Fire Ants

Here is some Fire Ants vital statistics:

Species name: Solenopsis invicta

Description of Fire Ants:

• Small 2-6 mm


• Variety of sizes within each nest


• Head and body are coppery-brown, abdomen is darker


• Aggressive, particularly near the nest


• Inflict a painful ant fire sting

Nests

• Contain a range of ant sizes


• No obvious entry or exit holes


• Various shapes and sizes


• Often appear as dome-shaped mounds, up to 40 cm
high

Similar species:

Fire ants are easily confused with the common brown ant and other local native ants.

Location of nests:

Fire ant mounds are not always obvious, but are usually found in open areas such as lawns, pastures, along roadsides and on unused cropland.

Fire ant nests are also found next to, or beneath, other objects found on the ground, such as timber, logs, rocks, paving slabs or bricks.

Fire ants nests are also found in buildings and near electrical equipment.

Conversely, ant fire mounds are rarely found in frequently cultivated areas.

Human health

Fire ants inflict an ant fire sting, which can cause a severe acute allergic reaction (anaphylaxis). If you are stung, you should apply first aid. Seek medical attention if you are allergic to insect stings.

Fire ants nests look like dome-shaped mounds that are raised from the ground. Those fire ants nests that are found on the ground are usually oblong in shape.

One important distinction about fire ant nests is that they have no exit hole at the top but there will however be several exit holes around the sides of the mound.

If you watch closely, you should easily see the ants entering and exiting through these holes.

Depending on the type of soil, fire ants nests mounds can reach up to 18 inches high. Fire ants prefer to live in areas where the ground is damp and with water nearby.

When the weather becomes hot and dry, fire ants will burrow deep underground to locate the cooler temperatures. Conversely When it's cold, they tunnel up to warmer areas of the ground.

Fire ants are most active in the spring and autumn (fall) when the weather is warm and damp, perfect for building their nests and foraging for food.

Fire ants nests can be found just about anywhere. They'll build their nests in places ranging from the wide open space in the middle of your garden, especially your lawn, to the inside of the television inside your house!

Be especially careful to keep a watch for these mounds whenever you work in your garden. Your garden may be nice and fire ant free today but have a significant fire ants mound next week!

It is important to be on the look out for fire ants whenever you are outside. If you unknowingly stand on a fire ant mound or on one of its tunnels, you could find yourself covered in fire ants before you know it.

Since fire ants are so small, they are difficult to feel on your skin. Usually, they can be on you for 10 seconds or more before they begin to bite, by which time you could have hundreds of fire ants inside your clothes - and they will all begin to sting at once!

Each fire ant can sting you several times before you can do anything about it, so keeping your wits about you and quickly brushing them off is about all you can do at that point.

Lye

Lye is an inexpensive, environmentally safe and natural fire ant killer. The way to use it is to melt half a bar of lye soap in 5 gallons of water. Be sure to wear rubber gloves and protect your eyes with safety goggles. Be very careful handling lye as it is highly caustic and can cause burns.

Pour the solution in a circle around the ant mound to prevent fire ants from escaping, then stir them up and give them a thorough drenching. This will kill the fire ants instantly without polluting your garden or harming your pets.

Boiling Water

Pouring boiling water on a colony of fire ants has been recommended as a non-chemical solution to get rid of the nest. But if it doesn't kill the queen, it will not eliminate the colony, so be warned.

To use boiling water as a method, start with a cool, sunny day when the fire ants are most active. Pour around 3 gallons of truly boiling water slowly over the mound.

Some fire ants are capable of survive for up to 14 days underwater, so the key word here is boiling. The fire ants will die from being scorched, not drowned. Be careful not to scald yourself in the process! Try to collapse as much of the fire ants mound as possible while pouring on the boiling water. The ants, their larvae and their food store are all scalded and dead within seconds.

Drowning Them

Although this is not entirely effective, it may help when only one or two fire ant mounds are found. You simply dig up the colony and dump the whole thing into a five gallon bucket filled with very hot soapy water and let it sit for 24 hours. The temperature of the water combined with the soap should will hopefully kill them.

Caution: Disturbing a fire ants nest will cause them to swarm their invader, so you should take caution to prevent being stung while you're trying to get rid of the fire ants.

What do you do when you are stung by a fire ant? Well, these nasty little insects are certainly no angel for animals, so you'll need something to treat the sting as quickly as possible.

Well, one way to calm down a fire ant sting is the same remedy you'd use on a wasp or bee sting and that's vinegar!

Yep, dab some neat white wine or cider vinegar directly onto the skin where you were stung and the vinegar will sooth and nullify the effect of the fire ant sting fairly quickly.

After that you could break a small piece of Aloe Vera plant and rub the mucous-like sap onto the skin which will soothe the area and help the skin heal much faster and without infection.

If you can't lay your hands on Aloe Vera, then dabbing on a little Manuka honey (make sure its the good stuff with a rating of 15 or above for the best antibacterial properties) is another good way to help the skin heal quickly.

Or what you should NOT do with fire ants and their nests!

Because of their aggressive nature coupled with almost crazed warlike temperaments when anyone or anything interferes with their nests, the main thing you should never do with fire ants is mess with their nest!

Don't fool yourself by thinking you can poke a stick at it and run away before the firey little critters come out to see what the commotion is all about! You'll be happily poking away and not see the crafty ants creep up on you from behind and ZANG! You'll be sorry!

... more to follow ...