I'd rather think the fire ants are why you don't have fleas and ticks. After they arrived here and got established, the ticks have nearly disappeared. Even the deer the hunters killed are clean of them. I quit finding them or fleas on the dogs and prior to their arrival one trip down in the pasture and poking around in the brush was enough for them to load up with ticks. They also are efficient at keeping cotton fields clean of boll weevils - or so I've read.
