laying a track - Page 2

for those who are un acquainted with fire ants.  Fire ants are like a 17 year old, they will eat anything they come across. and they have a very bad attitude.  Hard to get rid of if they find something that has their interest.  You destroy one nest and end up with 5 more.

They are vicious. The last time I stepped in a nest I was lucky enough to be swimming my dog, so I jumped in with her.  

Man i feel you pain! Fire ants suck! Mean little bitches that always want to crash your picnic. We in Tampa have been tracking very early while the ants are still cold in the ground. But that won't last much longer. About an hour after sunrise the ants are up and running.
I use Natural Balence that i keep refrigated until its needed. So far ants have not taken over the bait. But i've had another dog that snarfed up a bunch of ants and i was picking them off her tongue.
My trainer also suggest that you wet the bait and then freeze it on a cookie sheet over night. The ice will keep the ants away for a little bit longer but it won't hurt the dog.
Best of luck! Beward the sandy mounds!
Fry

Love the comparison to a 17-year old !

This morning I put out a piece of Fresh Pet just as the sun was coming up. Ine 3 minutes or less it was already covered with fireants. Next I'm going to try to freeze it first.

Fry, where so you train? I'm in Odessa. PM me?

Molten metal is the only thing that seems to kill fire ants. (I use to know an older artist that would melt down pot metal and pour it into ant hills, then dig it up when cool as art. Fire ants suck as art but they did all die a fiery death!) I've found a few places that seem to be fire ant free. Let me know if you want to come try tracking with us.
Fry

Thanks for the invitation, Fry. I'm pretty much on my own during the summer so am usually looking for someone to train with. I can't even find any AKC Tracking Trials around here. I'd like to attend a few before I enter one.

Molten metal? I can just see you getting your smelting pot out at the crack of dawn, Blitzen, blowing out the bellows, chanting all the while, damning those fire ants to their hellish demise. LOL There was talk in chat that you can teach this without food, but I wouldn't know how.  LOL  I want to see some of this fire ant art, though, I admit... I am somewhat intrigued by the idea! Instead of "lost wax" it is a "death to ants" technique.

I know I much prefer three feet of snow to the thought of having to make the choice to being chased into a body of water, or stay and be devoured by fire ants!   The Horror! 

Having been an artist all my life i have met some "interesting" fellow artist. Oo
You can have the snow, i'll take the skeeters and fire ants and hurricanes any day. None of them seem to stick around for more then a few days.
Snow stays for weeks.
I know U of Texas is working on introducing a fire ant predator.  It's a tiny gnat called the Forehead fly and it kills them but the bucket laod. We need to intoduce them here.
Fry