Posted on 08/28/2017 10:38:36 AM PDT by Red Badger
One danger evacuees and first responders are dealing with along with the flooding in Houston is fire ants.
Islands of fire ants!
CBS News correspondent Omar Villafranca tweeted a photo from Houston as the ants formed a protective island in the high water.
According to Orkin.com, fire ants can exist in colonies of up to 250,000 workers and will sting intruders repeatedly. Fire ants feed on animal or vegetable sources of food according to the web site.
No reports yet of anyone getting bitten by fire ants.
Tropical Storm Harvey continues to head back toward the Gulf of Mexico at a slow pace.
In its 10 p.m. CDT Sunday advisory, the National Hurricane Center reported that the storm still had sustained winds of up to 40 mph and is centered 20 miles east of Victoria, Texas, about 120 miles southwest of Houston. It continues to creep to the east-southeast at 3 mph.
That means it remains virtually stalled near the coast and continues to drop heavy rain on the Houston and Galveston areas. In the past 48 hours, numerous spots in the region have measured more than 25 inches of rainfall.
The hurricane center says Harvey’s center was expected to drift off the middle Texas coast on Monday and meander offshore through Tuesday before beginning “a slow northeastward motion.”
We have been wanting to talk to you about this for a while, but you finally brought it up on your own....;-)
Get someone up there with a flame thrower and melt them down.
We moved here from North Dakota when I was a kid.
Didn’t realize there were so many nasty creepy crawlies in the South. Moccasins, copperheads, fire ants, etc. all living within close proximity.
The snakes just leave you alone. No threat unless you step on them. But, the fire ants, geez. They don’t need an excuse to go medieval on your ankles.
Airman. Which means I was smart enough not to pick it back up. There was some noxious weed that nobody could pul. I went over, grabbed it down low and pushed with my legs. Sent dirt and fire ants flying everywhere, including all over one of the TIs. Good times.
Go for it.
Fire ants are not ordinary ants. Their bites send me to the hospital every time. Once, when bitten on the hand, doc thought it would need surgery........
When my boys were little guys playing Pee Wee and other organized football leagues (before high school), many of the playing fields were public and didn’t get the kind of care a high school field got. They especially loved playing in the rain. We are in Florida and unfortunately heavy rains caused fire ant mounds all over the field to flood and end up in rafts of them like this picture. Getting tackled and hitting the ground in a raft of fire ants makes even gung-ho little athletes think twice about football in the rain!
Do the fire ants ever get into houses?
Toss in alligators and venomous snakes, too.
They don’t care about the ones on the bottom drowning.
Fire ants are a problem in the South up to about the Mason-Dixon line where hard winter freezes kill them off.
An unwanted immigrant from Central America.
I was walking to my car in 1976 in Tampa and went right into a group of them moving across the lawn. I had multiple stings until I took off my pants in my front yard right in front of my neighborhood and washed them off with a hose. (I had on under ware and didn’t care as I was in intense pain) The stings later infected and I ended up at the doc’s getting pain killers and antibiotics. Luckily for them. when I got back from the hospital, they were gone. I was set to roast the SOB’s.
rwood
Hey, ol’ timer.
Occasionally, but they're outdoor critters.
One night ten years ago, my then wife baked muffins. She left them in a bowl on the counter. When I woke the next morning, I grabbled one on the way to the coffee maker. Only after I took a bite did I realize it was covered with fire ants. They went berserk on my tongue and inside my cheeks.
That was a heckuva a way to wake up.
They're called "fire ants" for a reason.
But, they were attracted to the free food. I rarely see any in the house.
Dang, you know first hand what they’re about. Good thing they are outdoor critters.
Oh, yes. We have a long history. fire ants and I.
I’ve killed billions,. They keep coming for more.
You forgot the skeeters and boy will they be bad after all the water recedes.
>a liitle gasoline should do it....
In flood water? You’ll probably catch the water on fire.
Use some soap. That will break the water tension and they’ll sink.
That's what I heard too. Dawn breaks up the surface tension upon which the little beasties are floating.
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