Yesterday as I was transplanting some plants and weeding, I happen to look down at my hand and saw a swarm of fire ants stinging away. I immediately brushed them off, stripped off my gloves (anyone who has been bitten/stung by fire ants knows how fast you can strip off gloves/apparell). I then went inside and found some bleach. One of my friends who has lived here her whole life, told me that you should immediately put a bleach solution – I think she said a 7:1 ration of water:bleach – on your ant bites. After a half hour it should stop hurting and you shouldn’t have any vesicles forming the next day.
Well, I decided now was the time to try this one. I initially did a 100% solution, and then reduced it down to a 1:1 solution of bleach:water. I dabbed at my hand for at least 15 minutes. I know that I must have had 7 – 8 different ant bites on my hand. Well, after the half hour there was just a little bit of pain left, and after an hour there was no pain. Late last night, there was just one spot that was a little itchy only after I had put some hand lotion on. This morning I only have the one spot that is slightly raised, but it didn’t form a vesicle. It is the spot that I think had several ants going at it. So, all in all, I would say this home remedy is a keeper. In the past we have tried vinegar, meat tenderizer, calydryl/calamine, and campho-phenique all to no noticeable difference.
Yes, I did finish transplanting the rest of my plants and I was on a much sharper lookout for fire ants. We had spread Extinguish out in the yard last week. Since we have small children, we use Extinguish without the amdro. Not only is it much cheeper, but it is rated for playgrounds and school use. It is simply a growth regulator that attacks on the fire ants youth stages. Over time the ants die off, because there aren’t any more to replace them. It is recommended that you use this twice a year. This is just our second season of using it. We have seen a decline in the number of ant piles, but not the elimination of them yet. So we will keep you appraised of this ongoing battle.