Technocrat

Real Bugs in the Machine

zogger
Wed May 14 21:02:50 -0700 2008
Biology
manage

An invasive species of ants is hatching out all over the Houston, Texas area and invading electronic devices, among other places. The ants are fast, tend to explore randomly, and once established are fairly immune to most eradication techniques. Voracious and omnivorous eaters, they can actually eat another invasive pest, the fire ant, but also consume a variety of other insects and plant juices.

.."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."

ed.z.:I am fairly impressed with something tougher and nastier than fire ants.

Real Bugs in the Machine
AB3A
Thu May 15 04:35:08 -0700 2008
 manage

Working in a water and sewer utility, we see all sorts of critters around our gear. One of my all time favorites was when someone forgot to seal off the conduits leading to the remote I/O rack of programmable logic controller.

Mice and rats began making a nest in that cabinet. They chewed up the wiring. They urinated on the electronics. They fouled up the whole cabinet and forced us to pull new wire from the field. And of course, we didn't notice any problems until the damage was already quite severe.

We have also had entire panels submerged in waste-water sludge. We've had sewer gas (mostly hydrogen sulfide) turn most of the exposed copper in to a black, non-conductive powder. Yes, we now use conformal coatings on much of our electronics.

This is a fact of life. We live with it. These ants are nasty, but they're only the latest in a long line of pests that we have learned to deal with.

Real Bugs in the Machine
Charles E Hill
Thu May 15 05:32:03 -0700 2008
 manage

If they eat fire ants, they can't be all bad.
Real Bugs in the Machine
proletariat
Thu May 15 06:24:18 -0700 2008
 manage
It's a little scary that they eat fire ants - that's one tough critter! The good thing is they don't sting but it sounds like they could be pretty destructive to the environment.
Real Bugs in the Machine
computersareevil
Mon May 19 13:53:00 -0700 2008
 manage

Amen to that. I had them crawl into bed with me once when I lived in Florida. Woke up looking like I had chicken pox!  I declared war that day and used enough Amdro over the next three years to fill a dump truck!

The father of an old friend used to pour hot lead into the mound, then wait for it to cool and dig it up. Killed the ants and made pretty art.

First we use these ants to deal with the fire ants....

wowbagger
Thu May 15 07:41:14 -0700 2008
 manage
First we use these ants to deal with the fire ants.

Then we breed mutant anteaters to deal with these ants.

Then we breed mutant badgers to deal with the mutant anteaters.

Then we breed mutant cougars to deal with the mutant badgers.

Then we breed mutant bears to deal with the mutant cougars.

Then we breed mutant bees to deal with the mutant bears.

Then we breed mutant fire ants to deal with the mutant bees.

Then we breed....

First we use these ants to deal with the fire ants....
Thomas Lord
Thu May 15 08:51:04 -0700 2008
 manage

I asked my cat for an opinion on that plan and he just laughed and said "That's been going on for a long time."

-t

p.s.: He also opines that there's too much shipping and too much high-speed human travel but, you have to understand, he's just a cat so he doesn't know much about money and trade.

Not really news

ScootrRichards
Thu May 15 09:55:03 -0700 2008
 manage

These ants have been around since I was an AC repairperson in 1978ish.  We call'em sugar ants cuz they run around like a kid on a sugar rush.  They and ten billion other kindsa bugs get into the contactors on AC compressors and have to be cleaned out.  They don't actually damage it, just clog it with dead bodies.  If they kill any other electronics, well, ya shudnta left it out anyway - anything bugs can get at, the 85% all-summer-long humidity can rot.   To kill a mound of these things, just pour a big ole pot of boiling water on the mound.  Do it about 5-10 times over several days.  kills any ant mound.

mess with the mound first

zogger
Thu May 15 10:15:51 -0700 2008
 manage
I do that boiling water deal myself with two twists, one I add soap to the water, and two, I take a shovel tip and stir up the mound good, make a little volcano opening so when I pour it in it goes straight down, that stirring the pot action get em mad and swarming to the outside, so the first splash of hot water nails more. If you have a propane turkey deep fryer you can set up right out near the nest and just use the hose and keep making more huge pots of boiling water. Mostly I only zap the nests in the garden, leave a few around the yard alone to keep the fleas down.
Not really news
proletariat
Thu May 15 11:01:02 -0700 2008
 manage

They're not sugar ants.  Sugar ants don't kill fire ants.  These ants are new to Houston.
 

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