Fire ants on the move in South Carolina

A barefoot frolic through your yard on a warm spring day can change from joyful to agonizing with one wrong step into a nest of fire ants. They bite your skin, hang on tight, and then jam the stingers into your flesh. It then swells to a bump that can last for days—sometimes becoming infected and requiring further treatment. South Carolina is a haven for fire ants. And, according to Clemson University Extension Agent Tim Davis, there is no eradication program that has worked anywhere in the world. There are fire ant baits that can help control the ants. But Davis says, “I tell people, ‘The only way to get away from fire ants entirely is to move up North.”