I wouldn't sweat it. When I was at Ft.Benning I was real close and personnel with those little bastards. Doing push-ups and had them covering my hands and arms up to my elbows.

Takes a solid two weeks for them to stop itching and for the blister to burst and begin healing. It's been like two years and I have quite a few scars to show for it.

God I hated that place...

teh OMGz, you should totally call nationals on hazing!!!!11shift+1

Sounds like typical fireant bites to me not an anaphylactic rxn. When I was 8 I stood in a large pile on accident-couldn't wear shows for several days-I was miserable! Calamine lotion is a must, there are also these "roll on" sticks for insect bites-can't remember the names of them.

Are you thinking of "After Bite"? Those things were a godsend when I was in Costa Rica on my honeymoon. The mosquitoes there are on steroids.

"Skeeter Sticks" is what we called them.

I would spend summers covered in calamine lotion when I was a kid. I remember once my little sister fell asleep in the yard with her head on an ant hill ... woke up screaming with them all in her hair! :eek: Now, I usually put that special neosporin cream that comes with anesthetic in it on any bites (ant or mosquito) to numb them up a bit so they don't itch/hurt as bad.

I think fire ants have a hard time surviving in cold climates.

Aren't they acclimating themselves to colder and colder temps as the generations evolve?

Fire ants and killer bees....

As do I ... so I guess the fire ants and I will just have to get along as best we can :rolleyes:

Cortisone and if you have a lot then use ice to reduce the swelling.

Fire ants don't exist in cold climates, they have about the same range as me.
http://www.ars.usda.gov/fireant/imag...festation2.jpg

don't pop the blister formed by the fire ant bite-it is best to just let it be reabsorbed by the body.

it does take a while for the bite and resultant scar to go away. benadryl tablets internally and listerine(the gold, original type) dabbed on the bites help. if the listerine and other suggested remedies don't help, you might try charcoal capsules. break the capsule open in a cup that you can toss, and mix with a little water to make a paste. apply the paste to the bite(also works great on insect stings). this is messy, but it works.

when I lived in Georgia (many moons ago) .. I was told to use a paste of meat tenderizer and water on fire ant bites ... that always seemed to work for me.

i hate those buggers! i'm from California and imagine my surprise when i moved to Texas and got bit for the first time! everyone asked me if i was allergic...how would i know??

my mom told me never to pop the blister as a teen, but i did it anyways because it itched so bad. i do clean it to make sure it doesn't get infected. cortisone cream helps a little. if you get one of those "after bite" sticks it works well if you apply soon after the bite. the main ingredient is ammonia.

good luck....i just got bit on the toes last friday, but not too bad and they're pretty much gone now.

Thanks guys, the calamine with antihistime in it helps the most. I can't find my meat tenderizer. I think the D took it to the beach last summer for jellyfish stings and I haven't gotten it back. What's with all these tornados today?? Geez, if it's not ant bites, it's migranes from the barometric pressure dropping. grrrrr.