Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Are You Sure You Want to Go to Florida?

Darn these pesky ants! They like my hot pink parrot/flowered p.j's! They must think I'm a super sweet flower, haha. (E. says, "Well, you are my sweetie"....)  At least they are tiny little buggers! I found at least two crawling around on my pink shirt this morning.  They are NOT crawling around on him! I must be emitting chemicals that attract them. Maybe it's my Coke I drink in the morning.

Eldy says that there is a new invasive species of ants called CRAZY ANTS that are invading Florida and the southeast. They are called crazy ants because they move so erratically fast they leave normal ants standing still. They are believed to be from South America and they are hairy---ugh! They are about 4 mm long and can be grayish, reddish, or sometimes black. They were discovered nine years ago in Texas by an exterminator. When crazy ants encounter another colony of crazy ants, they become a SUPER colony and they can cover a sidewalk or the side of a building. They can BITE! The weird thing is, they are attracted to circuit boxes. If enough of them get together, they make an ant bridge between connections in the box and can knock out electrical circuits. Geez, sounds like a science fiction movie, where the ants take over the world! Darned if they are going to take over our motorhome! Time to get more ant spray, cayenne pepper, vinegar, and then some fogger for the yard! We're going to have a stinkin' bug free motorhome if it's the last thing we do! (Uh, Sparky, have you thought about moths eating holes in all that wool yarn you've got stored on board?) Uh-oh! And I better get that yarn bagged in air tight storage bags! And we better keep moving! That's the ticket, we'll just keep moving around from location to location! Eldy's not too keen on that strategy, it's not very economically sound, so looks like we will stick to the original plan of staying about a month in each place while we are down here......But not just yet...

And of course, you have the pythons that are running amok in southern Florida.....And I swear I've seen kudzu, that climbing vine that overtakes everything in its path and covers it up....Not to mention the mussels....and the....who knows what else!? If you want to know, you can check this website..I went looking just for the fun of it--(You can do that when you're retired, you know...) and there are LOTS of invasive species in Florida.

Yeah, we still want to go to Florida...heck, we ARE in Florida and going to be there in various locations for the next three to four months! We'll keep our eyes open for the crazy ants, fire ants, pythons, and alligators for you. We'll even do a local report!  Here's the first report....a baby alligator is in the pond here at Cedar Key RV Resort......and he's a scaredy-cat! I went to take a photo of him and he dropped under the radar into the water before I could get a photo...darn!   See you later.....Gotta make a store run for critter chemical warfare......

5 comments:

  1. Good hunting. In a strange way it sounds like fun!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hadn't heard about the new, hairy ant. I'm sure they'll find their way to Texas.

    Loved your pictures of Cedar Key, we had a great time there to. I'm glad to hear the area is still quaint.

    Safe travels...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Man are they ugly!!!! The Cedar Key photo is beautiful. Safe travels.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well now you are making me worried about coming to Florida. Guess I'd better go back and find that stuff Howard and Linda sprayed all over their jacks and hoses and tires and everything to keep the critters out. At least you aren't having mouse trouble.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Seeing as how you're going to be in Florida for a while and you like critters ... if you have plans to go to the Atlantic Coast ... check out my Wakodahatchee and Loxahatchee photo galleries at http://eenusa.smugmug.com/Cruises/Panama-Canal-Roundtrip-Coral ... great wildlife encounters (incl. alligators).

    ReplyDelete