Fire Ants

It is so hot and dry even the fire ants are not out stiring around. They're staying down in their burrows where it is cooler. They are mean little "boogers" and their bite is painful, especially when several get on you before you know it. Run rub some Clorox on the bites. That helps relieve the pain. If the environmentalists want something to really worry about, then they should worry about the fire ants. They've done more to the environment than global warming ever has. They are destroying every little critter that lives on or near the ground and is at the bottom of the food chain. Used to be every evening in the summer we could hear the call of numerous whipp-o-wills. Now there are none to be heard. They nest on the ground and the fire ants consume the young before they can fly. Same for the bob-white quail. We used to hear them every day. Now none are to be heard. I seldom see a toad any more. Used to be I saw several snakes a week about the barn or corrals. Some were poisonous, but most were beneficial eating mice. The only snake I've seen in months is one I saw in a dream the other night. All this leaves nothing for the next level up in the food chain to eat and the hawks are seldom around any more. Fire ants even can kill a new born calf. I've lost one to fire ants. If the calf is born near a fire ant mound they will invade the calf's body and consume it. All my neighbors have lost calves to fire ants. So, most of us try to have the cows bred in May or June so they will calve in February or March before the fire ants are real active. Fire ants also are attracted to electrical or electronic equipment. They destroy a lot of electrical control boxes and fence chargers. It is a constant battle to try to control them. I put out poison bait weekly. Out best hope seems to be research at Texas A&M where they are experimenting with some kind of tiny fly that zaps the fire ant in the head and lays and egg which hatches and the larva eats the inside of the ant's head and causes it to die.