poisonous spiders,Insects,and Fire Ants

[ddcatwoman]

LOL Then they'll need something to get rid of the flies.

[nascarnancy]

Originally Posted by Catrick

So we boiled water and put them down the mounds at the same time. Seems to work as long as you pour enough down there to burn/drown the suckers. We do it once a year but the mounds always pop up in a different area. So hopefully that means the others ones are totally detroyed. Just another option.

That's what we did at my mom's house, she had a couple of regular red ant hills. Just boiled a couple pots of water and poured it right down the hill. Never saw them again. Gives the grass a brown spot, but much better than having ants.

[Maveou]

Hi. I live in Walkertown near Kernersville, and last summer I found a trail of an ant I've never seen before. It looks like a hybrid between a fire ant and a black ant, with the rear black and the front dark, dark red or brown. When I came upon these ants they were trailing through my yard into my neighbors and back. I followed the trail for a couple of feet when all of the sudden these ants started jumping onto my shoes! I do mean literally jump, not running. They are extremely aggressive and followed me several feet if I started to move away ... and since I got so scared by them and their nest looked to be so huge (20+ holes within a 4-6 foot circle) I doused them with lighter fluid and set it on fire. (Probably a dumb thing to do, I didn't know what else!)
That did not work so I tried flooding them out ... a week later they had apparently disappeared but I am terrified of this ant! Can anyone please give me any information on this strange ant? I've lived here my entire life and have NEVER seen anything like it. Thank you for any help.

-L

[mm34b]

Fire Ant Infestation (Colored Areas)
Updated to February 2007



NC Department of Agriculture

[mm34b]

Originally Posted by Maveou

Hi. I live in Walkertown near Kernersville, and last summer I found a trail of an ant I've never seen before. It looks like a hybrid between a fire ant and a black ant, with the rear black and the front dark, dark red or brown. When I came upon these ants they were trailing through my yard into my neighbors and back. I followed the trail for a couple of feet when all of the sudden these ants started jumping onto my shoes! I do mean literally jump, not running. They are extremely aggressive and followed me several feet if I started to move away ... and since I got so scared by them and their nest looked to be so huge (20+ holes within a 4-6 foot circle) I doused them with lighter fluid and set it on fire. (Probably a dumb thing to do, I didn't know what else!)
That did not work so I tried flooding them out ... a week later they had apparently disappeared but I am terrified of this ant! Can anyone please give me any information on this strange ant? I've lived here my entire life and have NEVER seen anything like it. Thank you for any help.

-L

Hard to say. North Carolina has around 200 ant species. There is an imported black fire ant (Solenopsis richteri), but I'm not sure where their range is.

[Maveou]

Thank you! That at least gives me a starting place to try and figure out what it is. A friend of mine said he thought he knew, and that they were impossible to stop. Don't want these things coming into my house!

[mm34b]

Originally Posted by Maveou

Thank you! That at least gives me a starting place to try and figure out what it is. A friend of mine said he thought he knew, and that they were impossible to stop. Don't want these things coming into my house!

If you can get some in a jar, you could always run it by the local college for identification by their science department. You could also try your local ag. office:

Cooperative Extension Service
1450 Fairchild Road
Winston-Salem, NC 27105
(336) 703-2850
(336) 767-3557 FAX

[bugguy]

LOL....those ants aren't hybrids!! They are Red Imported Fire Ants!!

Originally Posted by Maveou

It looks like a hybrid between a fire ant and a black ant, with the rear black and the front dark, dark red or brown.