Fireants???

[DonCorleone]

Originally Posted by Melwhit

Ok we just moved here and you can laugh if you want but...... are there really armadillos here?
Let me get this straight there are: brown recluse, black widows, copperheads, fire ants and lots of tornados. Is there anything else that wants to kill and/or seriously hurt me that i should be aware of here? (I still love it though!)

Possums.

I've seen 1 armadillo here and probably 1,000 possums.

People get worked up over the critters around here...but it's no different than anywhere else. I've seen maybe a half dozen brown recluses, no black widows, no poisonous snakes, a half dozen fire ants, and...well tornados are inevitable. And I'm 31 and lived here all my life.

Oh, and don't forget skunks. We have them too.

[mbmouse]

You want to know what Tennesseans call armadillos?




Possum on a half shell






Sorry, just had to throw that in here.
Very interesting on both the fire ants and the armadillos. Am I correct that these critters are new to this part of the country in the last century or so?
We don't have either this far east (North East TN), should we be expecting them any time in the next century I wonder?
Good info all, thanks.

[one2think]

Well, this fireant thing is more of a I need to know b/c I am VERY allergic to them as in go in to anaphylactic shock so I gotta carry an epi-pen in case I get bit kind of an allergy.

[DonCorleone]

Originally Posted by mbmouse

Am I correct that these critters are new to this part of the country in the last century or so?
We don't have either this far east (North East TN), should we be expecting them any time in the next century I wonder?
Good info all, thanks.

Fireants, yes...armadillos, I don't know. From what I've read fireants are a product of increased plant imports from Central America and Mexico. They started out in the southwest, then have moved further and further northeast over the decades. I wouldn't be surprised if you guys don't get them soon.

Originally Posted by one2think

Well, this fireant thing is more of a I need to know b/c I am VERY allergic to them as in go in to anaphylactic shock so I gotta carry an epi-pen in case I get bit kind of an allergy.

It's a valid concern for you, of course. I don't know how widespread they are in Middle TN. I've only seen 6-10 nests and that's all around new construction in Williamson County. I live in Sumner County to the north and have never seen any fireants. While some counties have been quarantined because of fireants, keep in mind that it only means that plants being exported from those counties must be inspected to make sure they don't have fireants in their root stocks before being sent elsewhere. It's not like they're so prevalent that there are roadblocks set up around those counties or anything (as the name suggests).

If you've been stung by them before, obviously you know what not to do...my understanding is as long as you're aware of your surroundings and don't step on their giant dirt-mound looking hives, you're not going to get stung. They're aggressive, but only if provoked. But I'm no entymologist, just my personal experience.

[JoAnn5]

We have a special person who goes to the school playgrounds and checks for fireant hills. I live in a southernmost county along the Alabama line, so maybe they are more common here than in Nashville area.

[skinem]

Originally Posted by mbmouse

Am I correct that these critters are new to this part of the country in the last century or so?

I don't know about the fireants, but the armadillos have only been in my neck of the woods (Lincoln County) for roughly 10 years. I have relatives 30-50 miles south of here and have been seeing them dead along the roads down there for 20 years.

So using that highly scientific method, I guess they are moving 50 miles north every 10 years! Look out, Toronto!

[DonCorleone]

Originally Posted by JoAnn5

We have a special person who goes to the school playgrounds and checks for fireant hills. I live in a southernmost county along the Alabama line, so maybe they are more common here than in Nashville area.

I think you're right. I saw a map on TV once that showed the quarantined counties and they seemed to be mostly along the southern border of TN with MS and AL.