Texas.....

Mark · Thu May 15, 08 8:55 am **Texas.....**

What is going on down there?

DALLAS - In what sounds like a really low-budget horror film, voracious swarming ants that apparently arrived in Texas aboard a cargo ship are invading homes and yards across the Houston area, shorting out electrical boxes and messing up computers.

The hairy, reddish-brown creatures are known as "crazy rasberry ants" — crazy, because they wander erratically instead of marching in regimented lines, and "rasberry" after Tom Rasberry, an exterminator who did battle against them early on.

"They're itty-bitty things about the size of fleas, and they're just running everywhere," said Patsy Morphew of Pearland, who is constantly sweeping them off her patio and scooping them out of her pool by the cupful. "There's just thousands and thousands of them. If you've seen a car racing, that's how they are. They're going fast, fast, fast. They're crazy."

The ants — formally known as "paratrenicha species near pubens" — have spread to five Houston-area counties since they were first spotted in Texas in 2002.

The newly recognized species is believed to have arrived in a cargo shipment through the port of Houston. Scientists are not sure exactly where the ants came from, but their cousins, commonly called crazy ants, are found in the Southeast and the Caribbean.

"At this point, it would be nearly impossible to eradicate the ant because it is so widely dispersed," said Roger Gold, a Texas A&M University entomologist.

The good news? They eat fire ants, the stinging red terrors of Texas summers.

But the ants also like to suck the sweet juices from plants, feed on such beneficial insects as ladybugs, and eat the hatchlings of a small, endangered type of grouse known as the Attwater prairie chicken.

They also bite humans, though not with a stinger like fire ants.

Worse, they, like some other species of ants, are attracted to electrical equipment, for reasons that are not well understood by scientists.

They have ruined pumps at sewage pumping stations, fouled computers and at least one homeowner's gas meter, and caused fire alarms to malfunction. They have been spotted at NASA's Johnson Space Center and close to Hobby Airport, though they haven't caused any major problems there yet.

Exterminators say calls from frustrated homeowners and businesses are increasing because the ants — which are starting to emerge by the billions with the onset of the warm, humid season — appear to be resistant to over-the-counter ant killers.

"The population built up so high that typical ant controls simply did no good," said Jason Meyers, an A&M doctoral student who is writing his dissertation on the one-eighth-inch-long ant.

It's not enough just to kill the queen. Experts say each colony has multiple queens that have to be taken out.

At the same time, the ants aren't taking the bait usually left out in traps, according to exterminators, who want the Environmental Protection Agency to loosen restrictions on the use of more powerful pesticides.

And when you do kill these ants, the survivors turn it to their advantage: They pile up the dead, sometimes using them as a bridge to cross safely over surfaces treated with pesticide.

"It looked like someone had come along and poured coffee granules all around the perimeter of the rooms," said Lisa Calhoun, who paid exterminators $1,200 to treat an infestation of her parents' home in the Houston suburb of Pearland.

The Texas Department of Agriculture is working with A&M researchers and the EPA on how to stop the ants.

"This one seems to be like lava flowing and filling an entire area, getting bigger and bigger," said Ron Harrison, director of training for the big pest-control company Orkin Inc.

pdxmonkeyboy · Thu May 15, 08 9:01 am

would it be bad to just nuc Texas?

pacifichigh · Since 11 May 2005 1004 Posts ATX Texan

The U.S. needs Texas more than Tx needs the U.S. (i.e. energy)

Moto · Since 03 Sep 2006 2698 Posts Still a gojo pimp! Moto Mouth

WTF??? This does sound like a horror film. This is some freaky shit.

forrest · Thu May 15, 08 9:17 am

All of Texas knows that, and that's why no one likes Texas. I grew up there, I have a right to say this. Smile

Mark · Thu May 15, 08 9:35 am

not sure Texas is ours anyway.... Shocked

Sol-flyer · Thu May 15, 08 9:47 am

fire burn rome Wink

pdxmonkeyboy · Thu May 15, 08 10:06 am

pacifichigh · Since 11 May 2005 1004 Posts ATX Texan

Just to stoke the fire Tx is the Energy capital of the US, not just the oil and gas capital.

#1 Producer of Wind energy in the U.S. by a long shot.

I've only been down here 6 months, but think I'm already turning Texican.

Couple other things they do well down here

magicmaker · Since 29 Oct 2006 895 Posts da Hood Opinionated

nice...

TWIN-FIN · Since 24 May 2006 805 Posts Portland, OR Hot Monkey

OK that's it Im moving to Texas.
Hey Shay, do you need a room mate, or some one to drive your boat and take pictures of hot chicks, I mean of you while you wake board

registered · Since 12 Jul 2005 1319 Posts tsunami Sandbagger

nice pics you dirty old bastard..... Twisted Evil

texas looks like paradise W or not.

Gman · Since 11 Feb 2006 4911 Posts Portland Unstrapped

Texas does have some appealing aspects.

Those ants are badass:

"And when you do kill these ants, the survivors turn it to their advantage: They pile up the dead, sometimes using them as a bridge to cross safely over surfaces treated with pesticide"

Does sound sort of biblical - maybe the ant plague was sent to smote those grave robbing dope fiends

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/05/09/corpse.abuse.ap/index.html

lance_k · Since 04 May 2005 565 Posts Hood River Photographer

while on the subject of green...

texas is the leading producer of energy because it is the leading consumer of energy in the nation. california is a distant second.

there also is no recycling program in texas. Rolling Eyes

blancoh2o · Since 15 Mar 2005 1154 Posts Oregon Phishy

pdxmonkeyboy · Thu May 15, 08 8:44 pm

Nak · Thu May 15, 08 9:49 pm

I spent 6 months in Texas in the USAF... I was single... All I can say is: WOW. Very Happy

Trust me on this one, Energy is not what Texas is about... Wink