Living in south Alabama we are very accustomed to fire ants. I used to fish at a pond that was primarily fed by a watershed rather than a stream or creek. During dry spells the level of the pond would drop and the fire ants would build mounds close to the "new" edge of the pond. A good rain would come, raise the water level, and flood the ant mounds. The ants would evacuate the mounds and form these floating piles of misery. I have seen piles of fire ants a foot tall floating on top of the water...I would be afraid to even guess how many ants were involved. It was during these times that you had to be very careful when out in a boat. If your boat accidentally bumped into one of these floating ant communities there would an instant boarding party and soon you would realize you were having a *very* heavy invasion of very angry fire ants!!!!! It didn't have to happen but once and thereafter we kept sharp eyes out for them.
The melted aluminum....yep, fire ant tunnels. I had a friend do this.
Years ago I was trying to eradicate some fire ant mounds without using chemicals. I would take a 3-gallon pot of boiling water, mix some hot peppers in, and pour into the mounds. The tunnel systems were so intense that three gallons of water would disappear down into the middle of a mound with no problem...no run-off. I had emptied a pot into a mound and had paused for a few seconds (I guess to take satisfaction in my wonderful strategy<sigh>) when suddenly I hear something that sounded like the gurgling of a bath tub draining...that water was still going down...I can't even imagine how deep the tunnels must have been!!! Interestingly, usually the next day, I would find a large pile (maybe a gallon) of dead ants littered around the edges of the mound. That meant to me that I had killed a lot of ants but there were enough ants that I didn't kill to carry all those dead bodies to the surface from deep within the mound. The boiling water got some, but not nearly enough of them.
Fire ants can be deadly, also. Someone allergic to insect venom should should be very careful when in areas that fire ants exist. Fire ants will build nests in many different places, not just in the ground. We had a very sad situation last year over at Selma, where a young lady planning her mother's funeral died from fire ant bites she received.....
Alabama woman killed by fire ants day after mother dies . Also, any defenseless person (child, invalid, etc.,) or confined animal can be in serious trouble if fire ants begin an attack. Not saying all this to scare anybody, but to warn anybody that hasn't grown up around them...they can be deadly.
For ant and bee stings (and other allergic reactions), benadryl (if you aren't allergic to *it*) will help alleviate some of the sting and reaction. Childrens Benadryl is good as it is liquid and enters your system the fastest though for an adult the designated doses are really too small. Be aware though, that someone who has a true allergy to insect stings needs to keep an epi-pen with them...epinephrine will give them time to get to an emergency room for proper treatment.
Fire ants...
