And now, let's talk about fire ants (houses, buy)

[Group Hug]

As a continuing quest to find out and mentally prepare for any terrible negatives about ATL metro before I actually experience them, I present to you the topic of fire ants. How likely am I to be stung? Do they commonly get into houses?

How often would you say you're stung? Once a week... month... year?

I need to know.

P.S. Just for fun, tell me some "negative" surprises you found here if you're a transplant.

[cwkimbro]

I haven't had fire ant bites since I was a kid to be honest.

In the right time of year I can find some small ant hills hidden in the grass, but they really are a you don't them and they bother you. I don't even need to look out them and I can play around in the yard. I really would have to go out of my way to sit or stand on these small mounds to get a bite.

Now one time when I was a kid, this did happen. There was a sizable mound in my church parking lot and it was mostly hidden by pinestraw and I had them all over my shoe and I got a good many bites before I got them all off of me. It isn't anything like getting stung by a bee, but you gets small red dots just a few millimeters wide at each bite and it is like having an itchy rash for a couple days and you feel the pinch with the bite.

Truthfully though I never think about it much. I'm more worried about accidentally running into a wasp nest or getting mosquito bites. The mosquitoes are common, but not near as bad as Florida.

I've never had trouble with fire ants getting in the house, but I have had black ants in the past. I don't know if there is a reason for it or it black ants are just more common. However, for the last 5 or 6 years we get a quarterly pest spray treatment for the house on the outside perimeter and it has worked wonders.

It isn't that a bug never gets in at all, but it is the few times they do... they quickly die. This means they don't live in your house or breed. The ants also don't go back and bring their friends. They really do play follow the leader and travel in lines. It is actually amusing to watch them.

I've never had a huge problem with them in my yard, but if you do you just buy a powder and lightly pour over the mound. You can walk up to them safely, worry free. Just don't step on them and stand there. If you do step on what you have a few moments to move and they don't exactly travel fast. Just leave them be for awhile.

Where are you from?

[bryantm3]

it seems to me like they're not around anymore. you used to see mounds and mounds everywhere... some feet high. i haven't seen a mound in a few years now.

however, fire ants can be very dangerous. they only attack you if you step directly into their mound; they don't get out and get into your home or anything, but if you step in their mound and don't get out of the way, they will climb up your leg and sting the hell out of you. i have heard of small children and elderly people being stung by so many they go into shock or die, but that's if you stand in the mound for minutes at a time without realizing what's going on— most people obviously see what's going on and get out of the way.

we have more problems with non-stinging ants to be honest. in the summer they start marching in through cracks in the walls and eating stuff. they don't sting, of course, but it can get pretty irritating to come into the kitchen in the morning and find them all over your countertop.

[MattCW]

Fire ants are pretty civil ants actually, you leave them alone, and they leave you alone. The black ants that bryantm andcwkimbro mention get everywhere however! They also do bite, though not as bad as fire ants, and certainly not in swarms. There's supposed to be another ant, called the crazy ant, heading this way that is apparently worse than the black ants we have now. They don't bite either, but apparently they get EVERYWHERE and are pushing the fire ants out. I never thought I'd be rooting for the fire ants, but I'd rather have ants that you can avoid than ones you can't!

[Clayton white guy]

You will not be bothered by fire ants if you avoid/ treat their large and obvious mounds. Mosquitoes on the other hand, just wear OFF or Skin-So Soft every time you go out in warm weather, or you will be eaten alive and carried off!

[DJDeadParrot]

Most all of the above about fire ants is true. Its not difficult to spot the mounds, either; its the orange bit [Georgia dirt-colored] in a sea of manicured green grass.

There are species of ants in Georgia that are far more insidious when it comes to home invasion. While there's a 101 ways to deal with an invasion, the best method is prevention. Don't keep kitchen trash in the home, or half-eaten food laying around. Or just pony up for pest control treatment around your dwelling.

As a transplant, it was the yellow jackets that I found to be much more problematic. And I'm not talking about Georgia Tech grads. I'm talking about extremely aggressive stinging insects that live underground.

[ElleKaye]

I'm not exactly sure if I had fire ants, but I have had two different instances of an ant issue.

The first was a trail of ants marching from the kitchen up a couple of steps into the wall next to the laundry room. I really forget what I tried at first, but spraying Windex into their line completely ended the problem.

The next was what could only be described as a full blown ant hill outside. I bought a product from either Home Depot or Lowe's in a green container. The contents were little balls of something offwhite that I sprinkled on top of the mound. It worked.

As far as unexpexted pests go, I'm don't remember what it is called but it has the body that looks similar to a roach, legs all around like a spider, and moves extremely fast. At the time when I was trying to figure out what on earth it could be, I read that it kills something else that sounded worse. I have only seen them when I lived near water and maybe only three ever.

[ElleKaye]

Oh, one thing I saw that I did expect was outrageously high gas bills. All electric has become a requirement.

[Group Hug]

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

I haven't had fire ant bites since I was a kid to be honest.

Where are you from?

I'm from Central Illinois.

Yuck... black ants. Are they the big, black ants? Or the teeny tiny kind you can barely see?

You need mosquito repellant during the day around here in the summer???? We had mosquitos back where I'm from, but you only needed repellant in the evening, and only if you were going to be spending serious time outdoors.

We have a pest control company, thankfully, so if I'm lucky maybe I won't see any ants this summer.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by Group Hug

You need mosquito repellant during the day around here in the summer???? We had mosquitos back where I'm from, but you only needed repellant in the evening, and only if you were going to be spending serious time outdoors.

Mosquitos here are pretty much like mosquitos elsewhere I would imagine. Usually worse in the evening, unless you happen to be hanging around standing water or a marshy area.

We use a service that sprays in the mosquito season and that seems to eliminate them. For some reason they don't bother me too much -- I must not be tasty.

Years ago I had some fire ants out at the farm but we zapped them and haven't seen them again.