Great – Texas now ‘raspberry ants’ problem as well as fire ants

I hadn’t heard of these babies before, and even scientists aren’t sure where they came from, but probably the Caribbean. Anyway, Helltown, you can keep these babies; we do NOT want them in Big D.

The one plus side they have is that they attack fire ants.

Flip sides?
• They bite humans, though not so painfully;
• They swarm electric lines, just like fire ants;
• They eat hatchlings of the endangered Attwater’s prairie chicken;
• They eat ladybugs;
• Like fire ants, they’re resistant to over-the-counter chemicals.

My dread? Not just them moving further north, but, at some point, a cross developing between either them and fire ants, or them and the large red ants of the desert Southwest.