PhilosipherStoned Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 (edited) Somehow one of these assholes got on my hat. https://www.gosanangelo.com/story/news/2019/03/31/harvester-ants-can-found-clear-across-texas/3319722002/ There was a nest right in front of the friggin door to the business where i was installing internet, but I was working on the side of the building far away enough I din't think I'd be having to worry about them. I get in my truck to leave the job site, flip around and get into the high traffic main road here, and one falls off my hat and lands on my lip. By the time I realize it's not a hair or piece of drywall etc from the building it had already latched on to my lip and given me a pretty sizeable back alley botox injection. Surprised to read these guys have some of the more potent venom, especially when it comes to local ants. There's still Tarantuala hawks, and a lot of other insects I could find around here that make this sting feel like nothing. Hell I've been desensitized at this point. The sting doesn't really hurt except for a little bit of burning right after. I just want the swelling to go down. I hid my face in a mask the rest of the day. Some coworkers rolled up and laughed at me because I lpretty much looked like this right after it happened... Edited May 13, 2022 by PhilosipherStoned 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilosipherStoned Posted May 13, 2022 Author Share Posted May 13, 2022 At least now I know these guys are actually good for the environment here, and that they're red harvester ants. I've known for ages they arent Fire ants like most people call them here. Fire ants are a lot smaller and build mounds. They are an invasive species to the states from South America named for the feriy bite they give. Per sting the little red devils that get me all the time are supposedly worse though. https://www.trulynolen.com/pest-control/ants/harvester-ants/bites-and-treatment#:~:text=These are often confused with,their sting is more venomous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilosipherStoned Posted May 13, 2022 Author Share Posted May 13, 2022 (edited) K now I need some actual Red Harvester Ant Broll what I put in the music thread looks like a few scouts stumbling into a fire ant mound or the fire ants just fucking them up... I bet it's because the harvester ants sting is more for larger predator defense, They can't really get a good sting on these little invasive cluster fuckers. Suprisingly little broll footage of these guys just coming and going from their tunnel entrance.. Might just go outside and get some. I have a nest in my yard... I stand right by it with a water hose watering my yard, and somehow don't have a worker crawling on my head. Not sure how or why they don't bite me, but I get bit by workers on job sites all the time.. Maybe the ones in my yard think I'm the rain god. Edited May 13, 2022 by PhilosipherStoned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mthor Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 I know you didn't get bit by a fire ant, but now all I can think of is Sorry - I spent the 90's with pits on my feet from fire ant bites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilosipherStoned Posted May 13, 2022 Author Share Posted May 13, 2022 (edited) 11 minutes ago, mthor said: I know you didn't get bit by a fire ant, but now all I can think of is Sorry - I spent the 90's with pits on my feet from fire ant bites. Yeah, but the sting I got in the lip was more potent than a bee sting supposedly. I think I'm just gonna let nature take it's course at this point, because I really don't get bit by red h ants that much.. It's just every now and then EVEN THOUGH I'M CAREFUL and know the little fools are all over the ground one ends up climbing all the way up me and stinging my kneck or face. I think they're blind and just follow scent trails as well IDK. Red Harvesters are actually known to go full aggro with/without pheromones. They're basically like the killer bee of harvester ants. Even some hybridization has occured so idk..The good folks at Texas parks and wildlife apparently think all that shit is cool, and I should just welcome them into my yard. Edited May 13, 2022 by PhilosipherStoned Stung.. Red ant bites have no venomous effect, It's the sting that gets you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poof Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 what a magical ninja ant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilosipherStoned Posted May 13, 2022 Author Share Posted May 13, 2022 Just now, Poof said: what a magical ninja ant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UnDeRwOrlDpRiNcEsS Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 I feel your pain, except I stepped in the same fire ant hill twice in the middle of the night a few years back and they attacked me twice. A couple hours later I found out that I was deathly allergic to their bites.Hospital trip and blisters covering my feet for months were awesome. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilosipherStoned Posted May 17, 2022 Author Share Posted May 17, 2022 (edited) On 5/13/2022 at 3:35 PM, UnDeRwOrlDpRiNcEsS said: I feel your pain, except I stepped in the same fire ant hill twice in the middle of the night a few years back and they attacked me twice. A couple hours later I found out that I was deathly allergic to their bites.Hospital trip and blisters covering my feet for months were awesome. I remember being the Bare Foot Bandit kind of kid I was in my youth, when I was about like seven or somethin, my answer to ghandi's walking on coals was walking across this massive ass bed of red forester ants that had gone unimpeded in the small town. I remember my grandmother of course fearing for my life..but that was my first measure of just how bad ass the ants were. My feet were pretty fucked up considering, but I wasn't allergic it probably spawned my addiction for seeing just what all this local powerhouse can do. I've also blown their mounds up with...alll kinds of explosives..flame-throwed, and tried to flood them out lol... Even put a bore and dripped a good bit of gasoline into the mound in front of my house recently...Thhat crippled the colony, but somehow not even that stopped them. Their tenacity is amazing, and they've won my respect especially amongst the insect kingdom in my years.. Edited May 17, 2022 by PhilosipherStoned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilosipherStoned Posted May 17, 2022 Author Share Posted May 17, 2022 (edited) Yep..**Sigh**....Poisoning the heavily gaurded queen deep within their hole is your only hope of vanquishing this Texas sized insect, and I mean Queens mature and fly out of one nest to mate and create an entirely new organization of all but unimpenitrable defense. Definitely a staple for me, and the horned lizard...etc (whatever) that suppossedly gave coyote peterson his nickname. I like his shit less and less idk. Edited May 17, 2022 by PhilosipherStoned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilosipherStoned Posted May 17, 2022 Author Share Posted May 17, 2022 Also these guys are fucking heavily endangered.. and I hope to see one in the wild again before I die, So parks and wildlife is kind of right... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilosipherStoned Posted May 17, 2022 Author Share Posted May 17, 2022 (edited) Horned lizard decline cant really be contributed to lack of forestor ant colonies if you ask me.. My fucking duck lips being proof.... I'm sure the primary factor is man related, but red h ants def arent on the decline where im from. Longer droughts, being sought after pets? idk, but I do miss finding these lizards. Maybe even climate change. (Gonna place a holder here for scientific support then) Edited May 18, 2022 by PhilosipherStoned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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