Joani's Corner: Fireants

I'm sure we are all too familiar with those dreaded Fireants. And.... unless you live in an apartment complex on the 15th floor or higher and never ever come down......you might be ok. But.....you're going to step in a Fireant nest sooner or later. Even though we don't like them.......they do have a life all their own. They consider us humans.....an interference in their life. When you think about it, they just bite us because we stepped on their home.

The following are a few things that you may not know about them.

The lifespan of a worker Fireant can be from 30 to 180 days. But the queen can live from 2 to 6 years. During her life she can lay as many as 1,500 eggs....and that's per day! It takes between 22 and 38 days to go from an egg to a full biting adult. A typical ant colony consists of about 80,000 or more workers.
They have mating flights that usually occur midday on a warm sunny day....usually following rain. Mating occurs during flight and the males die soon after mating.
The diet of the foraging worker fireants consists of dead animals, earthworms or insects. And if you can believe this......they're even attracted to piles of dirty laundry.
Nests can be found in mulched areas, patio slabs, in lawns and even electrical boxes. After a heavy rain, the colony may move to a higher ground or even.....inside your own home to take refuge from wet soil. Sometimes large nests that were built under patio slabs or concrete walkways, can actually cause them to collapse.
The sting of the Fireant can produce itching or pain and you may notice white blisters appearing the next day. You can blame that sting on one of the worker fireants. It will attach itself to your skin using their mandibles.....which are an ants teeth, then it injects the stinger into the victim. Fireants both bite and sting, but only the sting is responsible for the pain or blister that it will leave behind on your skin.

So....if you see a Fireant nest don't wait..... STOP whatever you're doing and treat it... before anyone steps onto it especially one of your kids or grandkids. Fire ant nests won't just go away by themselves. Check with your local garden center for Bayer Advanced products. Thankfully you can treat the whole yard or just the mound with their products and always follow the label instructions.