Fire Ants: Some Facts
... above ground. They prefer moist to damp ground, so the colonies can frequently be found on the banks of a river, on the edge of a pond or on a well-watered lawn. The nests are established by one or more queens and can very rapidly grow to thousands of ants. If you have fire ants in your house or garden, you will almost certainly want to get rid of them. This is not so hard, but if you do not annihilate every colony, then one of two surviving queens can produce a new nest of thousands of ... and in the majority of languages, from Thai to French and English, the word 'fire' is part of its name. This is because the sensation of pain after having been stung, not bitten, by one of these ants is similar to the pain received from a burn. Most ants that cause pain to humans bite first and then spray acid into the cut, but fire ants bite in order to get a hold and then sting with the abdomen. The substance that they inject is an alkaloid venom which is agonizing to humans. It is also an insecticide and some observers think that ...
Tags: ants | insects | pests | home improvement | home repairs | animals |
Tags: ants | insects | pests | home improvement | home repairs | animals |