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Al Bundy

(Patty O) wrote in
:

Out in our shed we had lots of little bitty ants. More than I have
EVER seen before. In the past we've had good luck with Terro for
these kind of ants, but this time the Terro didn't even seem to put a
dent in them. An exterminator was over at the neighbor's so I got him
over to look at the situation. He showed me where the trail of ants
was leading over to an interior wall of the shed. This is an old
shed, and it's divided in 2 parts by a wall that has siding on both
sides. He showed me the mud lines along the seams of the siding. Mud
lines from termites inside that wall. He told me ants are a natural
predator of termites, and the ants were feeding on the termites and
then bringing the food outside to their nest. I could see the ants
carrying little bits on their way out. When I made the guess to him
that the ants would take care of the termite problem, he then said the
termites would start multiplying in force and not be killed off
completely. He gave me a bid of $250. to take care of the termites
and ants. I told him I'd think about it. A couple of days later the
ants were all gone. I had given up on the Terro much earlier so I
don't think it was the Terro that did it. Do you think the
exterminator was telling me fibs, and the ants did kill off all of the
termites and then quit coming in to the wall because there was no food
there for them anymore?

I moved to the mid south a couple of yrs ago from way north where there
are no fire ants or termites at all. Quickly learned about the fire ants
and just how nasty they can be. Property had been vacant for some time.
Fire ants had many many mounds in the undisturbed grass. To get them
managed initially I called an exterminator to come juice the mounds and
foundation. She did say the one good thing about fire ants was they will
kill termites.

One day I find an old piece of wood way in the back of the yard. I pull
it up to toss out and there's termites in it. What I learned about fire
ant mounds is you tap around it and in a matter of a few seconds
hundreds are pouring out to kill whatever. So I put this piece of
termite ridden wood next to a decent fire ant pile. Tap on the ground
with my shoe toe. Out they came. You shoulda seen those ants tear them
up climbing into the holes and pulling out what was hidden too. I figure
must take like chicken to them.

So, fire ants and termites have a useful purpose - entertainment.