As if they weren’t hard enough to get rid of already, it seems fire ants can ride out floods (such as the one currently occurring in South Carolina) by forming themselves into living rafts:
Speaking as a Texas resident who’s gotten stung by these spawns of Satan a few times, I say nuke 'em from orbit; it’s the only way to be sure.
Cool.
Must be rough for the guys on the bottom. :dubious:
Lots of lettle feets padlin really fast…
I love that the article says people should avoid them.
I gua-ran-god-damn-tee that anyone that’s ever encountered fire ants knows that.
The last sentence of that article is, indeed, a nightmare trigger.
There’s a way to get them on the ground, and get a pretty piece of art in the bargain.
Our old logistics base had a bunch of fire ant nests on it. One of our expat guys once stepped on one while wearing flip-flops.
Once.
[quote=“Johnny_L.A, post:8, topic:733739”]
[/QUOTE]Is it just me, or does the girl in that scene look a whole lot like Balok from Star Trek?
[quote=“Johnny_L.A, post:8, topic:733739”]
[/QUOTE]Bernie Sanders was in the movies?
It was Clint Howard in drag.
Perhaps you are correct, Sir or Madame.
OTOH, it may be baby fat.
It is definitely not giant ants.
See, if you were a Louisiana resident, you’d probably already have known about the rafts, and also that nuking them would probably just spread the little bastards further. All this crap you guys are discovering, I grew up with, because Louisiana is the northern hemisphere’s mini-Australia. 
When we got floods, they were backwater floods, not flash floods. They rose inexorably, then stayed high for weeks or months. As a kid, I often paddled a boat over a substantial stretch of deeply flooded road to a highway so I could get to school. Fire ant rafts were a common (and dreaded) sight. You did not want to bump into them or get your paddle in contact with the raft.
The last time we discussed this, I posted some links to videos and images. Just in case reading about them isn’t enough for nightmares.
See, I would think the raft’d be great - douse it in gasoline and light a match. Torch the little bastards without worrying about setting your lawn on fire.
I’m calling on Nikki Haley to arm the National Guard with flamethrowers and turn 'em loose. Who’s with me?
Or we use the ants against the Taliban.
I first heard of this in 1969, when reports from survivors of Camille told about the horror of trying to survive during the night, flood waters forcing them to trees, or roofs, attics, and fighting rafts of fire ants all night long. I remember thinking that there couldn’t be anything worse. Trying to survive a hurricane, at night, cold, wet, desperate, howling wind and rain, and just when you find a spot that you won’t die in, here comes a raft of angry, biting and stinging hell on Earth
This triggers fond memories :dubious: of living near Houston during flood season* and having rafts of fire ants on a Voyage of the Damned through our yard.
One time in the wake of an incredible thunderstorm deluge I had to call in to work explaining that I couldn’t make it because of flooding which stranded me at home (couldn’t hike out to higher ground because of the fire ant armada). A co-worker expressed skepticism the next day since his neighborhood on the other side of town was practically dry. His eyes bugged out when I showed him photos of what we dubbed “Lake Edna”.
*this is basically 365 days a year, and overlaps with drought season.
Wait, everyone has known about this since at least 1969? Fer cryin’ out loud, would it kill ya to put me on the distribution list?
Anyway, if Donald Trump wants my vote, he’ll need to shut up about walling off Mexico and start talking about his plans regarding the Fire Ant Raft problem.
Lets make it even worse. Fire ants, when they first spread in the US, were found to be killing wildlife. They go after the newborn, who can’t run.
(warning, this is going to get far worse)
They kill and eat anything, including newborn mammals. And birds.
When I first heard this, in the 60s, it was horrible.
Then they noted, “they start with the eyes”, which has haunted me ever since. I can see a nest of baby rabbits, and the ants, going for the eyes.
Babies, with swarms of stinging ants on them, eating their eyes.
Thanks nature, for ruining my life.
Fire ants will be on this planet when everything else is gone. Their adaptability to any situation is scary.
Just think, first they get out of those flooded huge mounds without drowning and then make those rafts.
