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The classic is to be working somewhere, anywhere, and end up standing in a bed. They climb up inside long pants, wherever, but they don't bite until you notice they are there- then, probably due to your thrashing and muscle spasms, they all bite at once.
Most people tend to have that happen to them once in a given area - you become surprisingly good at spotting the kind of place it happened to you before.
I actually prefer to work in fire-ant territory with open sandals and shorts - I get a few bites on the feet, but I don't end up doing the herky jerky dance before rolling on the ground trying to get them all out of "protective" clothing.
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The fire ants that are causing problems here are the little fire ant.They do not build mounds.They live off the ground in trees and vegetation.
Also Amdro is not an organophosphate but is a hydramethylnon.Amdro uses a corn grit and soybean oil base and is actually safer around people than orange oil is.
ericlp is correct that if you have a large lot they are going to be almost impossible to get rid of.
I was moving a ladder yesterday and brushed through the lower branches of an avocado tree.I was stung 5 times in a matter of seconds.
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Obie is right. LFA infestation is the worse of the two. LFAs are far harder to see and can drop on you without warning. Amdro is not recommended for use around food producing plants. Is it that toxic and absorbable into in fruits and vegetables? I have googled it and found no reasons or research, just the admonition. I am assuming that the little buggers carry it around, therefore, I don't use it anywhere on my acre, although only one corner is in food production. Anybody know why Amdro is a no-no in this regard? Would it be safe or practical to use it only on areas removed from food production?
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Jerry
I did find this
http://www.laureltropical.com/files/amdroBait.pdf
I appears you can use it around some food crops as long as it is in a bait station and not applied to the ground.
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Thanks, Obie. Anyone know where to obtain an appropriate bait station? Maybe I should ask the guys at Garden Exchange. They are usually pretty knowledgeable.
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And just to clarify...in my experience, when the LFA's bite you, it stings for about 30 minutes and then you forget about it. But I've only gotten incidental bites, not multiple simultaneous bites, which are more annoying.
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Reactions to LFA bites vary from person to person, and from bite to bite. I had several that weren't a big deal, but then I got one that took 3 months to heal, every one after that has taken that long or longer to heal. I also have a two year old dog who is virtually blind from bites on her corneas, they look like they've been sandblasted, while the other two dogs haven't had a problem.
This is another case where the ag department wrote off Puna when a problem first arose, and now they are promising to anything and everything it takes to keep them off the other Islands.
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
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I had to really speak up to retain funding for brown snake inspection a few years back.
This was/is a Defense Department thing. DoD funds this preventative program since they (DoD) are the primary lift from Guam and some other places in Asia where this danger to Hawaii "thing" comes from.
Wonder if Boehner and McConnell are trying again?
Pay attention people- I'm tired of standing guard. If you don't care, we'll all have to live with it.
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Just saying that I think it was the "ineffective" Sen. Akaka that got this back in the appropriation bill at the time.
So true, Carol.
I met someone else recently who's been having progressively bad reactions.
I have pain for about five days with just one bite, and my allergist told me there's a test for ant allergies.
Some insect bites are just mean bites. Not all cause allergic reactions (per Dr. Wang). Ants are in the group that can trigger reactions (like bees and relatives).
If anyone wants to know if you have an ant allergy, the test was not hard. I had it done, and I am. I can't remember for sure, but I think it was a blood test. (I don't remember going through the scratch test on it.)
I surely agree that the way officials ignore pests that are in Puna primarily is both really unfair to Puna residents and sadly short-sighted.
"Sometimes it's not enough to know what things mean, sometimes you have to know what things don't mean." — Bob Dylan
