On 8/13/2012 4:38 AM, dsi1 wrote:
> On Aug 12, 6:13 pm, "Polly Esther" > wrote:
>> "Polly Esther" > wrote in message
>>
>> ...
>>
>>> This afternoon, Mr. Esther went out to change the filter on our water
>>> well. He left his 'work' shoes on the sunporch and changed to his house
>>> shoes. A couple of hours later we were going out to walk the Yorkie.
>>> DH's outside shoes were covered with big, mean stinging ants. ( Not the
>>> sissy variety that come inside and wander around looking for the sugar
>>> bowl.)
>>> Disarming the attack was a bit of a problem - don't know why the ants
>>> came in that room and were quite so angry. We tossed the door mats
>>> outside, swept up the ants without getting hurt and wondered what (as well
>>> as why) to do with the shoes.
>>> Freezer seemed to be a good answer. I dropped his shoes into a 2 gal
>>> zip bag, sealed it and put it in the freezer. There. Take that.
>>> DH wonders if their trip to the North Pole will kill the ants or just
>>> temporarily hibernate them. Any thoughts? Polly
>>
>> Talking to myself here - but that's something great-grandmothers can and
>> will do if they want to. Anyhow - it seems to me that when one of our
>> offspring was enjoying an aquarium that one of the things they fed the fish
>> was a frozen stick of shrimp that they would swirl around in the water and
>> the shrimp would go swimming off. Anyone know if freezing kills ants or
>> simply sends them off for a temporary nap? Polly
>
> My guess is that it won't kill them. It will keep them from biting so
> you can knock and brush them out of your shoes. For extra fun and
> meanness, knock them into the aquarium. We once shipped a VW Rabbit
> from Hawaii to Washington state. At the first freeze, there were
> roaches falling out from under the dash. There were several hundred of
> those nasties - all killed by a slight drop in temperature. It was a
> horrible sight to see but also kind of wonderful.

If the ants were 'fire ants', my suspicion is that the freezer will kill
those little buggers. They definitely are nasty and have the potential
of killing a small child, too! The reason fire ants aren't found "up
north" (of the Mason-Dixon line?) is most likely because they cannot
survive winters that are not temperate, thank goodness!

Sky

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