Fire ants live in colonies under ground. There are up to a thousand of ants in one nest. Queen ants lay eggs, and worker ants look for food for the colonies. They multiply at a fast rate.

The ants are small and could be red or black in color. They will attack anything that disturbs them. They bite and sting at the same time. A fire ant sting may cause swelling pain and itching. They may cause serious problems such as, allergies, skin infection, fever and the flu. White bumps occur on a person’s skin after a fire ant attack.

Fire ants destroy crops, kill and eat little animals and also they have killed several human beings.  Also, they are known to undermine roads, damage wooden structure. They go in the tiniest cracks of somebody’s home and enter the home, and damage wooden structures such as building foundation and timbers. They also destroy telephone lines, and go into traffic lights.

Fire ants are grease lovers, are very fond of electricity and warm areas such as concrete and traffic lights.

Here is what people had to say, that got attacked by fire ants.

A police officer commented:  “There were fire ants in my cruiser at one time. I was on duty and somehow they crawled right in. They were stinging me all over and I had to go to the emergency room.” He showed me big white bumps on his fore arm.

A friend of mine had to say, “ I was with a bunch of friends and I walked by myself into a football field, when I felt something crawl on my leg, and the next thing that I knew was I felt some sharp, painful stings. I freaked out big time, and my friends had to hose them off of me.”

Somebody else told me, ” I was in Texas on a vacation and one day, I decided to take a walk in the meadow. well, they got me pretty good, those ants. I just wanted to get the heck out of there.”

Fire ants are nothing to get stepped on. I hear they are moving north, but I hope that won’t be anytime soon.