Jim Morgan wrote:
> Comments that Walt and anyone experienced with fire ants might care to talk
> about.
>
> Last May I spent a week recording in Cairo, GA and found that I was often in
> areas containing numerous fire ant mounds.
>
> These innocent looking mounds became a horde of angry ants if you disturbed
> the surface of the mound and I was constantly looking where I walked. Some
> how I avoided getting stung.
>
> The one thing I never did was to venture into the fields at night but stayed
> on the safety of the numerous dirt roads.
>
> More than once I thought of Walt out at night recording frogs and wondered
> if he ever had problems with these creatures.
Once this year, way south in Georgia, I was standing at the back of the
truck getting ready to record some Oak Toads and noticed a increasing
discomfort in the feet. Looking down I was standing right square on a
small mound that had been hidden in the grass. Definitely disrupts the
recording process. They get all through your socks and shoes by the time
you notice. They were up my pants nearly to the knees, both inside and out.
While its a pretty aggressive species, the bite is no worse than a
number of other ants around here. Just they keep coming. My basic method
of dealing with the problem was to keep slapping them off before they
bit. I did record the Oak Toads after clearing most all them off and
moving the truck away from the nest. For the next couple hours I was
still finding a ant or two.
This was the only time I've had problems with fire ants while out
recording. They are common here. I have them at my place, where a
regular chore is to go feed each new mound some ant bait. Individually
each mound is fairly easy to kill. When out in the fields on a foray I
make it a habit of poking each mound with a snake hook or whatever. Just
to wear them down a bit.
I am very careful to watch where I step. Not so much fire ants, but
snakes and other such to worry about. This particular time I'd pulled
off the road so the nest was in a ideal spot when I got the recorder out
for me to end up standing right on it. I'd looked, just it was well
enough hidden in the grass. A full size mound would be obvious.
To keep down attracting insects I record in the dark, only the display
on the Portadisc lit. I use a headlamp and turn it back on before moving
even a step from my recording spot. You could get bitten walking back to
the car. You can't even trust where you just walked. And of course when
you arrive you turn on your headlamp before stepping out of the car.
It's all pretty standard habit with me, I was born in Louisiana. I don't
think much about it. Those without the built in habits should use extra
care. It's really uncommon to have problems if you use a minimum of
common sense.
Walt
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