Fire Ants Invade Europe….

[1pooh4u]

About 100 nests have been found in Italy,  however people being stung by these nasty fuckers have been reported possibly as early as 2019.  Studies on the ants seem to suggest they made their way from either the US or China.  Not sure how that works. The countries are nowhere near each other unless China got theirs from the US and genetically those are the possibilities?  In any case Italy is just gonna have to get used to them being around. I never in my life have seen eradication methods ever work.  Seriously, literally never. 
 

https://www.science.org/content/article/red-fire-ants-dreaded-pest-have-invaded-europe

 

[scoobdog]

Fire ants are native to South America, I believe.  Not sure how China would have been infested, but they have been doing significant trade with Brazil and other South American countries for years, so it's not inconceivable that they were directly infested through cargo rather than indirectly through the United States.

[viperxmns]

o shit fiya ants

[Raptorpat]

18 minutes ago, viperxmns said:

o shit fiya ants

brandmerrill falls ova in2 a ant hill... dey r fiya ants

[1pooh4u]

1 hour ago, scoobdog said:

Fire ants are native to South America, I believe.  Not sure how China would have been infested, but they have been doing significant trade with Brazil and other South American countries for years, so it's not inconceivable that they were directly infested through cargo rather than indirectly through the United States.

Yup native to S America but they’ve been in N America a long time. I remember once my mom stepped on a fire anthill in New Orleans. None of my family ever seen them before that day. I do think they’re in NY now though 

[scoobdog]

25 minutes ago, 1pooh4u said:

Yup native to S America but they’ve been in N America a long time. I remember once my mom stepped on a fire anthill in New Orleans. None of my family ever seen them before that day. I do think they’re in NY now though 

Yeah, they've been here forever.  I wouldn't doubt they've been in the north since when the Conquistadores were raping the new world.  Meanwhile, it appears fire ants were first reported in China in '04, so they've been infesting China for almost two decades now around the peak of China's rapid economic expansion.  Supposedly they've spread to 11 provinces.

[1pooh4u]

41 minutes ago, scoobdog said:

Yeah, they've been here forever.  I wouldn't doubt they've been in the north since when the Conquistadores were raping the new world.  Meanwhile, it appears fire ants were first reported in China in '04, so they've been infesting China for almost two decades now around the peak of China's rapid economic expansion.  Supposedly they've spread to 11 provinces.

There doesn’t seem to be any successful way to stop an insect invasion once it’s begun. Idk if there’s any precautions we should be taking when we engage in international trade.  Between ships carrying rodents and who knows what attaches itself to the bottom of these ships and bugs w the agricultural trade, invasive species is the new normal 

 

[scoobdog]

53 minutes ago, 1pooh4u said:

There doesn’t seem to be any successful way to stop an insect invasion once it’s begun. Idk if there’s any precautions we should be taking when we engage in international trade.  Between ships carrying rodents and who knows what attaches itself to the bottom of these ships and bugs w the agricultural trade, invasive species is the new normal 

 

New Zealand claims to have succeeded, but it's far easier to quarantine a small / medium-sized archipelago nation than a continent.

[discolé monade]

those little basterds are my nemesis.

picture it: parris island, may, swamp ass heat. 

 night manuevers. BIAS goes up, i go to 'duck n cova', and i  duck and cover my ass right into, what i THOUGHT was a perfect spot: dropped tree. 

land RIGHT next to an ant hill. my right arm did. BIAS is only 1/4 of the way through...i can see the ants crawling both up and down my arm and rifle. can't move...BIAS only 3/4 way done. 

please don't bite. 1 bite. DO NOT MOVE!  BIAS is fading...fading. 2nd bite. GONE. 

i jump up. strip my jacket off. get what's left of my water, and get my neck, my head. the Capt. comes up, to commend me, she didn't even see me,but n

but now she's watching me do the ant-hill shuffle, and  wondering wtf is wrong with me, then she sees, then she says get my water. i don't have anymore, 

she gets her flask gets the arms. nothing in my pants/boots

 2 bites. that's it. 2 bites. 

 

ever since then, and since being here, if i wear flip flops outside, i will manage to walk right into their fucking hell hills. 

also....( in know, i know tl:dr)

but i was trying to find the article the a company was looking to actually use fireants for floatable gear (?) 

[tsar4]

6 hours ago, scoobdog said:

Fire ants are native to South America, I believe.  Not sure how China would have been infested, but they have been doing significant trade with Brazil and other South American countries for years, so it's not inconceivable that they were directly infested through cargo rather than indirectly through the United States.

Actually, they're from...

[1pooh4u]

1 hour ago, discolé monade said:

those little basterds are my nemesis.

picture it: parris island, may, swamp ass heat. 

 night manuevers. BIAS goes up, i go to 'duck n cova', and i  duck and cover my ass right into, what i THOUGHT was a perfect spot: dropped tree. 

land RIGHT next to an ant hill. my right arm did. BIAS is only 1/4 of the way through...i can see the ants crawling both up and down my arm and rifle. can't move...BIAS only 3/4 way done. 

please don't bite. 1 bite. DO NOT MOVE!  BIAS is fading...fading. 2nd bite. GONE. 

i jump up. strip my jacket off. get what's left of my water, and get my neck, my head. the Capt. comes up, to commend me, she didn't even see me,but n

but now she's watching me do the ant-hill shuffle, and  wondering wtf is wrong with me, then she sees, then she says get my water. i don't have anymore, 

she gets her flask gets the arms. nothing in my pants/boots

 2 bites. that's it. 2 bites. 

 

ever since then, and since being here, if i wear flip flops outside, i will manage to walk right into their fucking hell hills. 

also....( in know, i know tl:dr)

but i was trying to find the article the a company was looking to actually use fireants for floatable gear (?) 

Those things are a menace and they’ll probably love the weather in Sicily.  You’re lucky it was just two bites. From what I seen they’re extremely painful 

[discolé monade]

13 hours ago, 1pooh4u said:

Those things are a menace and they’ll probably love the weather in Sicily.  You’re lucky it was just two bites. From what I seen they’re extremely painful 

i was lucky af, and i know it. i had to stay perfectly still, that might have been the ONLY thing that helped. and luckily, they were only on the arm and rifle. sleeves down, boot straps tight. so...very lucky indeed. 

like i said, i've steppen on plenty of mounds, and they are fast and quick, and i get several bites from that quick interaction. 

[1pooh4u]

1 hour ago, discolé monade said:

i was lucky af, and i know it. i had to stay perfectly still, that might have been the ONLY thing that helped. and luckily, they were only on the arm and rifle. sleeves down, boot straps tight. so...very lucky indeed. 

like i said, i've steppen on plenty of mounds, and they are fast and quick, and i get several bites from that quick interaction. 

You gotta start walking around with a blow torch  after you get the ants off burn them to the afterlife