America and Taiwan have something in common--Fire Ants!

[Doc Dan]

The USA and Taiwan both have been invaded by a common enemy. No, not Spyderco. Spyderco is our friend. I am talking about Fire Ants. They have caused many deaths and billions of dollars of damage to the USA and in Taiwan, too. They have no natural predators in either country and they kill things the size of small cattle and calves. They kill or hospitalize people, too. I know what it is like to live in the fire ant zone and the range is getting bigger. In the case of both nations, it was cargo ships that brought the scourge. I was just watching a show about Taiwan's battle on the History Channel called Man vs Ant. Something really needs to be done about this. I know people are trying but more effort and money needs to be funneled into research on getting rid of these foreign invaders once and for all.

[paladin]

Did you ever watch the movie, "The Naked Jungle?"

not fire ants, but the same idea :eek:

[SpyderEdgeForever]

I've been bitten and stung by fire ants before. Man does it hurt. They can bite and sting and keep on biting and stinging.

[Sharp Guy]

I moved to N TX last summer and we have fire ants here. Never had to deal with them in N. IL where I'm from. I was walking into a restaurant for breakfast this morning and some guy was letting his small boy stir up a fire ant nest in a flower bed and showing him how the ants go crazy. My girlfriend (who's a native to TX) wanted to scold the Dad but didn't say anything. I told her that next the dad would be showing the kid how to whack a bee hive like a piñata.

[OldHoosier62]

When I was a kid I thought hornets were the spawn of Satan, after entering the military and ending up the the far south I discovered fire ants beat hornets hands down for that title here in the US. They are a scourge that's awfully hard to get rid of and are slowly acclimatizing and moving northward.

Satan itself resides in Central and South America though...the "bullet ant". I did a lot of time down there while in the military and again afterwards, the level of pain and misery doled out by those little monsters is horrific. I have been stung a few times by them and each bite is seared into my brain...24+ hours of misery, nausea, pain. It really is **** on earth. I've been shot and would prefer being shot again to being stung by a bullet ant.

[awa54]

When I was a kid I thought hornets were the spawn of Satan, after entering the military and ending up the the far south I discovered fire ants beat hornets hands down for that title here in the US. They are a scourge that's awfully hard to get rid of and are slowly acclimatizing and moving northward.

Satan itself resides in Central and South America though...the "bullet ant". I did a lot of time down there while in the military and again afterwards, the level of pain and misery doled out by those little monsters is horrific. I have been stung a few times by them and each bite is seared into my brain...24+ hours of misery, nausea, pain. It really is **** on earth. I've been shot and would prefer being shot again to being stung by a bullet ant.

Isn't there a native right of passage that involves a glove full of bullet ants? ...NOT something I want to try personally, thanks!

[OldHoosier62]

When I was a kid I thought hornets were the spawn of Satan, after entering the military and ending up the the far south I discovered fire ants beat hornets hands down for that title here in the US. They are a scourge that's awfully hard to get rid of and are slowly acclimatizing and moving northward.

Satan itself resides in Central and South America though...the "bullet ant". I did a lot of time down there while in the military and again afterwards, the level of pain and misery doled out by those little monsters is horrific. I have been stung a few times by them and each bite is seared into my brain...24+ hours of misery, nausea, pain. It really is **** on earth. I've been shot and would prefer being shot again to being stung by a bullet ant.

Isn't there a native right of passage that involves a glove full of bullet ants? ...NOT something I want to try personally, thanks!

Yes there is, I've heard of it several times while down there but never witnessed it. From the bullet ant wiki...

The Sateré-Mawé people of Brazil use intentional bullet ant stings as part of their initiation rites to become a warrior.[18] The ants are first rendered unconscious by submerging them in a natural sedative, and then hundreds of them are woven into a glove made of leaves (which resembles a large oven mitt), stingers facing inward. When the ants regain consciousness, a boy slips the glove onto his hand. The goal of this initiation rite is to keep the glove on for a full 10 minutes. When finished, the boy's hand and part of his arm are temporarily paralyzed because of the ant venom, and he may shake uncontrollably for days. The only "protection" provided is a coating of charcoal on the hands, supposedly to confuse the ants and inhibit their stinging. To fully complete the initiation, however, the boys must go through the ordeal a total of 20 times over the course of several months or even years.[19]

I cannot imagine the agony they endure. The individual stings I had were enough to put you down for a day. The sting on my forearm made it swell up to almost the size of my thigh.

[hoimin]

[Studey]

More importantly, why would you want to! :p

[hoimin]

More importantly, why would you want to! :p

Obviously, I would not be interested in partaking in this ceremony. For the boys of this tribe, enduring this rite of passage develops the mental fortitude they believe is required of men. More importantly, it appears to give them the pride of being recognized as full members of their society, which I assume opens up possibilities such as being able to stay with the tribe and mating.

Back to Fire Ants, though, they're starting to be forced out (ecologically) by something worse: Crazy Ants.
http://news.utexas.edu/2013/05/16/invas ... chers-find

[Larry_Mott]

Are these ants the same as the izula ant?

[Doc Dan]

I've been shot and would prefer being shot again to being stung by a bullet ant.

Man, that is extreme! :eek:

[Doc Dan]

In the Deep South we have an ant called a Cow Ant. It is the Velvet Ant and is not an ant but a wingless wasp. They get nearly an inch long. When you get stung by one of these, it is like grabbing a 220v! Believe me, it is not pleasant! I made the mistake of trying to corral one with my hands while I sent someone for a jar to put my prize in. That sucker stung me and boy! did that hurt like nothing I had experienced! My hand was on fire for days.

[rodloos]

Are these ants the same as the izula ant?

Larry, yes bullet ant is also known as the Isula in Spanish (and I guess for marketing reasons ESEE spells their knife named after the ant with a "Z" - Izula).

I grew up in Peru. When the rainy season came and flooded out the fireants, they survived as a large floating mass of ants - if you were wading through a recently-flooded grassy area, your legs could quickly be completely covered with stings. The sting of the Isula (bullet ant) was far worse though.

[Doc Dan]

Yes, that is true. You can't drown fire ants. They clump together and float along until they get to solid ground (or solid legs.). They are terrible, but fascinating little monsters.

[kiwisailor]

We thankfully don't have these beasties.
What do you use to treat these bites/stings. Is it a bite or sting? Sounds like both according to Palladin.
We use Lavender Oil or High voltage piezo electric units called "click it" to minimise effect of bites or stings from Mozzies and Wasps/Hornets.
Both effective in reducing the Histamine reaction.
In Australia, there is a Ant called "Bull Ant". Pincers are so big the Aboriginals used them as Sutures by applying them to a wound and rotating them to separate head from thorax. Apparently quite effective.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Two questions:

1 Kiwi, what do they have as far as nasty insects and bugs in the Polynesian and Pacific island world?

2 I was talkin with this genetic engineer who told me one of his dreams is for mankind to take ants and wasps and other insects, and do severe genetic modification, and basically turn whole species of them into miniature biological work robots for mankind. This thought scares me, even someone like myself who is an advocate for molecular nanotechnology. Because...who knows what sorts of mutant creatures could result? He said to me picture if we could have armies of ants and wasps processing materials, constructing things, and more. Its all in the genome, man."

Doc: If he was right and they did that, can you imagine a battlefield where suddenly billions and billions of human-controlled fire ants, cow "ants", army ants, and others all converge on the enemy..and turn em into pulp?

[Doc Dan]

I do not want to imagine a battlefield where ants were attacking the enemy. Ants are seriously bad bugs. Haven't you seen THEM?

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Then there are the Army and Driver ants.
Here is a time lapsed or sped up video of them eating a dead duckling:

https://youtu.be/USBqiy-YdZk

They are in Africa and South America and entire swarms of them will clear out things in a whole area.
Some villages will take up and leave and return when the ants are gone..with them go all the rodents and parasites.

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/vid ... -army-ants

This site does speak of the dangers of these ants but adds a little more skepticism. They claim the ants can definitely bite and even strip dead animals to bones in hours, but, they don't believe whole swarms of them can attack and strip human and animal sized living creatures in minutes or seconds like some accounts claim:

https://askentomologists.com/2015/07/01 ... and-crops/

Still, it would be painful to encounter that many attacking ants at once.

[kiwisailor]

Spyderedge, in reply, I'll leave out Australia. Too many bugs to list over there..

Pacific Islands: various Ants. None that I've heard of as being particularly nasty.

Bees, Wasps, and Hornets. There is a biggish yellow Hornet in Fiji, but rather passive.

Leeches are common through Pacific, both on land and in fresh and salt water. Their main issue is the Anti-coagulant and anaesthetic they use to extract thinned blood. Often not noticed as they cling on around cuffs, collars and waist. When they leave, the blood trail can be disconcerting as the wound bleeds for quite a while.

Ticks are a issue, but no nasty diseases that I'm aware of.

The Centipedes are HUGE, and reportedly can kill a child. Got slack one time and didn't soak fresh food in bag over side of boat one time. A centipede approx. 12 inches long appeared in cockpit while having Sundowners (drinks) Certainly livened things up quickly..
They exude a strong odour, maybe defensive?

The Mosquitos are without doubt the Insects/bugs responsible for most Deaths.
Recent Official report states that last year, there were 500 cases of Malaria reported in Fiji. This year (so far) there have been 5000.
This has been blamed on the Cyclones that have ripped through the Islands. Have been told that as the Birds are killed/blown away, the Mozzies have a chance to breed up. As well as this, pools of standing water in detritus from fronds, leaves and plastic blown around, provide breeding pools.
Mozzies of course also are vectors for Dengue Fever, Chiken Chunga Virus, and Zika Virus. There is now the warning that a Mozzie biting a infected person, then biting another, is able to infect 2nd Person.
I've always thought this common sense, but not recognized by the Medical Fraternity.
Mozzies commonly go for the ankles whilst sitting around, so long pants and Lavender or Tea tree oil are good repellents.
Deet if you are brave enough..