Interesting info about fire ants.

I guess I WON"T be trying to get rid of all the little red/brown ants in my yard from now on after learning an interesting item about fire ants. Where I live in central Arkansas, we are just starting to get the red imported fire ants around town. There was a really good article about them in our local paper yesterday . They interviewed an entomologist who works for the Arkansas State Plant Board and he said not to drive away the harmless little red/brown "sweet" ants if you have them on your property because if they have established colonies there, the fire ants won't try to infest those areas because they are territorial and they don't like to compete with other ants. I would much rather have the harmless ones (although I have been bitten by them) .Guess I'll just try to keep them out of the house. Has anyone else ever heard of this? KC in AR

I've been waiting for someone to reply but it hasn't happened. Maybe you should try the Backyard Liivng magazine forum. This seems to be true as we have both types here in MS. The fire ants make large raised nests that are very hard to get rid of as they can be some 4' deep. The other little ants (yes, they do bite too) are a super source of food for birds, especially the very young birds who can't yet handle seeds. Have been told that hummers will scoop them up also. We have a number of actual experts on the Backyard Living forum who can and will answer such questions and help out folk with all sorts of things. Is also a Reiman Publication and easy to get to.

KC, I spent quite a few years in central AR, in and around Dover in Pope County. If you are anywhere around there I could still hook you up with some great farmers for some great produce.

Brb4y, thanks for directing me to the Backyard living forums, I never thought about that. Thankfully we do not have the fire ants on our property YET. I did learn that they have infested the school yard that is about 2 blocks from us, so I need to learn more about how to deal with them. About the info I read in the newspaper from the state plant board entomologist who said " fire ants don't like to invade areas which have other species of ant colonies already established," well I told a good friend about this. She told me she had hundreds of sweet ant colonies AND the fire ant mounds, some of which were very big. So, maybe it doesn't matter to them (the fire ants) after all. KC in AR

Brb4y, I sent you a private message. KC