Published: April 30, 2008 11:20 am            

Monica Green: I don't like these Texan ants

Before coming to Texas I never heard of fire ants. Sure we had ants in Oklahoma, most of them were black or red and traveled in colonies.

As a child I liked to stomp down the ant hills when I found them in our backyard. Later on in my life I decided to leave them alone and let them live in peace.

How I only wish they would let us do the same.

While out taking pictures a few weeks ago, I felt a sting on my pinkie finger. Shocked, I looked down and saw a fire ant on my finger and a red welt beginning to form.

Over the next few days the small red welt turned into a huge blister. Needless to say I was not happy about this.

So when I felt a sharp tingling feeling on my legs Saturday while standing out on the curb in front of my parent’s house, I knew exactly what was happening.

Yelping, I looked down to see both my feet covered in fire ants. Unbeknownst to me, when I walked around to the passenger’s side of my boyfriend’s car I had walked right into their ant hill.

I started screaming and ran out into the middle of the road. I threw my shoes off and started throwing my legs around in the air, hoping to knock the ants off. The neighbors out in the yards began to look at me as I bent over and swatted them off my legs. My boyfriend picked up my shoes and started stomping them on the ground to get all the ants out.

Now my legs and feet are covered in those same blisters I experienced a few weeks ago. I’m making it my mission to learn more about these ants and how to prevent them from attacking me again.

Researching online, I discovered that the red imported fire ants were brought to the United States in the 1930s from South America.

Unfortunately they have an uncanny ability of surviving floods by molding themselves into living rafts. So much for trying to get rid of them by spraying them with a hose.

They tend to like electricity as much as humans. They have been known to eat through cable insulation on power lines, and they like to congregate on metal conductors.

So how do you get rid of the pesky critters? We have several options. The first step is to use a fire ant bait or some kind of fire ant killer. Place that over the hill or where they are found.

To prevent them from coming indoors, keep food in containers and clean on a regular basis to keep food and other particles from attracting them indoors.

If you can’t get rid of them yourself, help is available! The Texas AgriLife Extension has agents ready to help. Visit fireant.tamu.edu to learn about Texas imported fire ants.

        

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