When armadillos get into a fire ant nest, that nest is finished - forever. Nice if you could get the 'dillos to only get in the fire ant mounds and not dig a bunch of other stuff up! In defense of fire ants, the tick population here has nearly disappeared since the arrival of fire ants. When a neighboring hunter killed a deer last year it was clear of ticks. I really, really hate ticks. I also think the cotton farmers have found fire ants to be a really good control for the boll weevil. I have found, unfortunately, that the fire ants do like containers. I guess it makes for a nice fortress against armadillos
. Things in nature can be pretty intelligent about things sometimes. I do wonder with the evidence on ticks and boll weevils what else they may be consuming that might be detrimental to the plants I have growing. Sadly, I see no sign they do anything to grasshoppers.
