As the winter weather finally subsides, residents of Houston, Texas, should be steeling themselves for a different kind of storm: a horde of Raspberry crazy ants that are on their way to the area.
Named for exterminator Tom Raspberry, who discovered the ant variety in Houston in 2002, the destructive crazy ants are related to the fire ant but can be even harder to deal with, Fox News reported.
"I've been in houses where every time you took a step you'd literally be stepping on thousands of ants with each step," Rasberry told FoxNews.com.
Described as "hairy and reddish-brown," the ants are exceptionally hazardous because they hone in on electrical systems to eat through insulation and wiring. They're generally dormant until late April, so exterminators and residents are expecting an invasion in a few weeks.
"They've gotten into electronic systems in chemical plants and shorted-out equipment that forced the plants to shut down entire units," Rasberry told FoxNews.com.
A horde of crazy ants, which reproduce at an alarming rate that can mean 15 billion ants in a 1-acre area, infested NASA's Houston headquarters a few years ago.
The ants may be especially troublesome since they're not indigenous to Texas or the 20 counties in Florida and locations in Mississippi and Louisiana where they've also been spotted. Entomologists believe the pesky insects came from South America, hopping onto a cargo ship sometime in the 1930s.
While they don't bite or sting like their fire ant kin, crazy ants can pose an even larger threat.
"When all is said and done, I guarantee you, you'd rather have the fire ants because they are much easier to deal with," Rasberry told FoxNews.com.
What can homeowners do to protect themselves? Eliminate damp spots near their homes where the ants can thrive, according to Paul Nester, a program specialist with Texas A&M's Agrilife Extension Services.
Removing mulch, potted plants and wood piles should help to keep the crazy ants at bay, Nester told FoxNews.com. He described infested homes where it looked as if the ground were moving.
"Then you look at a fencepost and they are running up the fencepost and across the fence," he told FoxNews.com.
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