Nasty, horrible looking creatures

The rain has driven more than fire ants out of the ground. http://davesgarden.com/t/370308/ I found this guy looking for a dry place.

So I gave him a nudge with a stick. He curled defensively...I know...who wouldn't?! LOL

These are so nasty...they really give me the creeps but I thought I would share with all of you!!

What is that? Some kind of grub worm?

I used to know what this turned into. I'm thinking a staghorn beetle--the big black beetles with a large curved spike coming out of their heads. They are huge and ugly as grubs! If the fireants find him, he'll be lunch.

Oooh, I hope he's lunch! (For the fire ants.)

Ugh!

Now I ask you, which is worse: staghorn beetle or FIRE ANTS?

Definitely fire ants, LOL! More mobile, that's for sure. I am glad we don't have them here in Ohio. Japanese beetles have fat white grubs, too, I think. Yucko, yucko, yucko.

Those grubs are good fish bait, I heard.

Fire ants are much worse. I like weeds' idea to use him as fish bait though. I love fish. Boy I miss those Friday night fish frys from up north. Fried smelt is yummy, too. I think I need a snack, all I can think about is food! After everything I ate over the holidays, you'd think I'd still be stuffed.

Hmmm, smelt, had forgotten about those. I lived up north awhile and sure did have some good stuff. Rollmops, whitefish and all the great german sausage. All I can get here is Jimmy Deans!

Hi florida friends, I still live up north, and haven't had a good feed of smelt in years either. I remember going to the beach, in the spring, with a bucket and a fish net and come home with more smelt then you knew what to do with, but not anymore, I haven't even heard of people doing that other then commercial fisherman now.
I sure had my first encounter with red ants two winters ago, in Fort Myers Beach. Us and another couple went to play mini golf and lucky me I stood right on them, I couldn't get my shoes off fast enough. My husband was brushing them off me as fast as he could. I sure looked where I was walking after that experiance.

Doesent Calla put them in Spagetti?

LOL CC, I do believe that I've read that somewhere!!
These things really creep me out although I'm getting better about it...frequent encounters and all. I believe these become the big leather or scarab beetles http://www.entomology.wisc.edu/diaglab/hilites/hilt717.html
Hi Flowerpot! Yes fire ants are a real shock for visitors. I've learned, the hard way, that if my foot sinks into soft sand I'm away before I ever look down! Stepping into one of these ant beds has a certain 'feel'.
Here's a picture I called 'Ant Bite'...LOL

Hey Weeds...even as a past rod and reel commercial fisherman I don't think I could ever stick a hook in one of these...shudder...
You're right GW...fire ants are the worst and I have plenty of both!!

Ha ha ha you got it Floridian. I'd hear on the radio and tv about fire ants a lot but never saw them until then. Once biten you know why they are called "Fire Ants"

The correct name down south is Pissants..LOL..they are such a problem here..As for the grubs, I just toss them to my ducks or chickens that follow me everywhere, and I also save a few for my pet birds..They all love them..Everything is good for something, except those piss-ants..lol
Larkie

Well, on the subject of the benefits fire ants...my ex got into a hill of them once and they bit him all over and I guess he was alergic to them. Couldn't breath and was in much pain. That was a test of charcter for me - do I take him to the hospital or not? - hmmm, well being a nice southern girl I did and he survived. His words on the way to the hospital were: Lord, please don't let me die like this!
Maybe that was my proverbial Mack Truck!

Hmm, hard choice was it? LOL...Maybe the ant bites were bad enough to make him wish a Mack truck had come along, lol..I don't have an ex, but I
I do understand..Tough choice...We all have to make them, hard to be a "nice" southern girl sometimes, isn't it?
Larkie

Oh my yes.

Stacey: Was that "Ant Bite" photo the result of trying to take a photo while under seige by fire ants? I have to agree with weeds that pissant is a good description of them. It's hard to think there are BENEFITS of having them around (supposedly they eat termites, fleas, chiggers, chinch bugs, and ticks).

Here's a little tip for y'all who have bees and fire ants to deal with: put a little bit of meat tenderizer on the stings (mix it with just a drop of water--enough to make a very thick "paste"). Make sure to use the tenderizer derived from papayas (papain is listed on my tenderizer). There is another kind of tenderizer and it doesn't work nearly as well. You will notice the sting goes away almost immediately. The fire ant bite will still fester some but it won't hurt nearly as much and should heal sooner.

That's good to know! I have used meat tenderizer on man o' war stings but never thought about it for this. That higer level thinking gives me a headache. Got any remedies for those?

I thought a mack truck was my idea ha ha ha I have one of those "EX'S" and so happy it's past tense. You southern people have some strange bugs like no see ums never heard of them before going to Florida, but I suppose our bugs are strange to you as well.

I see um you are near Lake Erie? Do you get a lot of lake effect snow? What kind of bugs do you have?
My best friend use to work for Peterbuilt (truck company). SHe and her husband were discussing all their friends getting divorces and he asked her if she ever wished he would get run over by a Mack Truck and she said, no, I am too loyal to Peterbuilt.

Ha ha ha that's a good Peterbuilt story. Yes I live about 15 min from Lake Erie. We don't get snow like we used to this global warming has effected us to. The farmers are sure praying we get a lot more snow this year or we'll have a bad spring for them and our tree's. As for bugs we have lots of them to but they're like us tourist's that come to Florida they're seasonal, starting sometimes in late Oct they go and sleep the winter away and start coming back to life slowly in April if it's a warm April, by May they're all out including blackflies which are something like your no see ums but they are only in the bush and by mid June if not sooner they're gone until next year.

A word about meat tenderizer...yes it works great as long as you are not allergic to papain...if you are you might very well end up in worse shape.

Hi ginger, is that true of the meat tenderizer if you eat it OR rub it on?
Flowerpot, how long is your summer?

Weeds our summer is about four months, trees start growing their leaves and the bulbs and perennials start coming in late March and early April. The tree's are later then the perennials, our official summer starts June 21 and ends Sept 21 but we have lots of great weather before and after those dates.

Hey Floridain, Your grub could also be that of a June Bug. My chickens love them. Only 1 year is required for these beetles to complete their life cycle. They overwinter as grubs that may become active on warm winter days. They increase their activity in the spring, and in June pupate in earthen cells several centimeters underground. The pupal stage lasts about 18 days; adults appear in July and August. In mid-summer, adults lay eggs underground in earthen balls. Each female lays 60 to 75 eggs over a span of about 2 weeks. When the egg is first laid, it is pearly white and elliptical (1.5 mm by 2.1 mm). It gradually becomes more spherical as the larva inside develops. About 18 days after the eggs are laid, they hatch into small, white grubs. The newly hatched larva is 8 mm long and grows to a length of about 40 mm. Whitish with a brownish-black head, the grub has conspicuous brown spiracles along the sides of its body. The larvae molt twice before winter. The third larval stage lasts nearly 9 months, after which pupation occurs. At night, the larvae may be found on the ground crawling on their backs. This curious form of locomotion is peculiar to the green June beetle.The brown pupa, approximately the same shape as the adult, becomes metallic green just before the adult emerges. It is about 15 mm long and 15 mm wide

Lisa, what great info...can you find a picture of one of those June Bugs. What I think of as June Bugs are small, winged beetles, similar to what we call a May Beetle. Luckily, I haven't seen these things at night thank We do have these big ole beetles around here, Scarab or Dung Beetles. I figured that's what this is. ICK!!

Lisa, as kids we use to tie a string on one of the June bugs legs and let them fly around like a model airplane..ever do that in your neck of the woods?

HEE, HEE! Weeds, your note brings back memories of BJ Culpit in Junior High school science class. He caught a fly and tied a long hair to it and then let it fly around. I thought it was mean at the time, but that was BJ. He also ate a wasp once on a dare for $5---EEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWW!!!! It was dead long before he ate it, but still. It makes me gag to even think about it!

Ha ha, I first read that as BJ Culprit! More fitting I think. I believe he was in one of my classes!

Culprit is much more fitting!!

Yes, he was a culprit in many things. I had to sit through Confirmation class with him AND his brother Kyle. They ALWAYS got into trouble with the pastor. Anytime something happened at school, these two were almost always the first suspects, too. I think I once stuck up for BJ when he was wrongly accused of doing something (I'm thinking it was the senior prank where someone climbed onto the roof and filled the courtyard with milk cartons. The person damaged the roof--it was newly tarred--so the school wanted to go after them to make them pay for the repairs.)