The fire ant queens are swarming again...

[Pisces]

...and they are all in my pool. Hundreds of them. Ugh. I'm out gleefully kicking the stragglers crawling around the deck into the water to DROWN. I hate fire ants. Arrghhh...glad when this is over, but happy to kill my share before they make their evil little mounds.

 

[Ohm_Boy]

Amdro is your friend.

 

[Pisces]

LOL, Ohm_Boy.....you ain't kidding!! We do "search and destroy" missions constantly down here..grrr...I was so happy to be pushing a ton of them into the skimmers...Buh bye, evil ankle biters!

 

[MikeInTN]

Thankfully they haven't made their way this far north yet, but it's just a matter of time. I actually saw my first ant mound a month or so ago while I was in Jackson, MS for work. The mound had a dead mockingbird lying on top of it - figured the mockingbird tried to eat some ants, and ended up the main course itself.

 

[sammm]

With all the heavy rains we've been getting, that really pushes the ants up to the surface to create mounds.

 

[coastal]

Next is the love bugs

I like washing my car but every day????

 

[Pisces]

Thankfully they haven't made their way this far north yet, but it's just a matter of time. I actually saw my first ant mound a month or so ago while I was in Jackson, MS for work. The mound had a dead mockingbird lying on top of it - figured the mockingbird tried to eat some ants, and ended up the main course itself.

Gulp!! Oh, I don't doubt that at all...they're VICIOUS as well as evil! Poor mockingbird...got much more than he bargained for. Mike...unfortunately, I guess it's inevitable they'll migrate, but just MAYBE not...they may not like the cold that much!!

 

[Pisces]

Sammm and Coastal...no kidding, right? Ugh. We need the rain but not the ants. And LOVE BUGS?!! Who invented THOSE things? I actually saw some yesterday too...flying around, doing the tango...so I kicked some of THEM in the pool, too! Sheesh...lemme get out the Pam and spray the front of the car now....

 

[257WbyMag]

Thankfully they haven't made their way this far north yet, but it's just a matter of time. I actually saw my first ant mound a month or so ago while I was in Jackson, MS for work. The mound had a dead mockingbird lying on top of it - figured the mockingbird tried to eat some ants, and ended up the main course itself.

Yeah Mike, enjoy it while it lasts. Once they get there, you will long for the old days of being ant-free.

It's sad, on our ranch property, we used to have tons of quail and horned lizards. About 5 years ago, I began seeing the fire ants out there at about the same time that I saw the quail and horned lizard populations waning. I can only surmise that these are directly related. With quail being ground nesting birds, it would only make sense that they would suffer. Horned lizards exist on a diet of harvester ants. A biologist told me that they can't handle the venom from the fire ant though and that it kills them. Breaks my heart.

 

[MikeInTN]

Thankfully they haven't made their way this far north yet, but it's just a matter of time. I actually saw my first ant mound a month or so ago while I was in Jackson, MS for work. The mound had a dead mockingbird lying on top of it - figured the mockingbird tried to eat some ants, and ended up the main course itself.

Yeah Mike, enjoy it while it lasts. Once they get there, you will long for the old days of being ant-free.

It's sad, on our ranch property, we used to have tons of quail and horned lizards. About 5 years ago, I began seeing the fire ants out there at about the same time that I saw the quail and horned lizard populations waning. I can only surmise that these are directly related. With quail being ground nesting birds, it would only make sense that they would suffer. Horned lizards exist on a diet of harvester ants. A biologist told me that they can't handle the venom from the fire ant though and that it kills them. Breaks my heart.

Yep, you surmise correctly. I read a report on fire ants one time that mentioned how once they became established in Georgia they decimated the quail population there. They're south of Nashville right now, and I live about 15 miles northeast, so it's just a matter of time.