A single trail of the invasive
South American ants first turned up near Houston, Texas, in 2002. Within a year, there were hundreds of millions of them on the same site.
Now they have spread to 24 Texas counties, and there are more than 1,000 infestations in Harris County, where they vastly outnumber the 4.1 million people who live there. They have been confirmed in Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida and have almost certainly gained a foothold in neighboring Gulf Coast states, according to WBRC-TV.
They reproduce in mind-boggling numbers, drive off or kill insects and animals on land they occupy. They can also short out appliances, drive homeowners to distraction and even shut down a chemical plant by fouling computer equipment.
“If you go to a rural area they’ve taken over, it’s silent. What you hear is nothing, no grasshoppers, no birds, nothing but the wind going through the leaves,” said Tom Rasberry, the Pearland, TX, exterminator who discovered that first colony in 2002.
These tiny pests (less than 1/8th of inch long) pests are devilishly difficult to control, and if your customers have not called you about them yet. . . it may be only a matter of time before they do.
Click here for the article by WBRC-TV and a good overview, with images and a video, of these nasty little buggers
