We'll let you read the hed again -- nope, it's not a joke. Apparently millions of tiny swarming ants called "crazy raspberry ants" are causing quite a ruckus down in Houston after they accidentally arrived on board a cargo ship and started busily invading homes and offices, where they are attracted to electrical equipment. So far they've messed up sewage pumps, cause fire alarms to go haywire, destroyed computers, and taken out at least one gas meter -- and since they're resistant to over-the-counter ant killers and each colony has multiple queens, they're nearly impossible to kill. Worse, those that do die are used by the remaining ants as bridges over pesticide-treated areas. Yep, that's insanely creepy. Anyone in Houston got any horror stories to share?
[Thanks, David]
posted May 15th 2008 2:36AM
That's unfortunate.
I call conspiracy.
Dont worry this is fixable
1st we need 1000 kids with Large magnifying glasses
2nd we need 500 kids with zippos and gas
3rd we need to make it public so PETA can come in and protest topless
I'm in favor of the Last one
P.S. look at the bright side they are not flesh eating ants or bees
unfortunate indeed..
they are called "crazy raspberry ants" because they fart a lot, and stick their tounge out when they do....
As long as they dont bother my soda can im cool
We need to implement an ant-eater army to get rid of the ants. Once the ants are gone, and only the ant-eater menace remains, we'll introduce wolves to take care of the ant-eaters. Assuming that the wolves don't leave of their own accord, we'll introduce bears to take care of the wolves. In the event that the bears complete their mission, we'll simply live in harmony with the bears, happily ever after. Until that blonde idiot drinks their porridge and screws us all.
Considering that Houston is a commercial city that relies heavily on communication and data (not to mention energy, which is controlled by electronics) to survive, I'd say it's unfortunate. Strangely, I'm not familiar with these ants and I'm a Houstonian. I just need to keep them away from my electronics, right?
Wait...Is that Jamie Hyneman from Mythbusters?
Maybe the next experiment will be whether or not ants really CAN destroy electronics...(Oh wait...They can...)
It'll be more than unfortunate when they spread across the continent. Hurray for globalization?
Brings a whole new meaning to "Electronic Warfare"
Diabeetus.
"Houston, we have a problem"
There was an episode of MacGyver like this.
It's the ZERG!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!
I live in Wisconsin (in the country) and we have had problems with spiders and ants crawling into the electrical box for our well pump, shorting it out and leaving us without water multiple times. We finally needed to get a completely sealed box for it to keep them out.
Ryman, your third wish has been granted.
http://www.peta.org/feat/stateoftheunion/
http://www.peta.org/feat/stateoftheunion08/index.asp
This is creepy! like "the end of the world" creepy! :S
Hahaha, how about an exchange Thuraya? You give me the duck and I start supporting Arsenal for 1 season? ;D
Dalia, I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience I've caused for you by playing that online game. If required, I can take actions based on your desire, if it is really bothering you that I was trying to be fun, then I don't have a choice but to follow your orders. What say you? :) You will never live this down Saad... Never. >: )
wat
ugg was making a reference to yesterday when Saad posted that randomly in an article, then apologized for it.
Look on the bright side: we finally have something that can save us from the robots.
Time to release the ant-killing nanobots!
then who will defend us from the nanobots?
picobots?
ants?
brilliant!
Houston, we have a problem...
Looks like the government will have to resort to nuking the city ala Independence Day.
Do it from orbit.
It's the only way to be sure.
Houst0wned
@ Rynth,
That was something stupid -.-
naw, once the ants reach Pasadena they will all die from chemical exposure or mutate into man eating crazy raspberry ants.
I reckon s'only a matter a time 'fore these critters make it to Dallas y'all. Better get a new iPhone so I can still get my Engadget fixin'.
You are so obviously NOT from the South, so quit trying.
And even Dubya doesn't talk like that, toolbar.
Dubya's not from the south either..
I am from Houston and do not sound like that at all. In fact, I have less of an American (especially Southern American) accent than most of those from the North.
Sorry bud, your iPhone just got owned by some ants. Did you read the story? They eat electronics. The iPhone doesn't run on Steve Jobs magic flippin potion. They are electronics!!!
Um, I'm in Dallas, and they're here now.
I have them in my house, eating my electrical outlets as we speak. The good news is, they kill fire ants. The bad news, insecticide doesn't have any effect on them.
I'm currently getting all the computers here off the floor.
Not the electronics for the love of God! Cant they at least infest/attack something that doesn't matter to me as much? Trash, food, my neighbors annoying barking dog... my neighbor?!?
...Anything but electronical goodness.
Shame shame. But then again I probably don't have to worry for a while... I live in Minnesota. We still haven't got Africanized Bees up here yet.
One plane ride with the ants as stow aways in the electronics and we will see...
Sounds like thats how they might have got to Houston...
And thanks to vanishing bee phenomenon, you never will!
Samuel L. Jackson's next flick:
Ants On A Plane.
No, no , no , you've got it wrong.
It'll be:
"Ants in your Pants"
Or something stupid...
Then XKCD will say "ANTS... ON EVERY PLANE! MUCH MUCH WORSE THAN LAST TIME!"
http://xkcd.com/107/
I'd rather be overrun by rasberry ants than the fire ants we currently have a problem with here in Houston. I can't wait for the pentagon to make some sort of connection between the rasberry ants and Iran. Their taking down our infrastructure! Raise the color coded flag to high alert!
I believe the color for "high alert" is periwinkle. I could be wrong.
"Blackwatch plaid" is the highest level!
The one good thing about these raspberry ants is that they apparently eat fire ants -- might be a good trade
actually its....BLACKWATCH PLAID!
@ riggs
Nice, haven't seen Harvey Birdman in too long!
The high alert flag is actually RASPBERRY!!!!
What about Rush's Moving Pictures?
I'm in San Antonio, i've had some similar looking ants crawl around some of my electronics in the past but nothing similar to whats on that guys arm as far as quantity is concerned
they sound similar to "meat ants" in that they are small, a pain in the ass, and i wish they would die a horrible death!
Easy solution: install bug zappers near ant colonies.
They'll act like sacrificial anodes, outputting much more powerful sweet sweet electromagnetic field than nearby electronics, but what the ants don't know is that the bug zappers KILL.
they swarm electronics...
there must be some level of immunity to electric shock.
just sayin'
@ Daren
It's all about the level of energy and whether it actually has a reason to pass through the ant. Think about a bird on a power line. The bird doesn't get shocked because... umm, well it doesn't anyway.
I'm just toying with you. I know why it doesn't get shocked. ...Do you?
because birds are immune against electricity?
"because birds are immune against electricity?"
My Pokédex says differently.
Sorry, you guys. I can't tell whether you're being sarcastic or not.
The reason birds don't get shocked is because they aren't grounded. they are simply touching the wire. The reason people get electrocuted is because they are touching the wire and the ground at the same time. This includes the people who are in the genies that go up and service the wires (because they are touching the genies who are touching the ground).
Again, sorry if you were being sarcastic.
Birds might also not get shocked due to the insulation on the wire.... but I guess that depends on what the power lines are like in your area.
Cause birds are above the line, not creating a connection/path to the ground.
The ants are probably doing the same thing, crawling over the top of things. They may also not conduct electricity since they have an exoskeleton.
... because the bird isn't grounded.
i say we hold the crazy raspberries as a backup against robot attacks
hmmm i like your thinking.. now can we just genitally enhance them so they are faster stronger.
I'm sorry, but the only thing that would do is let them make more of themselves.
@ Ian
Genetically or genitally..? Or both?...
Even with all the plastic surgeons in the world, that would be a very difficult task.
This just shows that sometimes what seems to be a ridiculous plot might actually be pretty good speculative fiction. This IS fiction, right? ;)
Dude, this is engadget.
Seriously though, you know what they say about truth....
This should catch your eye: "after they accidentally arrived on board a cargo ship." I wonder where that cargo ship (and it's contents) came from??
Makes me think of the "Africanized Bee's", which were actually created in Brazil by European scientist.
How does something like that accidentally get aboard a cargo ship?
Crawling.
By that logic the Australian funnel web spider should have been to America decades ago. So one day the ants just decided to get on a ship?... Yeah... Oooo-K!!
Wow. Not every cargo box is able to be infested by bugs. It has to have a seal broken, or if it isn't sealed, it has to sit in one spot for a sufficient amount of time so that a temporary colony can be established.
This is no more devised by humans than love bugs, which were NOT, I repeat NOT, caused by UCF or UOF or any human institution. They were here, and migrating from South America since the 1800's.
Seriously, haven't you ever read anything on how humans are accidentally bringing animals with no natural predators into other environments?
I think they got in a building downtown (forgot which one) I saw the fire alarms going off on every other floor for about about an hour and every once in a while I drive by and they are going off again. Always wondered why....
Thats because the place is on fire, but dont tell the ants.
hahaha
It's Phase IV all over again... (Get the spray ready!!!!...Quick!!)
all your raid - are belong to us!
This is only the beginning!
This is all part of a BIGGER judgement that is coming from God against America, because "you the people" have turned money, technology, Ophra, porn and war into false gods and worshipped them!
Repent today.
Well, you've really won them over.
Surely he's joking.
(Genuine zealots use caps like it's goin' out of style. Misspelling Oprah is a nice touch though.)
There's a difference between a zealot and a Christian who's concerned for the souls of fellow men.
I don't want you to go to hell (the ants there are resistant to fire too).
Now repent, and welcome Jesus into your life! Your life might be spared you know!
Thanks for noticing the typo!
:)
Just what the world needs.
A jesusfreak preaching to readers of a technology blog about money/Oprah/war/porn, and asking them to repent because of crazy raspberry ants.
Makes perfect sense.
*Note : You'd best stop trollin'.
Ascribing divine signals to natural occurences (semi-natural in this case), is disingenous at best, and outright lying at worst; either way it sounds like "bearing false witness". I'm fairly certain that's forbidden in any form of Christianity, even the crazy kinds.
Curiously, Jerry Falwell died exactly one year ago today.
We can now add Ophra to the Web lexicon:
"I pwned Ophra in WoW. She's a n00b!"
Ugh, my whole body itches now.
Interestingly enough I feel itchy too. The human brain is a mystery.
flippin me too!! Hope they dont catch a flight to California!
This sounds like a job for macgyver.
You saw that episode too?
Heh. Bring out the moats and explosives!
What we gotta do is introduce a new species of rapidly reproducing, predator-less lizard to eat them all up. Problem solved.
but what eats them??? *scared face*
We do.
I remember watching a program on TV awhile back that stated ants do not like elastic bands! So if you wrap one around each of the 4 legs of your table they might leave the stuff on that table alone (safe place for your PC). Give it a try!
In Germany we call them Pharao Ants / Pharaoameisen.
And we have them since th 19th century.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharaoh_ant
They like to have nests in computer towers.
Although I have never personally experienced that, I've been told about from friends.
Really annoying little creatures.
The ants — formally known as "paratrenicha species near pubens" — have spread to five Houston-area counties since they were first spotted in Texas in 2002.
Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080514/ap_on_re_us/texas_ants_1
"They are "trail-making" ants and often are found foraging in drains, toilets, washbasins, bedpans and other unsanitary sites as well as in sealed packs of sterile dressing, intravenous drip systems, on surgical wounds, food and medical equipment."
Sounds lovely... Now when do we nuke them?
I'm sorry but I don't want no stinkin' ants in my surgical wound....
At least all their fibre optics will be ok, even if the equipment to use them isn't :P
What you really need to worry about is the psychotic strawberry locusts, then you know you're in trouble....
(who comes up with these insect names??)