Calling all southerners.....FIRE ANTS

[duck walk]

windex with amonia will work to take the sting of the bite away as well...it neutralizes the acid in their bite...

 

[SportTees]

What are you calling Fire ants?? pic please

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Remember that movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"? How that one guy was always applying Windex to any of his injuries? I've been following his example when it comes to fire ant bites. I keep a few spray bottles of Windex around the coops & gardens to spray on my skin when the fire ants attack. When the Windex runs out I'll replace it with ammonia & water.

I want to add that whenever I turn on the hose & there's hot water coming out, water that's been left in the hose and got heated by the sun, I look for a handy ant mound to spray down with it. It's a great use for this hot water that isn't suitable for watering plants or poultry.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

orange oil works great. I just leave orange, lemon and lime peels on the hills. It doesn't kill them but they do leave the area. I've worked them out of my yard that way. I don't use any kind of chemical poisons in my yard

 

[kuntrygirl]

My fire ant attack happened about an hour ago and I'm still feeling the sting. And I don't have ANY of the remedies that you all have posted. NOT A ONE !!! Will have to go to the store now . IT HURTS !!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[halo]

Sugar does not work, corn meal does not work. The only think I have found that actually kills the mound is Amdro, and it works great. Theres good drenches that you can use also. But you have to stay on top of them to keep them in check. I have 10 acres and when I first moved here, Id hate it when it rained, because the next day Id have dozens and dozens of mounds. Now I might have 1 or 2. I use Amdro religiously.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Poor Kuntrygirl, I feel your pain. Calomine lotion often helps too.

*Gross alert*

What do you all do with the bumps they leave behind when they bite you? Should you lance & drain them or leave them alone? I'm always tempted to pop them, but then I think of how you're always told not to pick your pimples or blisters. But if I leave them, sometimes they seem to eat deeper into my flesh.

I think now I should lance & drain them, then rinse with antiseptic like hydrogen peroxide & cover with a band-aid & neosporin. What do you do?

 

[Sugar Sand Farm]

kuntrygirl I have been in your shoes I once was covered in fire ants and didn't have anything to put on them in desperation I used phillips milk of magnesa. I know it sound ridiculous but it worked Think about it . It supposed to neturlize the stomach acid. It does the same thing on the fire ant bites. It takes the sting away but more importantly stops that awful itch.

 

[phoenixmama]

I second the boiling water thing. Everytime you find a mound, pour the boiling water on it. Quick, easy, no chemicals, no need to spend money.

 

[strega78]

When I was living in Crowley, LA it was horible. Those stupid ants would show up over night. My daughter was 1 1/2 and she loved going outside till she walked into a pile of those lil devils. She did not know to get up and walk away and she sat on them. She was covered from head to toe with the stings and bites. I went to get her and had bites all over my legs up to my thighs because my daughter did not understand what was happening and the pile she sat on was huge. We went to the ER and she had to get shots because she got stung/bit so much. All they told me in the ER in Crowley (lame hospital if you ask me) was to get in the tub filled with water that was so hot you could barely get in it. Granted it worked for me but how could you burn a childs skin to stop the itching......With her I used a hot rag and held it down. But some of the bites were in a area that it could not work....I have no idea what to put on the stings. But I had them all over my feet and holding it under the faucet in the tub with hot water helped alot to pop the sores. My daughter is now 3 and she can't stand any bugs and she freaks out when crawls on the wall and worse when it is on her (she is so scared of bugs she wont even touch or play with the fake ones that are toys).....She will step on any bug she can get to. Living in North California now and we don't have those blasted lil red demons here and any bug that gets around my ducks they eat. Only thing we have here that can sting is wasps and honey bees that I know of anyway (ones I see all the time lol).

LA is a awesome state to live in with a wide range of wild animals. Only thing I don't like are those stupid ants.