New Invasive Pest on Thetis

It looks like the European Fire Ant has made its way to Thetis Island.  Last year we discovered a nest of what looked like red and black ants near our woodshed.  My husband discovered them when he felt bites and looked down at his legs to find them all over his pants.  This year, while thinning apples in a tree, I was bitten by several ants and discovered them all throughout the tree.  

We do not have a definitive identification, but everything seems to indicate that this is what we’re dealing with. We know that they are definitely on Vancouver Island, arriving in potting soil, nursery plants, etc.  When we went to Shar-Kare today to get ant killer to deal with them, the employees told us that they’ve been instructed to inspect all plants carefully to look for European Fire Ants.  According to what I’ve managed to find out about how to get rid of them, sprays, etc. do not work and are not what we really want to use on our property in any event.  The best control seems to be with using ant bait with at least 2% boric acid.  It’s important not to let these ants spread as apparently there are whole parks in the Eastern U.S. which have been closed to the public because of these swarming, biting ants.  

If you think you might have them on your property, act now.  I bought a bottle of ant bait and dripped some on the bark of the apple tree they were infesting.  Within a short period of time, all of the droplets were covered with ants.  They carry the liquid back to feed the nest and in this way, you get the whole population.  Whatever you use, make sure you read the directions carefully.  Ant killer with boric acid as the active ingredient must not be placed where any domestic animals can have contact with it and it must not come in contact with any food sources.  

If you want to know more about the European Fire Ant, here is a bulletin put out by the Invasive Species Council of British Columbia - http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hra/invasivespecies/Publications/European_Fire_Ants_in_BC.pdf.  It contains instruction on how to collect specimens for identification - which we will do so we can positively identify our ant.

Pat English