Grr.. those ants are mean bastards!
you squash one of them and the whole tribe come looking for you.

I just know them as 'bull ants'
I knelt on a nest one day to take a shot
Lucky it was winter and I had some thick clothes on
Felt something odd around my knee, looked down and there were a few trying to bite through the moleskins.
It was when they started falling out of the tree on me that I started to get a bit worried

Bushmaster wrote:

Damn!! Don't you have anything down there that's friendly?

Yeah..we gots lots of friendly buggers down this way mate...it's just some of the critters that can get a bit "testy".

Suz wrote:

Man that is one giant ant! If those lived anywhere near me, I'd move. Suz

The nests are pretty easy to spot Suz...the entry holes just look like you could climb down in them yourself. Seriously, the hole is about 1/4" or thereabouts and there is usually 3 or 4 servicing the nest mound which is usually about 3" or 4" high and often near stumps, logs, trees etc. So long as you don't get within about a couple of yards of the nest, or the ants themselves, they will ignore you. However, if you get too close to a wandering ant or the nest, the alarm is 'sounded' (not sure how they do that) and the ants coming out fast and in strength. As I said before, great eyesight and they will actually track and chase/attack you. Even ants that are not in the nest, but are returning from scavenging and are a few metres away, will react to the 'call to arms' and move in on you from wherever they may be...even from behind you. The damn things are bloody hard to kill as well...you can't just put your foot on them and squash them...their body is almost like it's armoured...you actually have to put your heel on them and grind them into the ground, and watch out for his mates.



But back to Pete and his 'problem'...just be there ans sympathetic when needed mate, and help when and where you can.

Yeah, another nasty critter from down under. Fire ants are much nicer. In lawns it is easy to see their nest, but in bushy areas or places where you've laid down compost or mulch, not so easy. Now fire ants have a much different tactic. If you step on or too near their nest the little tiny buggers swarm on your feet and legs, and then as if on some command all start biting/stinging at the same time. And, no Vince they didn't get to my crotch only to about mid-calf, but from there down I'm covered with hundreds of small little red blisters. Now I'm not sure how anyone else responds to their bite, but each of the bites on me will develop into a small pustule and will take several weeks to heal. That could just be my bodies reaction not sure. Still, very happy we don't have your little monsters to deal with.

They found some Fire Ant nests out here that somehow found their way into Australia on a shipping container. So far we are holding our own with eradicating the little bastards. One of the ways they found to destroy a nest is to push tubes, with holes drilled through them along their length, about a metre or so into the ground all around the nest, then force really hot steam down the tubes. The steam comes out the holes, super heats the ground and cooks the nest and everything in it...but you have to get the nest before the 'queen' flies off to form another nest.

They also have regular aerial baiting flights by helicopter i the areas known to contain nests. Again, it seems to be working because they aren't spreading any further...yet.

Good luck with that, they're sneaky lil bastards.

lesterg3 wrote:

Good luck with that, they're sneaky lil bastards.

Yeah, you are right mate...but our insect and ant gurus are onto it and have tried a number of methods and they appear to be winning so far.

lesterg3 wrote:

Yeah, another nasty critter from down under. Fire ants are much nicer. In lawns it is easy to see their nest, but in bushy areas or places where you've laid down compost or mulch, not so easy. Now fire ants have a much different tactic. If you step on or too near their nest the little tiny buggers swarm on your feet and legs, and then as if on some command all start biting/stinging at the same time. And, no Vince they didn't get to my crotch only to about mid-calf, but from there down I'm covered with hundreds of small little red blisters. Now I'm not sure how anyone else responds to their bite, but each of the bites on me will develop into a small pustule and will take several weeks to heal. That could just be my bodies reaction not sure. Still, very happy we don't have your little monsters to deal with.

They are real bastards mate...but here's an idea I saw on Facebook today...might just work.