May 16, 2008

'Crazy Raspberry' Ants Swarm Over Texas Coast The invading ants, first discovered by (and named for) exterminator Tom Rasberry in 2002, are quickly becoming a serious pest (YouTube) due to their voracious appetite for electronics (also YouTube), sparking fears that they may interfere with Houston's Hobby Airport and the Johnson Space Center. They are pesticide resistant, form multi-queen "supercolonies", and are even out-competing (and eating) Texas' former invasive-species champion, the fire ant.
posted by Nickdanger 16 years ago
  • Rasberry told Computerworld that the ants have caused a lot of trouble for one Texas chemical company in particular. Not wanting to name the company, he said the ants shorted out three computers that were running a pipeline that brought chemicals into the plant. The ants took down two computers last year and one in 2006, affecting flow in the pipeline each time. "I think they go into everything, and they don't follow any kind of structured line," said Rasberry. "If you open a computer, you would find a cluster of ants on the motherboard and all over. You'd get 3,000 or 4,000 ants inside, and they create arcs. They'll wipe out any computer."
  • I love how the end of the world is turning into a "pick a card, any card" scenario!
  • *welcomes our new ant overlords*
  • Hmm. So we have our choice of people-biting fire-ants or electronics-biting crazy raspberry ants? Get me a Lindemann's Framboise and a Chambord and I'll decide...
  • Raspberry Ants Forever...
  • And I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords... I don't care if queso did it first, I will NOT pass up this chance to use that line.. so :P
  • The biggest problem with aunts is all they ever give you for christmas is socks.. wait..oh... never mind...
  • Oh, God, I have enough trouble with those Argentine black ants. They've just come back from winter hibernations, and they're everywhere, and I'm spending my life buying Terro ant traps to get rid of them, even though nothing I've done in the past has wiped them out. Texas better keep their new guests within their borders. I'd hate to have to nuke the state from orbit to make sure. Though I have to admit that one of my best mornings was last year was when what appeared to ba an entire colony of black ants had followed scent trails into the swimming pool and died. The surface of the water was black, but I really enjoyed scooping them up and tossing them into the flower bed.
  • HB, you are so wrong. when I was about 11, my fav aunt gave me an entire box of socks for xmas. it was , to this day, one of the best xmas gifts I have ever received!!! the socks, oh! they were so amazing...stripes, materials, glitter, angora....oooh! my feet were in ecstasy :)
  • Monkeyfilter: stripes, materials, glitter, angora
  • Anything that can beat a fire ant is scary. Allergic to fire ants
  • Raspberry ants. It never tastes as good as it sounds.
  • Crazberry.
  • Rasberry. No "P". The crawly little bastids be named after a person, not a fruit. Too bad these guys don't pollinate anything; with the bees gone there won't BE any more raspberries. BTW Medusa, I LOVE your first comment.
  • *blows a rasberry at kinnakeet But I love the idea of flavored ants!
  • Mmmmmm... crunchy tasty ants.
  • Ponder Stibbons has crossed over from the Pratchett dimension and is taking over Texas. Hex - Tex, it's close, Ponder, but no cigar!