a tale of two ants

A tale of two ants
Ants are often not what they seem to be. Amongst the many varieties of ants in the tropics, some have fearsome bites and are wisely avoided. The feared bullet ant is over an inch long and its bite is rumored to be extremely painful, and lasting for hours. Then there are a tiny variety barely seen by the eye, that can produce an irritating bite if you provoke them. But two varieties bear special mention as each is fascinating and our relationship to each is not what it first appears.
First is the leaf cutter ant, also called army ants. You are walking somewhere and suddenly you come across a veritable army of ants, marching along on a clear and defined path, each carrying a, for their size, enormous piece of leaf. Its quite a spectacle. They are bearing it back to their nest, as food for their colony. This remains merely fascinating until this event takes place in your garden and they strip every leaf off of your favorite plants and bushes. They are selective in their tastes, and don’t eat every living plant like a plague of locusts, but their preferred menu includes enuff of your favorite plants that you soon grow to hate them. So the emotions change quickly from fascination to anger, bordering on hatred. There are only two solutions. Live with them, and see them destroy all your gardening efforts, as I did for several years, or make the several hours journey to Bri Bri, march into the agricultural store, and purchase the special poison for leaf cutter ants. Organic methods? Don’t be silly. Remember they are also called army ants, and this is war.
Now for the second of our ant surprises: house cleaning ants. You are in your house, going about your normal business, when you notice a few ants scurrying about. Hum, you muse, this is unusual, did I leave some food out to tempt them? Then you notice more, and then still more. Soon there are a veritable hoard of ants, which may cover an entire wall, or a bed. If you stay out of their way, you notice that they are methodically moving thru your house, area by area, room by room. They will eat anything alive they find. They don’t touch your food, but they will consume every bug, insect, lizard, rodent, snake that doesnt immediately flee their voracious path. In a few hours they have entirely cleaned your house of any unwanted vermin and they then move on, to perhaps visit again after several months. What do you do? You go to the beach, or if its at nite, go visit a friend, and leave them to do their thing. So what at first appears to be a nightmare, seemingly scripted by Alfred Hitchcock, turns out to be a blessing. A free and very thorough housecleaning, courtesy of your local housecleaning ants.
One caution: they will not bite you unless provoked. One time I did manage to provoke them, by stomping a few of their scouts before I realized just who had come to visit. Whilst stomping their scouts, I received a bite. In retrospect it was fair enuff. I may have bought and paid for that house, but for that moment I was on their turf, not they on mine Ants seem to have an incredible communication amongst them, and the message went out that they were being attacked, and I subsequently received several more bites, until I strategically made my retreat. The bites weren't overly painful and I soon forgot about them. As the number of ant visitors increased I soon realized who they were, and left them alone to their task. I went over to visit my neighbor Abel. As we sat on his porch and chatted, I noticed I was beginning to itch in odd places. When I mentioned this to him, and that I had received several bites from the ants, he said, of course, you are allergic to those bites, and sure enuff,the itching was getting worse and hives were beginning to develop. He gave me some antihistamine capsules. There may be a natural remedy for histamine reactions, but I’d be surprised if it can beat benedryl. Within an hour, the hives were disappearing, the itching had ceased, and I could return home to no ants, and no other creepy crawly things. My house was cleaned.