I lost a baby ducky to an ant bite, new pics page 4 of ants

[redhen]

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So, instinctively they know they are bad news! They know to stay away from them.. Yeah, those things really do sound scary to have around! Cripes! What the heck can you do to get rid of them then??

 

[waibel zoo]

I found an ant that looks and sounds similar. It is not native. Here's a link.

http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/urban/ants/red_imported_fire_ant.htm

 

[waibel zoo]

Her is another better site.

http://www.desertusa.com/animals/fire-ants.html

 

[redhen]

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[WriterofWords]

Geez, the way my luck is running I have imported, evil, killer ants!

 

[CoopBuilder]

Hi Writer of words, .
your original description of the ant made me think of Rough Harvester Ants; maybe "Pogonomyrmex Rugosus" here are a couple of links
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bob_barber/3384019054/
http://www.alexanderwild.com/gallery/5075841_XzhP4/1/305609421_NxjbA#305609421_NxjbA
The second link shows the typical flat sand and gravel nest of these stinging ants. They are reputed to be 100 times as painful as a single fire ant. They are common from Albuquerque south into Texas and Arizona.

 

[WriterofWords]

OMG!! I think that is them!!! That is exactly what their nests holes look like, the body and color is right, and boy do they do a number on you. All around the ant traps I put out are curled up balls of dead ants! It's working!

Thank you!

 

[keeperofthehearth]

Another thing to know about those Rough Harvester ants is that their nests/colony can run up to 10' down. VERY difficult to get to the queen & the queen can live up to 7yrs. So digging a hole 3' or even 5' down isn't going to get rid of the buggers. Good luck on keeping them in check.

 

[WriterofWords]

That is pretty much what the exterminator said to my buddy,,,, you just can't kill them unless you get the queen; and that's almost impossible. I've even though of having someone with a backhoe take huge chunks of my land out and drop it elsewhere!

 

[goosedragon]

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You need a slow acting bait to get to the queen a fast acting bait is just going to kill workers which are turned out by the thousands. The queen has to be fed, she is the whole purpose of the nest. You need something slow enough to allow the workers to feed her the poision from the surface or she will survive on the stores in the nest. Years ago we would have used lead arsenick (sp) tastes sweet and has to build up to a fatal dose It has probably been baned since the good old days.