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Old 04-28-2011, 12:18 AM
 
Location: Sarasota, Florida
15,395 posts, read 22,432,455 times
Reputation: 11134

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Fire Ants are just horrendous.....Florida is infested with them.........they are extremely aggressive and have killed many people.

I work in Rehabilitation Nursing and a poor young man got drunk, fell into a mound of Fire Ants and was stung so much he went into anaphylactic shock....he died after 9 months.

They are impossible to erradicate and are slowly expanding their range across most of the United State's warmer regions.

After reading this article.....about how they survive floods and can raft to a new location; I won't be surprised if they find a way to estivate and survive colder climates. Let's hope not!!!!!

Not only have they killed pets, people and wild animals but they cause over 6 BILLION dollars a year in damage just in the South Eastern United States.


Ferry Tale: Fire Ants Aggregate into Living Rafts to Escape Floods: Scientific American

Solenopsis invicta Buren, 1972 - Encyclopedia of Life

Global Rise of the Fire Ant? Blame U.S. Trade: Scientific American Podcast

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_ant

Radcliffe's IPM World Textbook | CFANS | University of Minnesota.

eMJA: Anaphylaxis due to Red Imported Fire Ant sting

University of Texas Red Imported Fire Ant RIFA (Solenopsis invicta) Phorid fly (Pseudacteon) Research Project FAQ

http://www.esd.ornl.gov/facilities/nerp/fire_ants.pdf

Anaphylactic shock definition - Allergies: Allergy Symptoms, Treatment, and Medications on MedicineNet.com


YouTube - a floating fire ant raft is pushed down on the surface of water


YouTube - Ants create a lifeboat in the Amazon jungle - BBC wildlife


YouTube - a fire ant ball is pushed underwater part 1


YouTube - a fire ant ball is pushed underwater part 2


YouTube - Fire ants vs humans - BBC


YouTube - Lord of the Ants

They are nearly indestructible and can survive even underwater.

I hope you enjoyed my thread and Please feel free to comment.
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Old 04-28-2011, 12:39 AM
 
Location: Destrehan, Louisiana
2,189 posts, read 7,029,488 times
Reputation: 3636
I could have told you this. When we first flooded in 1985 I thought that snakes would be a big problem because we live surrounded but swamp in South East Louisiana.

Walking waste deep in the flood water we had to deal with floating mounds of fire ants and let tell you they were every where and impossible to avoid.


busta
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Old 04-29-2011, 03:51 AM
 
Location: Sarasota, Florida
15,395 posts, read 22,432,455 times
Reputation: 11134
Quote:
Originally Posted by bustaduke View Post
I could have told you this. When we first flooded in 1985 I thought that snakes would be a big problem because we live surrounded but swamp in South East Louisiana.

Walking waste deep in the flood water we had to deal with floating mounds of fire ants and let tell you they were every where and impossible to avoid.


busta
I already knew it too......but many posters don't even know about Fire Ants......let alone their survival tactics/behaviors....and how dangerous they are to people etcetera.

I've seen it here when our yard flooded once about 20 years ago but assumed it was long documented...... but apparently researchers are just now studying the strategy that fire ants deploy.

Sounds like a terrifying experience wading through water infested with angry fire ants.

When I first moved to Florida I was unfamilar with their aggressiveness and got bitten often. To me it felt like being pinched with Vise Grip Pliers that were heated red hot and locked onto your flesh.

Also if you step on their nests........you sink into their loose mounds and are covered with thousands of them in a matter of seconds.
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Old 04-29-2011, 03:08 PM
 
17,183 posts, read 22,751,203 times
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We don't have this particular problem in the north. I first encountered them when we moved to Louisiana. I had never seen them. They are horrible here in Houston as well. I got bitten pretty horribly when I stepped on a nest in a parking lot here. Luckily others were around to help clean them off me.
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Old 04-29-2011, 04:30 PM
 
15,913 posts, read 20,113,661 times
Reputation: 7693
Living in South Texas fire ants are a way of life.... After a good rain all those mounds popping up in the yard. My neighbor stepped in a mound and went into toxic shock, they did save him at the hospital..

Yeah I've seen these fire ant rafts...

Between the fire ants and scorpions here God should be paying us combat pay for living here....

LMAO, fire ants vs humans, humans will loose every time.
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Old 04-29-2011, 04:42 PM
 
Location: Between Seattle and Portland
1,266 posts, read 3,212,473 times
Reputation: 1525
Yeah, those videos were simply amazing to watch and reaffirm my belief that, in the event of SHTF where humans die out, it won't be cockroaches that become the dominant life form left.

Thank God I live far enough north that it's going to take some serious global warming and years of them being on the march before they show up here.
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Old 04-29-2011, 04:56 PM
 
Location: Las Flores, Orange County, CA
26,338 posts, read 93,407,924 times
Reputation: 17827
Quote:
Originally Posted by PITTSTON2SARASOTA View Post

They are impossible to erradicate
Not necessarily. It might be easier and quicker to terraform Mars, but there may be a natural way to get rid of them:


YouTube - Invasive Fire Ants Lose Heads to Flies

ARS: Natural Enemies (http://www.ars.usda.gov/fireant/natural.htm - broken link)

ARS: decapitating flies (http://www.ars.usda.gov/fireant/phorid.htm - broken link)
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Old 04-29-2011, 05:48 PM
 
Location: Destrehan, Louisiana
2,189 posts, read 7,029,488 times
Reputation: 3636
Quote:
Originally Posted by PITTSTON2SARASOTA View Post
I already knew it too......but many posters don't even know about Fire Ants......let alone their survival tactics/behaviors....and how dangerous they are to people etcetera.

I've seen it here when our yard flooded once about 20 years ago but assumed it was long documented...... but apparently researchers are just now studying the strategy that fire ants deploy.

Sounds like a terrifying experience wading through water infested with angry fire ants.

When I first moved to Florida I was unfamilar with their aggressiveness and got bitten often. To me it felt like being pinched with Vise Grip Pliers that were heated red hot and locked onto your flesh.

Also if you step on their nests........you sink into their loose mounds and are covered with thousands of them in a matter of seconds.

All it takes is for one to bite me and I immediately feel a tingling traveling up my spine. The night it flooded and I got bit a lot I had to take benadryl because of the bites. And I almost forgot, the only reason fire ants bite is to hold on so they can sting you just like a wasp.

I have pictures somewhere from when they opened the spillway two years ago of fire ants floating in mounds. If I find the I will post a few.

When we were kids we use to take dead lizards and frogs etc. and place them on top of mounds and within a day or two they would be cleaned to the bone.

busta
Attached Thumbnails
A Grim Ferry Tale: Fire Ants Aggregate Into Living Rafts To Escape Floods!-floating-fire-ants.jpg  

Last edited by bustaduke; 04-29-2011 at 06:02 PM.. Reason: add picture
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Old 04-30-2011, 12:43 AM
 
Location: Sarasota, Florida
15,395 posts, read 22,432,455 times
Reputation: 11134
Quote:
Originally Posted by plwhit View Post
Living in South Texas fire ants are a way of life.... After a good rain all those mounds popping up in the yard. My neighbor stepped in a mound and went into toxic shock, they did save him at the hospital..

Yeah I've seen these fire ant rafts...

Between the fire ants and scorpions here God should be paying us combat pay for living here....

LMAO, fire ants vs humans, humans will loose every time.
Fire Ants and Scorpions......both here also. But now people have let their pet Pythons loose in the Everglades.....they have now established themselves.

We cannot erradicate the Pythons and they are migrating through the Everglades(to become a top predator) into Central/South Florida........

Humans brought fire ants here by accident.....killer bees too....but the Pythons are really the result of totally irresponsible and dim witted people.....and now everyone suffers.



YouTube - Killer Aliens: Gator vs. Python


YouTube - NATURE | Invasion of the Giant Pythons | Gator vs Python | PBS


YouTube - Python vs Alligator 01


YouTube - Dangerous Invaders - Part 02


YouTube - Dangerous Invaders - Part 03

YouTube - Dangerous Invaders - Part 04 (Part four did not embed)


YouTube - Dangerous Invaders - Part 05


YouTube - Dangerous Invaders - Part 06
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Old 04-30-2011, 12:48 AM
 
Location: Sarasota, Florida
15,395 posts, read 22,432,455 times
Reputation: 11134
Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles View Post
Not necessarily. It might be easier and quicker to terraform Mars, but there may be a natural way to get rid of them:


YouTube - Invasive Fire Ants Lose Heads to Flies

ARS: Natural Enemies (http://www.ars.usda.gov/fireant/natural.htm - broken link)

ARS: decapitating flies (http://www.ars.usda.gov/fireant/phorid.htm - broken link)
I know about the Phorid Flies but IMHO....it's WAY TOO LITTLE and WAY TOO LATE.

Phoridae - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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