ANTS!

annie oakley · Post by **annie oakley** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 3:06 pm

I stopped at the mail Box to get the Mail and opened the Box and there was close to a couple hundred ants swarming all over my mail. Cleaned off the little snots and there were eggs, ant eggs or should I say Larve. Now, I know we have had nothing sweet in there and yet there they were. I hated to but I had to spray after I got all my mail out and cleaned off from the ant. I know some ants will move to higher ground when the weather changes and a storm is coming, but in the mail Box? Well got to run for now, making HAm and BEans for a potluck at work tomorrow.

lOve Oma

Jean · Post by **Jean** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 6:37 pm

Oma,

My guess is that something else laid the eggs and the ants were eating them. I don't know of any ants that would lay above ground. Besides that, it usually takes them longer than a day or two to prepare a nest and get the queen set.

The other possibility is that the ants were tending to the eggs of another species. They do it with aphids here, because aphids excrete a sweet substance that the ants eat.

I could definitely be wrong though,

Love, Jean

Post by **tex** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 9:17 pm

Jean,

Down here in the South, the imported fire ant will sometimes do that if something disturbs their nest. I've seen them move into vehicles, buildings, and things like electrical service boxes. There is also a species or two of larger native ants that will move into buildings, (usually between the walls) - some type of carpenter ants, I believe. They also live in cavaties in trees, (live trees, not dead ones).

A few weeks ago, I gave an old pickup truck to a teenager who wanted a "project" truck, and when I cleaned out all the tools, and accumulated junk, there was a large nest of these ants in the cab, on the passanger side, under all the debris on the floor. They had probably been living there for several years, from the looks of things. (The truck had been retired about 5 or 6 years ago).

I'll bet those were fire ants in the mailbox. They will sometimes move their whole colony, eggs, larvae, and all, at the drop of a hat.

Love,
Tex

MaggieRedwings · Post by **MaggieRedwings** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 5:49 am

All I can say is YUK!! Was any of the mail from your Aunt?

Love, Maggie

annie oakley · Post by **annie oakley** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 5:05 pm

Actually Mike and I talked about them and he saw some of the dead and they were fire ants. I've had them in a vehicle before swarming. But never in the Mail Box. The fire any cummunity is dwindling around here tho. Love Oma

barbaranoela · Post by **barbaranoela** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 6:20 pm

Somewhere ( I believe on the news) they said that ANTS do not like baby powder????

Someone,accidently found this out and sprinkles (powder) along the baseboard???

No more ants???

So I guess the ants just slip and slide around----

luve Barbara----this was the big news of the day!!!!!

starfire · Post by **starfire** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 8:58 pm

Can't believe you didn't get bitten, Oma. They ALWAYS nail me at least a couple of times.

Love, Shirley

annie oakley · Post by **annie oakley** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 5:11 pm

Shirley....They usually get me, but I was lucky this time, and My Epi-pen was in the house Love Oma