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Swarming Ants Destroy Electronics in Texas

Posted by timothy on from the where's-tiny-ender-when-you-need-him dept.

AntOverlords writes "Voracious swarming ants that apparently arrived in Texas aboard a cargo ship are invading homes and yards across the Houston area, shorting out electrical boxes and messing up computers. They have ruined pumps at sewage pumping stations, fouled computers and at least one homeowner's gas meter, and caused fire alarms to malfunction. They have been spotted at NASA's Johnson Space Center and close to Hobby Airport, though they haven't caused any major problems there yet."

5 of 328 comments (clear)

  1. Voids Warranty? by SpinningCone · · Score: 5, Interesting

    i used to work for a satellite TV company and insect infestation is was specifically mentioned under the "acts of God" portion of the warranty (more specifically as not covered under said warranty).

    in training there were a few tales floating around of people calling in with their receiver boxes killed by ants.

  2. Leiningen versus the Ants by Iamthecheese · · Score: 5, Interesting

    For your entertainment

    --
    If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
  3. Happened to me by naz404 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I live in the tropics, and for some bizarre reason, this colony of red ants that have taken residence at our place have started making beelines for my PCs

    At one point I was wondering why some keys in my keyboard stopped responding when I found the damn ants had eaten the rubber linings under the keys!

    I've now had to resort to drawing circles of protection around my electronics with insecticide chalk to keep the damn critters out...

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    http://www.object404.com
  4. Re:Undocumented insects by Dekortage · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Did anyone else read where these ants kill fire ants?

    Yeah, and "the ants also like to suck the sweet juices from plants, feed on such beneficial insects as ladybugs, and eat the hatchlings of a small, endangered type of grouse known as the Attwater prairie chicken." So while I am all for eliminating fire ants, maybe not at the expense of ladybugs and endangered animals? (well, ok, it's just a prairie chicken)

    I liked this part the best: "And when you do kill these ants, the survivors turn it to their advantage: They pile up the dead, sometimes using them as a bridge to cross safely over surfaces treated with pesticide." We're in trouble now.

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    $nice = $webHosting + $domainNames + $sslCerts
  5. Re:Everytime something like this happens... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Ants have been the most successful lifeform on the planet for a long time. Take a look at the Wikipedia article.

    "they may constitute up to 15 to 25% of the total terrestrial animal biomass"

    "56% of the genera represented on the Baltic amber fossils (early Oligocene), and 96% of the genera represented in the Dominican amber fossils (apparently early Miocene) still survive today"

    You are only alive because ants don't view you as a threat.