What kind of ant makes a hill this big?

W

WVHILLS

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Strip down to your skivys and dance on it for a few minutes, you'll figure out the fire in fire ants real quick. ;)
 
The effect is far more dramatic if you just sink your feet in and they get up your trouser legs. :eek:
 
The lazy kind...
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Actually this is a termite mound. We do have a species that makes loose debris mounds like the one in your photo. I don't know what type they are but I do know you really don't want to step on one. Ours are loaded with ant and your foot will sink right in. Mac
 
runningboar said:
Strip down to your skivys and dance on it for a few minutes, you'll figure out the fire in fire ants real quick. ;)
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Better yet, let him sit on it and then when he's covered, WHAM. All of them bite at one time. Who knows he may get his own show "how'd dey do dat"!!!
 
The mountain men used to find a good ant hill in the spring and spread their lousy furs on it. The ants would pick all the lice and eggs out, for free. Army ants do a nice job of purging roaches and other insects in Central America. My sister in Costa Rica has had them come through her plant nursery a few times; the roaches panic. After the ants do their thing they go back to wherever they came from. Useful critters... as long as they aren't after you. Fire ants down here in Texas are vicious!
 
Alberta Ed said:
The mountain men used to find a good ant hill in the spring and spread their lousy furs on it. The ants would pick all the lice and eggs out, for free. Army ants do a nice job of purging roaches and other insects in Central America. My sister in Costa Rica has had them come through her plant nursery a few times; the roaches panic. After the ants do their thing they go back to wherever they came from. Useful critters... as long as they aren't after you. Fire ants down here in Texas are vicious!
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I've also used fire ants for similar purpouses, as a kid they were my favorite method of cleaning off some piece of shellfish pieces with zero effort.
stingray barbs, crab shells etc would barely even smell after they finished.
 
WVHills: I used to come across alot of those in the woods, when I lived in Ohio. I don't think they are fire ants, if I remember correctly they were black, and I don't ever remember getting bitten after kicking them in when I came across them.
 
When I got a couple of my teeth pulled I used ants to clean them so I could make a necklace :)
 
I don't think those are fire ants. I thought fire ants had reddish-orange bodies as well as heads. Maybe I'm mistaken. I live in CO, and I think we have fire ants here on the Western Slope. Could someone please enlighten?
 
It doesn't look big enough for a fire ant mound. As I recall they are about one and a half feet high. I may be wrong. They're from South America.

FWIW a teenage E.O. Wilson first IDed them in the US.
 
WVHILS looks like fire ants to me I thought I had got away from them when I left Texas. IMHO they are the scorge of the earth almost impossable to kill and keep run off they are some wicked little dudes there bite burns and then pustulates and I can't rember ever getting just one bite from them.
 
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