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Don't Get Stung!

By Cindy Bryant

Home Stager with Redesign Etc. Home Staging Incorporated in TX

March 07, 2009 02:39 PM

Fire Ants

The dreaded Fire Ant! Yes, their back, here is a bed that started out small but has grown all the way to the end of the curb. Luckily Fire Ant products have improved and they can be controlled.

If you are selling your house, it is a good idea to have your yard treated for fire ants. It may cost a little more, but if your house is vacant and no one is watching over it. These stinging ants can take over your yard in no time. If you happen to have a buyer accidentially step into a bed of these bad boys, don't expect raving reviews or an offer.

I've been stung without even seeing the nests, and you are covered before you know it. The worker ants cover you fast, and the the Queen ant gives the signal and they all bite you at once. They then itch, turn into ugly sores, and well it's just gross!

When my nephew was 7 we were staying at a hotel and had pulled up to check in. He was getting back in the car and all of a sudden he screamed "Ants". We turned on the car lights and he was covered from his feet up to his stomach. It was dark and he had stepped in an enormous bed. Ants were all over the interior of the car in a split second. The next day he counted over 100 bites.

Check Home Depot, and Lowes, or a Garden Center. Buy a product that kills the Queen.

Amdro is one of the better products.

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Cindy Bryant is the owner of Redesign Etc. Home Staging & Redesign Specialist in Houston, Staging Your House To Sell By Professional Home Stagers! Our goal is to get your home sold for top dollar in the most cost effective way!

Contact Cindy today for a Home Staging Consultation. Please visit our website for more information. We also have a location for the Houston Bay Area- League City Home Staging.

Areas Served: Houston, River Oaks, Tanglewood, Bellaire, Piney Point, Mid-Town, The Heights, Montrose, Texas Medical Center, The East End, West Loop/Galleria/Memorial, Downtown, Museum District, West University, Spring Branch, Royal Oaks-Lakeside, League City, Clear Lake City, Friendswood, Kemah, Seabrook, Pearland, Sugar Land, Spring, Cypress, Tomball, The Woodlands, Kingwood. And all areas down to Galveston Island.

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Gina Dougherty

Fusion Design Consulting - Redondo Beach, CA

Home Staging Redondo Beach, CA- FusionDesignConsulting.com

Good point, especially for vacant homes on the market. They are awful! We encounter them every year in Palm Springs, CA.

Mar 07, 2009 04:53 PM

Virginia Tatseos

Stage-Show-Sell - Bloomfield Township, MI

I stepped into a lawn in Florida last year and thought i would go crazy. I've never experienced anything like that before.

The only thing I could think of was to run in the house and turn on the shower. Clothes got really wet but I drowned the little buggers.

Mar 07, 2009 05:24 PM

Pangaea Interior Design Kitchen & Bath Design, Remodeling

Portland Oregon - Portland, OR

Oh my gosh! I should not read these posts in the middle of the night. That's like something out of a Hitchcock movie! I wonder if we have these in Oregon? I haven't lived here that long. I'm definitely going to watch my step. Thanks for the information.

Mar 07, 2009 07:45 PM

Sheila Kennedy

J29 Project - Rochester, NY

I have lived around plenty of fire ants and they are definitely as awful as you say! Thanks for the reminder that it is time to watch again as we pend more time outside! They surely would be a deterrent to a home buyer with bites.

Mar 08, 2009 02:09 PM

Dale Baker

Baker Energy Audits and Commercial Properties Inspections - Claremont, NH

New Hampshire Relocation Real Estate Information

Howdy there Cindy

I sure do know first hand, about them there Fire Ants. When I was a kid, I sat on a nest of them once.

God Bless America

Mar 09, 2009 04:11 PM

Libby Cousins

Extraordinary Processing - Spokane, WA

Contract Mortgage Processor, licensed in WA

Oh my goodness! I remember being bit by one when I was about 10 visiting in Chicago. I can't even imagine 100! Your poor nephew. That many bites would surely make me sick. How long did it take for the bites to heal?

I guess that is something that I can be thankful to the snow for. We won't have insects around for another few months until the snow is gone and it warms up!

Mar 09, 2009 05:27 PM

Leslie Olson

Leslie Olson Interiors - Austin, TX

Interior Design and Redesign - Moved to Austin!

Ahhh...that's one thing I don't miss about living in Texas! Thanks for the reminder, Cindy!

Mar 10, 2009 04:24 AM

Cindy Bryant

Redesign Etc. Home Staging - Houston, TX

"Houston Home Staging Pros"

Gina-Unfortunately, there area a lot of vacant homes with yards full of ant beds.

Virginia-They area terrible, and you have to leave them alone or they will leave scars.

Pangaea-No Hitchcock movie, it's very real here, they come out when it gets warm, but they have a huge underground presence.

Sheila-I would hope little kids would not run around in yards with vacant houses, parents need to watch them closely.

Dale-I know someone that did that in Austin, while taking a picture next to a patch of bluebonnets...Ouch!

Libby-Poor little guy, he was so good about it, I told him not to touch them, and I would keep cream on them. And he didn't scratch them one time. I couldn't believe it.

Leslie-I guess they don't have them in Northern CA, but surely they do in SoCal.

Mar 10, 2009 05:44 PM

Jim Frimmer

HomeSmart Realty West - San Diego, CA

Realtor & CDPE, Mission Valley specialist

That's an ant mound! Wow. I guess they really do make things bigger in Texas.

I see your comment to Leslie, but I've never seen anything like that here in Southern California, and I've never heard of "fire ants" before.

We have the little "sugar ants" that know if you're left anything sweet out at night, and they know when invasion time is because we signal them by turning off all the lights in the house when we go to bed.

Mar 14, 2009 07:49 AM

Jim-Really, that suprises me, I would have thought you would have them too. Be glad they sting in packs.

Mar 17, 2009 04:34 PM

Ellie Shorb

Compass Real Estate - Chevy Chase, MD

Realtor DC, MD & VA Luxury Home Expert

One of my worst childhood memories was walking in south Texas on my grandpa's farm with my (then) three-year-old brother. He kicked a mound of dirt that turned out to be a fire ant hill and the ants crawled up his legs and bit him (over 30 bites) before we got them off... So sad! Be careful out there. The pic helps readers to see what to look out for- great post.

May 30, 2010 03:06 PM

Don't Get Stung!

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