Analog

It sounds like the plot of a farfetched science fiction movie. Unfortunately for the residents of Texas, it is very much a reality: billions of tiny reddish-brown ants have arrived onshore from a cargo ship and are hell-bent on eating anything electronic.

Computers, burglar alarm systems, gas and electricity meters, iPods, telephone exchanges – all are considered food by the flea-sized ants, for reasons that have left scientists baffled.

Having ruined pumps at a sewage facility, the ants are now marching towards Nasa’s Johnson Space Centre and William P. Hobby airport, Houston, putting state officials in a panic. “They’re itty-bitty things, and they’re just running everywhere,” said Patsy Morphew, a resident of Pearland, on the Gulf Coast.

She spends hours 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.”

Crazy is the the right word. The ants are known as “crazy rasberry ants”: crazy because they seem to move in a random scrum as opposed to marching in regimented lines, and rasberry after a pioneering exterminator, Tom Rasberry, who first identified them as a problem.

The ants – also known as paratrenicha species near pubens – have so far spread to five counties in the Houston area. Scientists are not sure from where they originate but they seem to be related to a type of ant from the Caribbean. “At this point it would be nearly impossible to eradicate the ants because they are so widely dispersed,” said Roger Gold, a Texas A&M University entomologist. He added that the only upside to the invasion was that the crazy rasberry ants ate fire ants, which sting humans during the long, hot Texas summers.

Unfortunately, the ants also like to suck the moisture from plants, feed on precious insects such as ladybirds and eat the hatchlings of a small, endangered type of grouse known as the Attwater prairie chicken. They also bite humans – although not with a sting like fire ants.

Perhaps their most remarkable characteristic, however, is that they are attracted to electrical equipment. Pest control specialists say that they are inundated with calls from homes and businesses now that the warm, humid season has begun, with literally billions of the ants wreaking havoc across the state. Worse, the ants refuse to die when sprayed with over-the-counter poison. Even killing the queen of a colony doesn’t do any good, because each colony has multiple queens.

The Texas Department of Agriculture said that it was working with researchers from A&M University and the Environmental Protection Agency to find new ways to stop the ants.

Billions of electronic-eating 'crazy rasberry ants' invade Texas - Times Online

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rmn_tech

Only in America

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3v0

Why do you see this as an "Only in America" problem?

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HarveyH42

They don't have insects in the UK anymore...

Wonder how they got here. After Fire Ants and Killer Bees, I would have thought with all the Homeland security stuff, we would be safe from such terrorist threats. Guess going solar at this point would be a huge waste of money. Only took about 7 years for Fire Ants to spread throughout the southern states, huge problem and no real control. One good thing though, if they like electronics, perhaps they'll be into getting zapped by high voltages.

mneary

Train them to eat tin whiskers?

(Look up RoHS if you don't understand.)

Torben

I didn't find anything on the net about these things eating electronics, but they do seem to get into them and short out receptacles and such. I thought for sure this was some kind of gag but the ants do appear to be real.

On the upside, they do seem to displace fire ants. Guess it's a case of choosing the lesser of two evils--which would *you* prefer? I don't want ants in my gear. But then I've also been stung by fire ants and that ain't any fun either.


Torben

rmn_tech

I don't.

It's just a saying I have heard here in the U.K. When anything strange happens 'over the pond'.

"It could only happen in America"

No insult was meant and if anybody was offended i wholeheartedly apologise. It's just that many news Items from America are a little odd. If they were not then they wouldn't make the news here.

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Hero999

I don't believe this for a second, it's obviously a hoax.

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HarveyH42

Hey, it's just a common expression, no big deal. It probably stems from our free-press policy. Our government doesn't censor the news (much), like most other countries. Everything gets published, and the media know that weird stuff makes for great headlines.

Anyway, if it's going to become a huge problem here, then it'll spread, as we export all kinds of crap to most every continent on the planet, share the joy...

We have a real problem with the Fire Ants, and there doesn't seem to be any effective means of control. I battle them constantly, don't seem to be getting bitten as often, nor react as badly these days. Use to to get itchy bumps that lasted a day or two. I tried some Malathion in a pump sprayer last week, and was quite impressed. Killed all the mounds, and none relocated a few feet away, like with the granules.

These new ants kind of got me a little concerned. They will be tough to keep out of the house, where Fire Ants stay outside. They damage electronics, which is most everything these days, and could be a much greater problem then an annoying itch. What will happen to cars, traffic signals, air conditioning units (gets very hot in the summer). The failures they cause have the potential of killing a lot of people. Hopefully there is a weakness, or a natural predator to help limit the spread. Fire Ants don't have any natural threats, they just don't like the cold (bet the Canadians are laughing right now).

I saw these new ants on the news, they are very tiny. They didn't show any mounds or nests, just thousands of ants all over the side of a house, and inside the phone box. Fire Ants travel on a very narrow path, you can find the mound pretty easy. These 'Crazy' Ants seem to just run around chaotic and independent.

Nigel Goodwin

Not as free as the UK though!

I think the problem with the USA it's it's actual SIZE - and the fact it covers such a huge distance north to south - so you've got far too much space for weird shit to happen!

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HarveyH42

Haven't had much free time to look into this much, most Google searches turn up basically the same story, but it's being carried by many reputable sources.

News Bytes of the Week: Ants Invade Texas: Scientific American

They've been in the US since 2002, it's not a new problem. Guess they don't travel much, relatively small spread for 6 years.

3v0

Could be they are not well suited for our climate.

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jpanhalt

One more reason to used 63/37 solder. The lead can't be good for them, and if it is, maybe we can harness that ability. John

killivolt

Basically here in Utah we have had to deal with an Ant that is similar to the one described. It's been here now for about 10 years. It showed up and spread outward in our Town but I was watching some discovery channel or animal planet on Television. They say that it began in California and has spread west to us it's no surprise to me and you can't kill them because underground there is a large nest all the way back to California.

As far as I can see based on the description it's the same ant and the behavior is the same. I pulled up 2 rocks to replace a water sprinkling head. What I saw was amazing. These little guy's were about to launch an attack on some large black Army Ants.

Side by Side both nest. The tunnels to small leading to the nest of the small red ants so, the large army ant's can't follow back once the raid begins. Therefor perfect battle plan. They would not suspect the small ants thing and by shear number more than 10/1 the raid would begin and would have finished in a matter of hours. The black ants disappearing would have left their tunnels the only evidence of their existence. These little guy's will move the nest to the next location and start over.

The fire ant's my not survive a similar attack unless their size is the same or smaller ?

They show up everywhere here year round including winter. Inside the house and not much you can do about it the only things I have found to keep them out of the dogs dish is to put flour around it. They won't cross the line. They are pesky and vicious for such a small little ant.

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jpanhalt

I am surprised it didn't take the shorter route to the East. John