Fire Ants (Las Cruces, Dona Ana, Logan: to live, safe, agriculture) - New Mexico (NM) - City-Data Forum

Mattie Jo · 08-27-2006, 08:53 AM

Are they mainly only in Dona Ana county? I lived in Florida where the fire ants were so bad you could not garden. I never want to live where they are again. I know that they will be everywhere soon enough, but I may not be around to see it.

Crackerjack · 08-27-2006, 11:07 PM

Jessaka, NM does have ants but not the fire ants at least not at any place I have lived in NM. They are mostly the harmless ones. I have heard of some fire ants in Dona Ana County which is where Las Cruces is located so maybe some people from there can you tell us if they see fire ants there or do you know where they are located in Dona Ana County? I'd like to know myself.

Informer · 08-28-2006, 12:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jessaka

Are they mainly only in Dona Ana county? I lived in Florida where the fire ants were so bad you could not garden. I never want to live where they are again. I know that they will be everywhere soon enough, but I may not be around to see it.

Greetings,

The latest Department of Agriculture maps that I could locate put fire ant colonies only in Dona Ana county New Mexico. How safe is the rest of the state? Only time will tell.

It does take 2 weeks of temperatures below 10 degrees F to have a significant impact on fire ant mounds (kill-off).

Not possible in Las Cruces, NM.

Cheers

Nil · 08-28-2006, 12:24 PM

Another thing. A lot of NM locals will call some ants we have Fire ants. They are much larger, red, and I'm guessing dont hurt nearly as bad when you are bitten. I've normally called these fire ants too untill I visited east Texas. Now I know what real fire ants look like, but haven been able to correct my missuse of the name...

Mattie Jo · 08-28-2006, 02:35 PM

Thank you all for the information. A map just showed areas where there were fire ants, and dona ana was the only one. So evidentally they have not traveled elsewhere

Logand · 08-28-2006, 09:41 PM

I’m up here just North of Abq and I have been bitten by these big red buggers in my garden. I think they are fire ants. I have seen them in Texas in swarms. Here they seem to be in small colonies and mostly avoidable.

Mattie Jo · 08-29-2006, 08:06 AM

Logand,

The ones I have seen in Florida make huge mounts, and they go after you. You can't avoid them when you are outside, because if you stand still for a brief moment they are on you and biting. Are these the same?

Logand · 08-29-2006, 09:45 AM

Jessaka,

No, not at all. I must be mistaken about the species. They do bite, but it's only one or two at a time and they nest in a small hole in the ground.

Nil · 08-29-2006, 10:01 AM

I got curiouse and found that NMSU may have the name right with "Red Imported Fire Ant" Link: http://cahe.nmsu.edu/pubs/_g/g-322.html but no pictures

This site has pictures of mounds that resemble some that we have in central NM. http://www.elkorose.com/redalert.html they call them red harverster ants.

The last link I found has better pictures of the ants themselves, they call them harvester ants too. In From florida so maybe thats what you remember? http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/urban/ants/harvester_ant.htm (broken link)

Informer · 08-29-2006, 02:35 PM

Greetings,

If I may clear up a few things, if you are unfortunate enough to get biten by one of these ants (Solenopsis), you will know it!

It feels like a hot match head burning your skin (hence th name fire-ant) and the resulting small white pustule that forms at the bite site will leave no doubt.

Cheers...