Crazy ants are here

[Aerows]

In my area of Southwest, MS.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/attack-crazy-ants-ant-species-arrives-taste-electronics/story?id=19246157#.UcS2evkQa9E

Boric acid and normal insecticides seem to work on the damn things, but they can swarm in a minute.

[librechik]

1. that's a different critter from Electric Ants, right? There were highway signs warning against those

when I visited the great barrier reef in January.

http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/electric-ants-invade-australia-further.htm

[Aerows]

2. I like fire ants better

That should say something.

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

[Aerows]

3. Probably similar, now that I read about them

Good god. Ants, again. Well, if they get rid of the roaches, I'm fine with it.

[lapislzi]

6. Holy crap.

As if there weren't enough bizarre and deadly things in Australia, people have to go importing more?

[siligut]

4. Are they little red ants?

That is what Google shows when I ask for crazy ants. Fire ants are the bigger ones, I thought crazy ants were similar. Little swarming ants aren't as scary.

[Aerows]

5. Oh I beg to differ

They swarm in humongous numbers in seconds. That's what makes them "crazy".

I'm from the South, New Orleans, and can tell you all about the ball of fire ants that floats around when it floods. This happens when there is no water.

[siligut]

11. I was swarmed by fire ants after just running over a mound

I stepped on it once, quickly and had I not immediately torn off my sock and shoe, I would have not been able to walk later. I had not experienced a floating ball of them

I just wanted to know if they are little ants, because I imagined they were big.

[Aerows]

12. No, big balls of fire ants truly float around

When it floods. That's how they survive in a flood, they just crawl all over each other in a seething mass. Stay the hell away. I kid you not.

They look normal sized to me, on par with fire ants.

[Union Scribe]

36. OMG I thought you meant in the air

before I clicked you post. Just saw that subject line and

Not like what you're describing is much better, but I was about to Google "homemade flamethrower"

[Aerows]

15. Here's a pic of one

And another:



I love the South.

[siligut]

21. Wow! And if you touched it?

They would all glom onto you??!!?!

[Aerows]

22. I would stay the hell away

Because I have a shred of common sense. Do you want to touch that!?

[siligut]

24. On first sight, they look like a pile of rubies

I know a woman who bent over to pick up something shiny and it popped

[Aerows]

26. Cher, you touch that

You likely won't ever be able to bend over again!

[Aerows]

32. "picked up something shiny and it popped".

Clarification?

[siligut]

33. It was spittle

On the way to the pavement, the expectorate created a parachute. It popped when she reached down and tried to pick it up

[Aerows]

34. Good Lord have mercy

I'm impoverished of things to say.

[bunnies]

23. omg omg omg

You keep your crazy ass fire ants down there, pal! I'd lose my shit if I saw this:

[Aerows]

25. I saw a ball of them floating

that was the size of a basketball. I didn't want anything to do with that. It was floating like 2 feet away when it flooded. And yeah, that's not exactly an unusual picture.

[bunnies]

27. Did you grow up down there?

I just cant see that being something I could get used to. Massive mounds of nasty little ants writhing around on the water. Seriously. Do they do that in lakes and ponds too?

[Aerows]

28. Just when it floods

and yes, it floods more than I'd like and yes, I've witnessed balls of fire ants that could sting the hell out of you.

[Aerows]

30. There has to be something where you are that would freak me out

Wild pigs won't do it, and deer parading around won't, but surely something there would make me cringe. But I don't know where you are, so I couldn't guess.

And raccoons surely won't. I was surprised by the kitties on the porch. They weren't kitties.

[bunnies]

7. They sure are masochistic little ants, eh?

Isnt there some way to set up a trap so the death cycle doesnt reach electronics, wiring, etc? Gaster Flagging. That just sounds wrong.

[Aerows]

8. Boric Acid sprinkled in a line

seems to work. And yes, Gaster Flagging does just sound wrong, but I guess it works for them to ball up like a seething globe of ... nothing you want to touch.

[bunnies]

9. Good. At least something does.

Swarming things freak me out. Maybe because I sat on an ant hill one night in vegas. Not wise. I cant even look at an ant now without getting the willies.

[Aerows]

13. These things

swarm like nothing I've ever seen. Much boric acid needed.

[YeahSureRight]

20. Fire! Fire! Fire!

Serious gas and a match don't fuck around. Works on fire ants too. Make a mini flame thrower with a propane tank for bad craziness!

[Aerows]

29. A little boric acid

around the perimeter of your home, and you will be fine.

[Aerows]

10. From my experience

They don't really sting. So that's a plus. They just infest like termites on a mocha latte and steroids if there are electronics around.

[SheilaT]

14. I've been invaded by ants recently.

Ordinary black ants, but I can't figure out where they're coming from and exactly what they are doing here. I've lived here five years and this is the first time I've seen ants in the house. I've simply been killing each one I see. I'm hoping some random survivors will make it back to the nest and warn the other ants about the crazy murderous human in the house and stop coming here.

[Aerows]

16. Do you live in the Southeast?

That's where these are invading.

[SheilaT]

35. Nope. I'm in Santa Fe, NM.

Back when I lived in Kansas we'd often get ant invasions, but they were a much smaller ant, and I understood that it was the spring rains that drove them indoors. They'd show up for a few weeks then disappera.

[Fuddnik]

17. I had crazy ants.

We kept them locked up in the attic with the crazy uncles.

[Aerows]

18. I wish it was something to joke about

But it isn't, because these things swarm like crazy.

[YeahSureRight]

19. OMG it's THEM!

[Aerows]

31. Ants in the south

&NR=1&feature=fvwp

This is what happens when the Mississippi River floods and the levees don't hold. For those that thought I was kidding about ants being an issue.