too, and they are difficult to kill as well. My mother in law once told me to put uncooked grits on top of the mounds, supposedly they swell up and croak. Nope, they had the time of their nasty little lives AND invited friends over for an unexpected feast! :frowning:

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I was once attacked by the little bastards while living in Florida. The bites kinda hurt while they were on me, but didn’t hurt me nearly as much as the friend I was with. I also suffered no lasting effects - no marks or hives or anything. My friend had to go to the doctor because it took so long for the bites to heal.

Poison ivy does the same thing to me - that is, nothing. Same with gnats/blackflies - yeah, they bother me when they fly into my eyeballs, but I don’t receive welts from them.

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Anti Pro, I’m fine. I control them fairly well in my own yard, but you never can tell where you are going to run across the little munsters. I’ll remember about the grits. Your mother-in-law told you to do that, huh? Hmmm??

sandyr, poison ivy doesn’t effect me at all. Mosquitoes and biting flies leave an ichy spot for a half hour or so. But these guys hurt when they bite and then the pain goes away fairly quickly. The next day, however, I have red welts with little pus filled blisters at each bite. And since I scratch at things like that I end up with little sores all over.

Did I mention that I didn’t like these things at all?

Jim

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JimB, I went a few rounds with the little buggers as a kid. NOT a fun experience.

Don’t think the grits work. Amdro is pretty good.

Regarding the ant bites, I’ve been told if you wash with bleach just after the bite, you can neutralize the toxin (?) and prevent blisters.

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Fire Ant?
What the hell is a fire ant? Can someone please supply a description for these nasty sounding little buggers as I have never heard of them before. We probably have them or something similar over here by another name.
Hope you feel better soon.

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Tisme, they’re nasty little ants, dark colored, found mostly in Texas and southern states here in the US. They’re a big problem in Mexico as well. They get their name from the fact that most people, when bitten by them, feel a sensation like fire at the bite site. I’m afraid I know a lot more about these nasties than I’d like to.

Jim, I can really empathize with you. Back when I was a newlywed, and Mr Bear had gone overseas for a year, I was out in the backyard one day trimming the hedges. I was wearing shorts, t-shirt, and flip flops. First mistake.

Second mistake: didn’t look down at every area I was working in. Got into trimming, and forgot. Discovered the hard way that the little nasties were taking over the backyard. They apparently crawl all over you, surreptitiously, and then at some silent signal, all bite you at once. I looked down at the sudden sensation of being on fire, to see my legs covered with them.

Ran for the hose, turned it on full blast on myself, tears running down at the increasing pain in my legs. Our nextdoor neighbor saw my predicament and came over to help. She had me take some meat tenderizer and enough water to make a paste, and put it on the bites. After it dried, we washed it off <gently!> and re-applied again. By the third application the fire was gone, and so was a lot of the swelling. My feet were still swollen enough that I couldn’t wear other shoes for several days.

Most recently: my daughter is allergic to their bite. Once, she got 2 bites on the top of her foot; it swelled up enough that she was unable to wear shoes for days, and the entire area became red and inflamed. Huge pus pockets too. So, now we’re real careful with her outside. She’s had a few other reactions, and they’re beginning to get worse each time.

One last tip for you: I have found that by carefully sticking a sterilized needle in the pus pocket and draining out as much as you can, you will speed up the recovery time by days, and lessen the pain as well. I have had to do that more than once to each site to my daughter, but once was sufficient for the rest of us.

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Irishman, I’ll give the bleach a try next time encounter them.

Tisme, I don’t know whether you would have any of them down under, but they are called imported fire ants. I don’t know where we imported them from but they are still pissed about it.

They are pretty much all over the southern US but Texas is especially bad. They are small redish to dark brown ants with an attitude. A mound as big around as a dinner plate can appear overnight. When it is disturbed, they immediately call all their friends together and attack whatever is around. It may be the lawn mower or a car. You can be covered with them in a matter of minutes and they bite. A lot.

Here’s a link to the FAQ page from Texas A&M about fire ants.

Jim

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Purplebear, I know what you mean. Sometimes their mounds don’t rise above the grass level so that you realize you are standing in the middle of them. But they’ll let you know if you are.

Jim

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<reaching down to rub her legs at the memory and in sympathy to Jim> Ain’t that the truth! :slight_smile:

So, are you feeling better?

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Ouch!!! Ants, especially fire ants, love me. If there’s one nearby, I guarantee it’ll hunt me done and bite me. I get those really gross blisters too. The funny thins is that ants love me and mosquitos don’t. I never get bit by a mosquito.

I noticed the other day a small mound in my back yard. Being a first time homeowner, I wasn’t sure what to do about it. I was still trying to figure out what to do about 'em when Chemlawn came by a couple of days later. I don’t know what they did but the ants and the mound are gone.

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I really should use spell check. :frowning:

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I’m getting jimmielegs just reading this thread!

This weekend, my room-mate and I got rid of two hives of the little buggers–one the size of a dinner plate, the other the size of a large serving platter (as long as we’re going with the servingware theme).

We didn’t use grits (they don’t work), we used fireworks. Fight fire with fire, I suppose (sorry).
We took bottle rockets, broke them apart to reveal JUST the rocket–not the sparks, and cut the stick in half. Stuck it firmly into the anthill, lit it and ran.

I hadn’t played with fireworks since I was 15. Such fun!

Anyway, the rocket flared but didn’t shoot into the air, and filled the hill with flame and smoke. Worked like a charm and really pissed the little bastards off.

Side note: My room-mate got bitten five times. I escaped scot-free.

I haven’t seen any on those hills since.

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Fire what?! What ants?! I’ve never encountered such a thing! Thank goodness I live in New England - we hardly have anything that bites us. JimB & purplebear, you have opened my eyes. If I needed another reason not to move to Texas…well, I don’t.:wink: Hope you feel better soon JimB!

Uh, needles? Pus? Ack!

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They are my worst enemy. They kept me from moving back to Charleston the third time. Told the Navy, I’ll be glad to stay in Norfolk. Hubby was on Subs. All he had to worry about was the Alligators…

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I like to make “bonfire ants”. A little gasoline on the mound (OK, alot of gasoline on the mound). Let it soak in good. Apply fire. Sit in lawnchair with cold drink and listen to the satisfying pop and crackle of fire ant flambe. It’s not real good for the grass, but man it’s fun!

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LOL! I did the same thing with methanol - I poured about a half pint into their nest, and lit it. It made a little, memorial “Eternal Flame” that came out of the ground, and lasted for a good 10 minutes of so. They all died.

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Black12 & Purplebear, I’m fine. I didn’t scratch at them enough to make to many sores, so, my legs just look like I was attacked by a red magic marker.

Grace, I always keep fire ant killer around. At first site of a mound, I cover them with the stuff. It keeps them at bay, anyway.

I’ve considered the fire approach, but it does mess up the lawn. However, the satisfaction could be worth it.

Jim

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I live in Ohio so I have never had the joy of dealing with fire ants, but I hear they are indeed nasty.

I wonder if tea tree oil would help with burns from their bites?

I have been burned while cooking and firefighting (OK I’m making the firefighting thing up) and I found out by accident that tea tree oil applied to the burn takes away the pain instantly. I had hot grease splatter on my fingers and although not blistered much at all, they hurt so bad I coldn’t take my hand out of the ice water for hours. I was looking for my aloe vera gel when I saw the tea tree oil. I figured it couldn’t hurt so I put a couple of drops on the blisters and the pain went away instantly. In the moring there was one tiny blister left and it dried up and healed in one day.

I swear it worked just like a miracle or even a mojo maybe.

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My, you do live in the city, dontcha? Come on up to the North Shore and sample the mosquitos, greenheads, deerfly, and ticks. OK, not as toxic as fireants, but the skeeters have chased me inside on many an occasion.