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baymule

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And fire ants (pronounced fahr aints) and killer bees!

Now we got these stupid Raspberry Crazy ants. You want 'em? :th
 

flowerweaver

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I don't think they have arrived here yet. Do they sting people? It's pretty cool they produce an antidote to fire ant poison.

The other day I baked a dozen chocolate chip cookies and set them aside to cool. When I came back they were COVERED in fire ants! That was the first time I've ever had them in my house. I haven't caulked since the tornado so obviously they have found a way inside. Usually I get stung gardening, not cooking!
 

Chickie'sMomaInNH

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aaarrrgghh, i hate fire ants. remember vividly when i was a kid staying in Florida for a couple months and had to go to school down in the Ft Meyers/St Lucie area. our bus stop just happened to be near a nest of them and one day i happen to be standing on it. it was not a fun day for me. :hit

dh asks me often if i ever want to move down south and i keep telling him NO! too many poisonous and nasty biting things bigger than the mosquitoes and black flies we get up here. i also don't have to contend with tornadoes/hurricanes/earthquakes on a yearly basis (get them once in a blue moon though). just nasty snow storms that make me pause and think what i want to put in the garden come spring!
 

the1honeycomb

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Yikes when you get your apron up and know your dogs are protected you can throw golf balls and moth balls in the holes of the tree stumps it will help get rid of some of your snake problem. people may think that is mean but I would do anything to protect my animals
 

canesisters

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GOOD ONE @Nyboy!

I think the idea is that they mistake them for eggs and eat them - then die because they can't digest.
Don't let the dogs see you tossing balls down there - you'll NEVER keep them out then.
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Ridgerunner

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I've had snakes eat golf balls out of my nests. I've also had snakes eat the eggs but leave the golf balls. I don't know if they really can't pass them or regurgitate them or if they do eventually die of starvation. With a snake starvation could take a long time.

How do I know it was snakes that ate the golf balls? Because they could not get back out of the holes they used to enter the coop.

I have not had much success with using smell to control many things, but snakes hunt by smell as a primary sense. It can also warn them of danger. If you can come up with something suitable to you and your methods that really messes with their sense of smell you might get them to abandon that area. You'd probably have to keep renewing it though.

I think the reason the snakes that ate the golf balls in my nests ate them was because of the scent the hens left when laying eggs. Just tossing golf balls out there may not work that well, but maybe if you put some odor on them that would make the snake think it is food you could improve your odds. I think snakes generally don't like dead things though so that might be a challenge.
 

baymule

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Does Texas have alligators ?
Funny joke nyboy!

Yes we have lots of alligators. Not just along the Louisiana border either, but all over east Texas in the rivers, creeks and lakes. They have to be taken out of some of Houston's finest residential subdivisions quite often, only the biggest ones make the evening news.
 

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