What kind of ant makes a hill this big?

We've got bigger mounds than that here in NY. They are called beaver mounds !!
 
I've seen ant hills and red-headed ants like that here in Wisconsin. I would say they are relatively common. I was always fascinated with them when I was a kid.
 
Dont think thats fire ants in WV. Probably carpenter ants if they,re black. Ive seen the same thing here in Ct.
 
pict said:
The lazy kind...
garliccamp023wb4.jpg


Actually this is a termite mound.
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and I thought we only had those in Australia !!
 
Random useless fact for the day:
In the Phillipines, apparently there's a superstition of a troll that lives in and guards anthills. Kicking or disturbing one will get you a curse. Not sure whether or not they like their homes being photographed....
 
Imported fireants cam in through Mobile Alabama. So, fire ants are more precisely the South's gift to the Southwest. You could get the fire ants back in Texas up to a good rolling boil by looking too hard at their mound. I find it unlikely that fireants would have stood for having your knife placed on their mound without coming out in full force. At least they would not in South Texas. One of the few things that I don't miss living in CT.
 
I've had a few choice encounters with fireants while training in Florida... I'll take a swarm of hornets over them anyday! I hate the fact that they sneak-up on you and all bite at once.... those dirty little SOB's... I considered jumping into the fire for a fleeting moment.... Hate em hate em hate em... but respect them now, that's for sure. Those don't look like fireants to me, though.

Rick
 
Used to find a lot of those hills here in the NorthWest and they were always made by some kind of black ant.
Mostly around fir and such like trees, they like the needles as building material, easy pickins I guess.
Some were over three feet tall.
Tear em apart and they'd build them back up in no time.

You can bury skulls and bones and such like in them and they'll pick them clean for you.
 
stingray4540 said:
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.
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We have them all over the area here - some twice as large, many half the size shown. I wouldn't want them all over me, but they're no big deal. Another species build lower mounds and are red and black and hairy - far more aggressive!

ED:

Allegheny Mound Ant

This ant normally lives outdoors with nests consisting of huge conical mounds, sometimes measuring nearly three feet high by six feet in diameter. Undoubtedly, some enter homes occasionally since they are fond of sweets, but normally attend honeydew-secreting insects on plants and are predaceous on other insects. Workers are about 1/4 inch long with a blackish-brown abdomen and legs, while the head and thorax are rust red. New colonies are founded by extension of or breaking off from existing colonies when workers migrate away with one or more queens. Related field ants may be brown, black, red or of various combinations of these colors.
 
That looks like a very small ant hill to me. Ever been to Finland?



The photo's not mine, but I've seen ant hills a lot bigger than that, even. :D
 
Elen said:
That looks like a very small ant hill to me. Ever been to Finland?



The photo's not mine, but I've seen ant hills a lot bigger than that, even. :D
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I'd hate to bump into the bear that took that dump !!!:D
 
Its funny how everyone talks with such respect about those little insects......... I guess none of you think they would be impressed with you fancy knifes lol.. Yea i been there only once with the fire ants... There was no fight to speak of, i ran away.... About taking on some hornets instead of the ants............ Well been there done that Had more then 30 stings that could be counted for sure. I did lose the fight too. To give you the mental pic. Think of your self after a boxing match with Mike Tyson and you were the one to lose it... Well i looked even worse that that much worse. Went later to get some revenge on them..... yep they got me again both eyes were shut closed and my hands and body didnt look good. My dad put some tape to keep my eyes closed.

Sasha
 
Those aren't fire ants. I'm not sure how big those ants are, but they look way bigger than fire ants, which are just a little bigger than the smallest ants I've seen. FA's seem to run about 1/8" long where I'm at, maybe some soldiers as big as 3/16".

Also, fire ant mounds range in volume (from what I've seen) from about two cubic feet to totally non-existent. I've stepped in places with no mound, and they were right under the surface. One telltale sign is a string of little mounds in a line - dunno why they do that. If I'm not sure if a mound is fire ants or not, I disturb it.. fire ants swarm like mad, way faster and in greater numbers than other ants their size.
 
"When I got a couple of my teeth pulled I used ants to clean them so I could make a necklace" <--i am jealous of that necklace :D

i used this as my msn line all day hahaha

i know i got the tools to make my own, but i'd rather have them teeth stay where they are lol
 
When I was out in Fort Lewis WA out on manuvers we would come across those ant hils but they would be half the size a volkswagon beetle. Not sure what kind of ants they were but they were protected, you couldn't destroy their mond. Before you laid down at night in to form a parimater you put your hand down on the ground to see if any thing would crawl across your hand to make sure you weren't going to lay on an ant path.
 
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