Have you ever tried to tell a 2-year-old not to do something, nevermind the concept of respect? Ever owned a house infested with carpenter ants and termites and had to face the prospect of a few hundred thousand dollars going down the drain? Ever been cooking supper and had the damn things teeming on your legs, biting you and drawing blood with their rather prodigious mandibles?
I will teach my child respect for the natural world when she’s old enough to understand. Respect does not include turning a blind eye to danger though.
Thanks everyone for the advice and the singlemindedness to thwart a CranAttack.
I have a great deal of respect for wildlife of all sorts. In fact of all the bugs in the world I find ants and wasps to be the most fascinating. But I do not hesitate to rid my habitat surroundings of them when they may pose a danger. Especially to my 2 year old granddaughter.
We have deer, opossums, racoons, squirrels, skunks, rabbits, and other species wandering our yard frequently. They live in the adjacent woods where I don’t disturb them. As long as they are no danger to the people or my abode. etc etc.
As for my offspring, I have never known anyone who has more respect for the animal kingdom. In fact they are such nature lovers they get a little cranberry about it at times. My daughter was making friends with snakes, turtles, salamanders, and even a wild rabbit since she was old enough to walk. It’s been a challange. So far no rabies shots necessary.
One of the natural enemies of ants is the phorid fly, which decapitates fire ants by laying its eggs inside the ants. As the larva develops, it moves into the ant’s head and causes the head to fall off. So, don’t let anyone inside your head…we’re all nothing but avuncular ants anyway.
it’s all piss and vineger.
i’ve found if you urinate and pour inexpensive white cider vineger on the ant hills, that they will leave inside of a week. then you don’t ruin your garden and ground water with pesticides.
kind of the same strategies some governments have used to get rid of certain undesirables.
That’s quite a clever strategy! A friend of mine uses the same thing (well, the urination part anyway – basically marking his territory) to keep groundhogs away from his garden. However, be sure to do it very late at night, or the neighbors might get a little upset!
Red fire ants are not from the US, having been imported from Brazil between 1933 and 1945. As is the case with most flora and fauna imports, they are a hazard, and naturally no natural predators evolved to limit their growth.
There are many cases (similar to fire ants) where the intentional or non-intentional introduction of non-native species has caused a number of problems for local flora and fauna. For example, there is the case of the mongoose, imported to islands to control rat and snake populations in sugarcane, and known for the extinction of at least 7 amphibian and reptile species in Puerto Rico, and is linked as the proximate or ultimate cause of extinction of 5 vertibrate species in Jamaica. Foxes, cats, rabbits, cattle, sheep and goats, all imported to Australia, have caused the exinction of 18 marsupial species. Another 26 are in very real danger of extinction. The US grey squirrel, imported to Britain, has severely harmed red squirrel populations there. Largemouth bass, introduced to Lake Atitlan has destroyed several wildlife populations, such as crabs, naitive fish, flora such as the reeds that grew in the river, and have forced the extinction of one unique bird species. Kudzu was brought to the US in 1876 from Asia, and has since invaded the southern US, covering more than 7 million acres. I could easily fill several pages with short sentence examples like these.
As mentioned, the imported red fire ant is a naitive of Brazil and poses a threat that native animal and plant populations are not equipped to deal with. The Australian government has declared IFA to be a “key threatening process under the Environmental Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act”. California’s Department of Food and Agriculture has devoted an entire document and action plan to this dangerous invader. Their mounds can be up to three feet high, causing all sorts of challenges for farmers and farm equipment. Fire ants are known to damage homes, electrical equipment, and the like. IFA (imported fire ants) have caused extensive damage to irrigation projects along the Indian River. They area known problem to nut harvesters, causing not-insignificant damage to harvest yeilds. Ants are reported as swarming and attacking piglets and newborn calves, as well as damaging crops with their mounds and by gnawing their roots. The red fire ant sting can actually kill those with a hypersensitivity to the venom, which can be as common as 1 in 200 people. They have been known to swarm and sting sleeping people and children. The next morning would be a terrible time to find out if your child was one of the .5% of the population likely to go into anaphylactic shock and die after only a few stings.
But, I suppose Cranberry’s right. We should just leave 'em alone.
This thread is great! Pissin’ on anthills…hmm…sounds like a great song title… a lively jig for if you stand there too long!
An anthill at a nature area is something to behold, study and appreciate.
An ant colony underneath your concrete sidewalk (which wouldn’t have occurred in nature except rock outcroppings) as well as near your garbage can (same) is an artificial habitat and overpopulation you have created. So play God and nuke em.
For minor entry problems, Chinese ant chalk works great (I think its just chalk with boric acid). You just draw a line and they wont cross it. I experimented with my garbage can, just full of tempting ant goodies. I drew a circle around it with the chalk on the concrete, and not an ant would pass it for months until the rain finally washed it way.
I just looked out the window and saw about 7 starlings picking madly at something in the grass. I walk out to the spot to see what they were eating…A N T S ! Like some heartless, crazed, antediluvian scavengers.
