The AP reported on a plague of fast-moving ants that were starting to infest the south. They short out wires, kill bees, and leave no room for fire ants (so they're not all bad). Kill one and chemical cues quickly bring the others in swarms.
If one gets electrocuted, its death releases a chemical cue to attack a threat to the colony, said Roger Gold, an entomology professor at Texas A&M.
"The other ants rush in. Before long, you have a ball of ants," he said.
.........
"I did a test site with a product early on and applied the product to a half-acre ... In 30 days I had two inches of dead ants covering the entire half-acre," Rasberry said. "It looked like the top of the dead ants was just total movement from all the live ants on top of the dead ants."
Perhaps we can finesse this defense so that it turns into a weakness.
Study the critters until you find out what that chemical cue is. Synthesize it.
Now dig a ditch near the infested area and spray it with this stuff and kerosene. After a few hours, ignite. Lather, rinse, repeat. I'd think that after maybe a week or so you'd start to exhaust the number of ants who respond to the cues. From the description above it sounds like they'll come from a couple hundred yards away.
2 comments:
I was thinking the same thing as I read your post...massive opportunity for a crazy ant holocaust! ;-)
Ugh. The thought of having to deal with crazy ants in addition to fire ants is daunting.
Here in Florida the fire ants are everywhere. I hate them. I grew up in the Midwest where ants were harmless and you could walk or lay down in the bare grass without being attacked.
I miss that.
I take that kind of thing for granted these days. I shouldn't.
Here in the Midwest I miss the ocean :-)
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