Oh geez...Susan, your writing is hilarious!

There is no point getting all wound up over fire ants. They aren't going to leave! Annoy the dickens out of the ones in really, really bad places and attempt a truce with the others.

Susan, I agree with Jacquelyn, your writing is great!

I hate the FA's too! I was stung by one yesterday and just sat and watched it. I thought, "well, that doesn't hurt too bad, maybe I am getting immune?" LOL. I don't think that we have too many; just in the places that I want to dig and plant in!

They do have one saving grace at my house. I read that they eat chiggers. If there is one thing I hate worse than FA's, it is chiggars! At least I can see the fire ants and get out of their way. I can't see the chiggars, but boy do I feel them ~ for weeks after I get bit.

P.S. Here is what the Dirt Doctor has to say about fire ants: http://www.dirtdoctor.com/cgi-bin2/htsearch

Necia

Here is a link that might be useful: Dirt Doctor

Ok, the bad news:

You can't get rid of them, because you can't reach them. They nest under your foundation, and driveways, walks, and anywhere else any form of sand was used, as prep for concrete.

Nothing can get to all of them. The best you can hope for, is to contain their expansion.

Anyone see the "Hellstrom Chronicles"?

Susan, you crack me up.

Those ants don't stand a chance with you around.

Susan, let's start collecting jars and we'll fill them and take them to Carol's swap, okay?

rick... that makes sense about them nesting under the foundation.

Last year, we had about a 2 or 3 day infestation of our house. Infestation may be a bit of an exageration, but any ant indoors is a call for war.

Funny thing is, they only places they appeared were..

1) The kitchen cabinet by stove. -makes sense, stove connects to wall which faces empty lot next door where the fire ants roam.

2) Master bedroom closet. -This one puzzled the dickens out of me. Theres certainly no food in there to go after, and the closet is smack dab in the middle of the house.

I knew they were either coming through the ceiling, or the floor to get to that odd place. But anyways, we sprayed, and they died. Just thought I'd share. =)

Susan, that is hilarious! I know your pain. I get bitten every time I go outside. I've tried drowning them, poisoning them, destroying their homes, called an exterminator, etc. They still keep coming. I just try and deal as best as possible and keep them outdoors instead of indoors.

Sincerely,

Clarissa (hi, I'm new here)

Hi Clarissa, new to the Forum or new to TX?
Welcome, either way, lol
jolana

I'd freak if they came in the house! Susan, the orange oil is in the gardening section of Lowe's and Home Depot. I only use it to get the lil buggers outta my way in beds.
There are beneficial nematodes that are supposed to help but I have no idea where to find them.(Anyone else?)
I'm with Necia. Chiggers are the bane of my life! I'm so good about my repellent but I get a patch here and there anyway. Good Lord they itch!!!! They don't seem to like the areas that have plants and mulch(eventually the whole thing)but they love sod!
Clarissa, welcome! PJ

Hmmmm. Courtskey, you might want to pull the stove's bottom drawer out of the stove, and check underneath there, for smoething that might attract ants. It is a common cause, for them to come in around a stove.

The master bed room closet is curious, but I will assume that is next to a bathroom, and bathrooms provide highways for them to enter on. You will have more bugs of every kind, enter first into a bathroom area.

Could be wrong - but don't they like wiring? Of course, they don't have the decency to fry themselves! They also follow water. Maybe they treked along the wiring through the closet ceiling? I dunno - just a guess.

Hi Clarissa!color>

Hey Susan - met a scorpion yet? Those evil **** will make you miss the fire ants!

Now T-or-B - you know that boiling water kills em, cause I have told you of the piles of dead ants at my place. You just have to be more determined. I poured 5 teakettles of boiling water on a mound that I had ignored all winter. Yes, they winter here, they never sleep, and rain makes their mounds taller. You have to boil-em at dusk. They are in-mound at dusk. They are also in-mound at early morning, but dusk is easier. If it is a substantial mound, poke a stick in the middle and give-em a gallon of boiling water.

All the killers say "don't disturb the mound", but that is part of the fun of being here, don't you think? It is also said that they prefer white socks. I know that they like clean white fabric, cause I used to have a basket of white sheets on the second floor of our previous house. It turned into an ant mound in one week. Doesn't pay to put off stowing your clean laundry around here. That is the only time I've seen them come in the house except as hitchhikers. Even when you drop your ant-filled jeans on your way through the living room, the ants seem to disappear.

it is next to a bathroom... so that does make more sense. In fact you have to go through the bathroom to get into the closet.

Mine are usually off before I hit the door and I think Texans have invented a lot of dances sice fireants, lol

"Hey Susan - met a scorpion yet? Those evil **** will make you miss the fire ants!"
I'd gladly keep the ants and let them live a harmonious life to not ever see a scorpion again, lol

I love scorpions! I'm the resident weirdo from California so I'm supposed to like em. There were a ton of them in the desert. What's their favorite food? The bug I hate more than any other bug? (Hint: I like spiders more than scorpions.) Cockroaches!!! EWWWWWWWWWW!!!!! YUCKY!!! One was in my garage and crawled up my leg a couple months ago and started running in circles around my leg. Thought I was going to puke! Gack! They are too disgusting. I'll take ants and Scorpions over giant,flying cockroaches!!!PJ

I agree, those are really disgusting but scorpions can hurt me physically, so I hate them, lol
If I see them outside, it's not that bad. If they are in my house, they will die.

I got to thinking about this....and I have not had much of a fire ant problem since the first year we moved into the house. My neighbors have them tho. This is going to sound nuts, but the only thing differently I am doing at this house (we got it at age 28 with a totally neglected yard) that I did not do at my other houses (all brand new) is aeriate yearly or every other year. My neighbors don't aeriate, and there are mounds on each side where the aeriator guy stopped. Also, where the aeriator can't get (tree roots, etc) is where I do get my very few beds..but I keep them watered down, so they are not really a problem. Sound about right? Anyone out there have a theory about this? Also, the first year, I put quite a bit of gypsum on the lawn to help break up the compacted soil. Could that have run them off? We have tons of pills bugs and other creatures that drive the dogs nuts..and we do get a few sugar ants in the house around the sinks when it is especially dry, but the "far ants" seem to have moved away for the most part. Amdro worked the first year and worked well...but you do have to dig down in there.

Worth a try Mrs Box!Aeriated soil is a good thing. Around my house they don't like heavily composted/mulched areas. In fact, now that I think of it, they leave where it's mulched(native cedar) alone.... I don't use anything stronger than orange oil to control them. Hmmm...The heavy composting/mulching would make for light soil. Maybe they can't tunnel in it properly????(shrugging no idea)PJ

I think they go to where it's more convienient for THEM but adapt where it's not, lol
I have them in mulched areas but I've only had them in the house one time years ago. We were out of town for about a month and when we came back they were in the house.
I think it's different in the country also. There are so many pastures where they just TAKE over and nothing's ever done

Chiggers

They like lots of vegetation, they drop on me out of trees. But they are really easy to get rid of. You can toss out pelletized sulfur at the beginning of the heat, and they will literally disappear. If you don't want to do that, keep a sulphur-sock near the door and beat your ankles and waistband before going out. This is tricky because you don't want it on your hands (if you touch your eyes or it blows into your eyes, you will want to die).

How do you get fire ants out of half barrels?? We have some half barrels with roses and herbs, and they've taken up residence. If we keep watering them every day, will the ants move out? Can't use anything poisonous because of the herbs.

If we keep watering them every day, will the ants move out? No they will blow up duck shaped floats, play marco polo and float around with umbrella drinks. They can't need that much of your herbs to season their shish ka bobs, just give up and keep your sanity.

Hehehe, poor, Susan, she hates our TX aints.

Try this

I started to post a joke remedy but even I have sense enough to know this might not be the time, lol

Here is a link that might be useful: fire ant killer

Petra - I would use the orange oil, or Aunti Fuego's soil conditioner.

When I plant pots, I put diatomaceous earth in the bottom of the pots, and then I put the pot on little legs, whether it be the ones that Calloway sells(ceramic) or stone supports. So far, (cross fingers) I have found that a pot must have contact with the ground to become a fire ant haven.

I am sorry petra, didn't mean to poke fun at your question, i know fire ant battle is annoying to begin with. They moved in around my plants also after I removed a grapevine. Hard to think of a way to kill something and grow something else at the same time.

The ants made me do it,
susan

Susan, I had a good laugh over your reply, imagining tiny floats and teeny tiny umbrella drinks. Now I feel bad about wanting to get rid of them, hehe.

Jolana, thanks for the link, that orange oil looks like it might work!! Nice and non-toxic too, so no problem for the herbs.

Txgardenlady, I bet that's why they took up residence, that halfbarrel is firmly on the ground! I wonder if dumping everything out and putting it on supports before re-planting would solve the problem.

Since all we had at the time was seven dust, we used that and it surprised us that it worked so well.
We had them move into the green house/pots over the winter.
They were laying their with there little feet in the air. It either killed them all or they moved on.