[Heineken]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', 'I') adore snakes. We have many of them around here, including rattlers.


We also have many frogs and toads, which is amazing considering the fact we have no "live" water on the place, just seasonal ponding and run-off. We have 5 or 6 different species of frogs and toads, something I see as a very good sign of the relative health of our little ecosystem.

[Tanada]

The all seeing I sez, snakes are kewl!

[Lore]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Lore', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'D')o you have chiggers in Wisconsin?

They are possibly the worst thing about being an outdoors person in the South.

[BigTex]

I marvel at fire ants.

They are so much like us it's scary.

If they haven't come to your neighborhood yet, they will.

They have no predators outside their original habitat, just like us.

The conquer and kill anything that gets in their way, just like us.

They migrate relentlessly, leaving a trail of death and destruction in their wake, just like us.

It's hard to believe that something so small and not obviously dangerous can be such a pest, just like us.

It's hard to imagine that fire ants could ever reach a state of overshoot, partly because the world is so big, and partly because they seem so well equipped to survive, but if you take their worldwide growth in the last 60 years or so and extrapolate it out for more than a few hundred more years, it is obvious they WILL reach a state of overshoot, just like us.

When you have fire ants, you just gradually shift your thinking about any outdoor area into whether there are fire ants there and if so the range of hazards they pose.

They can destabilize foundations.

They can kill livestock.

Their bites HURT, and children have often been bitten several times before they know what's happening.

I applied a fire ant control chemical to my entire lawn this year that will probably cause my dog to grow a second head, but I just got tired of half measures. It was time for the nuclear option. Total fire ant death. Once the radiation clears, I will set up a perimeter around my property and patrol it with maintenance chemicals.

They can have the rest of the world, but if they come to my yard to set up shop, they will die. It's way beyond mindless cruelty at this point. It's time for some justice, and the way I see it fire ants have been doing all the taking and none of the giving for quite some time. So I will pay them back for their ambition with a #10 can of fire ant whupass delivered via the fertilizer spreader, piloted by BigTex.

There is something spooky about any creature with little or no threat from predators. If it's rabbits, you can get you a beagle and a .410 shotgun, but fire ants are much more challenging to control.

Just like us.

[Ludi]

We have very few fireants, compared to some neighboring areas. We've found that foraging chickens will destroy nests, as will armadillos. We have many other kinds of ants as well, when "the experts" say fire ants will kill off all other species of ants. A healthy ecosystem seems to resist the ants to a degree.

[KingDavid]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('BigTex', 'I') marvel at fire ants.

They are so much like us it's scary.

[BigTex]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('KingDavid', 'Y')ou're fighting a war you can't win, Bigtex.

[Heineken]

Tex, you realize of course that poisoning your ground will only result in resistant fire ants, for the same reason that herbicides are starting not to work on some weed species. In the meantime, yes, you buy some relief---but at what risk to your dog (and yourself)?

I suppose fire ants in Virginia are inevitable, based on Lore's map. We're having incredibly mild winters, one after another. They'd love it here.

[BigTex]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'T')ex, you realize of course that poisoning your ground will only result in resistant fire ants, for the same reason that herbicides are starting not to work on some weed species. In the meantime, yes, you buy some relief---but at what risk to your dog (and yourself)?

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'b')ut at what risk to your dog (and yourself)?

[smallpoxgirl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('GASMON', 'F')ew thousand years after that, they will discover -----OIL !!

[dohboi]

Ants, even fire ants, perform many important functions, breaking down matter, aerating soil...

If you feel compelled to get rid of them from an area, please look into non-toxic approaches. Boiling water in the heat of a summer afternoon poured into their nest will go a long way toward discouraging them, as I recall from my days in central Georgia.

[BigTex]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dohboi', 'A')nts, even fire ants, perform many important functions, breaking down matter, aerating soil...

If you feel compelled to get rid of them from an area, please look into non-toxic approaches. Boiling water in the heat of a summer afternoon poured into their nest will go a long way toward discouraging them, as I recall from my days in central Georgia.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('BigTex', '
')The concern I have are the work they are doing underneath my foundation.

[BigTex]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('BigTex', '
')The concern I have are the work they are doing underneath my foundation.

[Ludi]

You used "Shock and Awe" on them, huh?

[BigTex]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', 'Y')ou used "Shock and Awe" on them, huh?