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Can someone please tell me if you have fire ants in North Carolina and if so, what areas?
In my search for a new place to call home, I have concentrated on demographics, culture, location, etc. I have totally neglected to think about critters and such that I no longer want to deal with. Fire ants are right up there at the top of my list as to what I want nothing to do with. They are everywhere down here in Florida. There is no escaping them. They make for some nasty stings and walking barefoot is often not an option.
Anyway, fire ants would seriously make me reconsider a place to live if they were present. I would like to get back into gardening, but I'm not gonna fight the ants.
Yes, fire ants are here...and they're pretty much everywhere. Some places worse than others.....I, personally, don't have any in my yard, but my parents, who live just 1/4 of a mile down the road, have them in their yard.
Durham area, though not nearly as bad as we had them down in Florida. I have a garden and have never had fire ants in it, but I've had a few ant mounds pop up randomly around the yard. I just treat them with AMDRO and that is the end of it.
They seem easier to spot in the clay soil than in the sandy earth down south, but yes, we have them.
BTW, here's a little trick. If you get bit by a fire ant IMMEDIATELY dab a little ammonia or windex on it!
I know sounds like something from My Big Fat Greek Wedding - but I am one who swells and blisters from ant bites and this (from my Florida pharmacist) worked like a charm (provided you don't have a sensitivity to ammonia!).
Last edited by brooks2007; 07-25-2009 at 09:40 PM..
Reason: sp
Yes, fire ants are here...and they're pretty much everywhere. Some places worse than others.....I, personally, don't have any in my yard, but my parents, who live just 1/4 of a mile down the road, have them in their yard.
What part of NC are you in? When you say they are pretty much everywhere, do you mean throughout the state?
I'm in the Triad are east of Greensboro and we have them here. Not on our property that we have seen but I work at a school in Burlington and we have seen them there. We have had ant piles here but I do what an exterminator told me many years ago in Florida. You see a mound and you pour boiling water down it. You have to have a few pots so you can saturate the mound and get any trying to escape but he told me that is what he did in his yard. The water travels through all their tunnels and gets the queen. When I have done that it has always worked. Except it is a little comical to see my husband and I outside with oven mitts on holding big pots of boiling water.
Something else that works on insects bites is rubbing anti-persipirant on the bite. Works like a charm with the itch and the bite itself.
I would think if you don't want to deal with insects, and I certainly don't blame you, you might want to go further north. Of course I don't know about the mountain areas and what they encounter so someone else could help with that one.
Also, I love to garden and when we do yard work or gardening I wear rubber boots to my knees. My neighbors suggested them mainly because of the clay and that way I also don't worry about what I step on. I also always wear gloves to protect my hands from any critters.
All in all I have found less critters to deal with here than I did in Florida.
Good luck.
Last edited by Catrick; 07-25-2009 at 10:34 PM..
Reason: can't remember anything.
To all, thanks for your fast replies--I'm crushed as NC has become one of my favorite places.
We moved to Florida from PA--so I've lived farther north. Was hoping to avoid the longer, dreary winters, but I seriously do not want to deal with the fire ants. My suspicion is that the new areas they are invading are only going to get much worse in years to come--kind of like the killer bees I suppose. I am really looking for making that last move. DH and I would like to grow herbs and vegetables. Kind of get back to nature and simple living.
Thanks esp. for the tips about windex/ammonia and deodorant. I didn't know about the windex and my mind needed jogging about the deodorant. I am so glad you brought that up. I had just read that within the last week or so--but couldn't remember what it was I read. I believe the article said it was the aluminum in the deodorant that was the thing that helped.
I have never heard the boiling water thing. We have them all over our yard this year and they are absolutely terrible--zillions of them I am sure. I put traps out or spray them and they just move over a few feet and tunnel up again. We cannot even walk on our patio by the screened in pool. I'm afraid that if I got rid of all of them, I'd have one BIG sinkhole from the miles of ant tunnels which have to be under the ground...
I've lived in Greensboro for almost 18 years and have never seen fire ants in this area. Not saying they're not here. Just saying I've never seen them. They're all over eastern NC. I don't know about the mountains.
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Fire Ants? Absolutely....
