"Them"

In the post-atomic aftermath of WWII, Sci-Fi film makers delighted in producing movies which cautioned us about the terrible and un-forseen after effects of radiation. A whole lovely batch of otherwise harmless creatures, fueled and fed by radioactivity, grew to gigantic proportions and went on rampages in small-town America (or Tokyo, in the case of Godzilla, Mothra, and Rodan).

One of these, one of my favorites, was "Them" - a movie about gigantic ants. It was silly, hokey, and all that, but I loved it anyway. I suppose it was the sound effects (when the ants were about, you'd hear a high-pitch tree-frog sound to warn you). Just something about it - Ah... I loved that goofy film. I searched and searched for a YouTube video I could imbed here... but the videos I found keep getting pulled due to copyright violations... *sigh*

I was in the garden looking for the right place to put some flowering bulbs I recently bought. I walked around one side of the Secret Garden and noticed that some Jack-Jumper ants I (about half an inch long) had started an ant hill around one of my edging rocks. Not being a great fan of these creatures (they do jump, they're very aggressive, they bite, it's nasty, and many people have severe allergic reactions) decided to treat them to some ant sand. I pulled the rock back, sprinkled the poison as the ants boiled out to defend their new space, and then left it.

Later I went back to see if the sand had been effective. I moved the rock - yup.. no sign of activity. I was satisfied, but thought I should check a couple of the slightly larger edging rocks along the same area. And I found them.

THEM! (cue the screechy tree frog noise, please..) 

Not Jack-Jumper ants, but BULL ANTS!  Yikes - these guys are huge!

Here's a photo of one that I found climbing on the deck rail (not a place I normally find Bull Ants). It's a shame I couldn't get video of this guy, because as I moved around him to get a good angle for the photo, he was turning his head, watching my every move. Afraid? Not on your life. He was calculating how to get to me (yes... they are very aggressive).

And here, for the sake of scale, is a photo of him with the tip of my index finger. I've seen slightly bigger Bull Ants, so I'm not sure if this one was a young one or not. They are generally about an inch long - you can see those wild mandibles - they grab and won't let go. And there's a stinger on his backside, too. These creatures are more like flightless wasps than ants.

Like Jack Jumpers, Bull Ants are incredibly aggressive. Weirdly - the two species are known to co-habitate, and if you find one, you'll most likely find the other nearby. I think the Bull Ants like the Jack Jumpers because they (the Jack Jumpers) move a lot faster and will drive off anything threatening them. I guess Jack Jumpers make good guard dogs.

We often see individual Bull Ants walking around on the driveway. If they see you (and they have great eye sight), they will come for you. Totally freaky...

For the most part I see them on the ground, but occasionally I spot one climbing a plant. Once, as I was walking toward my car, one fell from the roof of our house right into my handbag! He was clutching a large beetle and as they struggled must've rolled off the roof. I'm certainly glad I saw him drop - it would have been a nasty surprise to reach into my bag for my wallet and be attacked.

I've been stung by Jack Jumpers. It's not pleasant, but it doesn't hold a candle to a bullant.

In the years before we bought the raintank, I used to haul water from the final rinse of the washing machine out to the garden. One afternoon I was doing this - wearing "flip flop" thong sandals. I remember walking into the garden on my 3rd or 4th trip and thinking I should probably not be out there trotting around in sandals. Just as that thought passed through my mind.....

OUCH!! I looked down to see a full-size bullant hanging onto the tip of my toe, his mandibles sunk into the flesh just past my toenail. He was hanging on for dear life and stinging me repeatedly.  I jumped and flipped the sandal off and tried to knock him off. He stung me 3 or 4 times before I finally managed to scrape him off. Once I knocked him off, he just looked up at me and came at me again. Not quickly, but tenaciously.

I've read that they make a "large and easy to spot" mound. Our's don't. They nest in the ground and don't seem to mound at all (the Jack Jumpers do, however). You can be standing right on a nest opening and not know they are there - until, of course, they decide it's time for you to move on...