Laundry piles are convenient places that present lots of tunnels for the ants. Often, reports of ants in laundry occur following a flood or severe drought. Ants are observed in utility rooms, bathrooms or near the water heater where they have access to the area from outside. When it floods they move into any good dark place, but in drought conditions they tend to move to moist areas.

These are not ants, but rather a wingless solitary (non-social) female wasp in the family Multillidae. Females are wingless and typically colorful; males have wings. The common name for the group is "velvet ants." Here in Central Texas we have about 40 species of velvet ants, some small and some big. The "hiss" is called "stridulation" and is caused by washboard-textured body segments rubbing rapidly against one another. See similar questions...

Depending on how many Fuzzi Bunz you have, it’s likely you’ll be doing laundry every 2-3 days. See similar questions...

Fire ants reproduce opportunistically when conditions are wet and warm. They are found in all types of soil, but they do better in open pastures and sunny, grassy places than in thick shaded woods. Grassy medians of freeway and mowed pipeline and powerline rights of ways provide prime "freeways" for the ants too. Polygyne colonies (those with multiple queens/mound) can reproduce by budding off new colonies and spread by walking a few meters per year. See similar questions...

Yes. Cocos has these annoying ants, which can inflict a nasty bite. Be very aware of "bare" patches as this is usually an excellent indication that a fire ants nest is there. See similar questions...

Both biological wisdom and recent research indicate that fire ants, like other opportunistic organisms, become more "weedlike" and achieve pest status when introduced into regions free of their natural biological enemies, such as parasites and pathogens. A case in point is the fire ant species native to Texas. Our native fire ant species is a is a minor nuisance at home, but a major pest in India where it was inadvertently introduced. See similar questions...

Look at the ants. Fire ants include many opportunistic ant species of the genus Solenopsis. There are native and imported species. Native Texas fire ants are very similar to the imported pest, but actually help retard the spread of the imported species and should be spared if possible. Both native and imported fire ants are small, dark orange/brown ants with workers of various sizes that quickly mobilize and sting en mass when their mound is disturbed . See similar questions...

Along the Nexican border of Texas and in West Texas, there exist native fire ants that are difficult to distinguish from their imported cousins. However, if you can see four tiny teeth on the mandible or jaw of a fire ants, it is S. invicta. Native species possess three teeth. Over East, Central and much of South Texas, the most common native fire ant, S. geminata, can be distinguished without examination of tiny details of anatomy. See similar questions...

You might have seen pictures of massed fire ants killing hatchling quail chicks or stinging the noses and eyes of newborn deer. Without question RIFA can kill young birds, small mammals, and reptiles. However, in the case of quail, it could be that a more important impact on populations is the removal of insect food that would normally be available to quail chicks. See similar questions...

egg laid by queen 2. larva hatches and grows through 4 larval developmental stages or instars between which molts of larval skin occur 3. at 4th molt a pupa is produced 4. pupa hatched into adult ant. How the colony feeds and cares for female larvae determines their caste; i.e., whether they behave as workers (all are sterile females) or queens. Male ants develop from unfertilized eggs and therefore possess only one set of chromosomes; i.e. they are haploid. See similar questions...

Fire ants are from South America. They entered the U.S. through Mobile, Alabama, probably in soil used for ships' ballasts. They were accidentally introduced around the 1930's and have been spreading since. See similar questions...

There isn't much you can do, except watch the affected area for excessive swelling, itching or redness, or other symptoms like shortness of breath, thickening of the tongue, sweating, etc. that could indicate a systemic allergic reaction. Treat stings as you would stings of other insects and keep them clean and intact to avoid secondary infections. See similar questions...

Ants will eat almost anything but their favorites are fresh vegetables and fruits such as cucumber, lettuce, apple, celery, or broccoli. Feed them tiny pieces every other day as needed. You may also want to try small bits of grains, or granola. See similar questions...

ANTS technology builds on and advances recent trends in robotics, artificial intelligence, and materials processing to minimize costs and maximize effectiveness of space operations. The ANTS architecture is inspired by the success of social insect colonies, a success based on the division of labor within the colony in two key ways: First, within their specialties, individual specialists generally outperform generalists. See similar questions...

Other ants compete for food with fire ants and help keep them under control. If you kill all ants in your yard, you create an "ant vacuum" and after the next rain, it will be fire ant queens that land in your "safe" yard to begin new mounds unopposed by any other ants. Fire ants are better at colonizing and dominating newly disturbed habitat than the average ant species. See similar questions...

They may and the may not. It is probably best to wait until your original ants have died before getting new ants. It depends how dirty and moldy your observatory is. Most people like to get new sand, clean out the observatory and start completely over again. See similar questions...