Viewing post #799805 by Esperanza

needrain said: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.

That is interesting. I guess they do have a good function. I met an author of a book that truly believed all bugs are good and I believed it. Except for fire ants. I have been rearranging some things in the garden and digging up some of their mounds. I am actually kind of scared of how menacing they will be this year. I have lost more baby chickens to these beasts than any other reason. Nothing makes me lose my cool faster than a bunch of fire ants biting the beejeeses out of me. I could become a member of the band howling monkeys and would have the dance moves to go along to the tune.