What are those raised mounds?
 

Just had to post it, been down here since last year, cant figure out what those raised mounds are from place to place, mole hills?, ant mounds?

Ants.

Bill

Not just ants - fire ants. Be very cautious around them. They can attack quickly and their bite is poisonous and painful. If you are allergic you can suffer anaphylanxis (sp)...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_ant

Wow, must be some big ants, thanks for the answer.

Ants look just pretty much like other ants but they're profuse!!! Be careful too working in your lawns. If you're pulling weeds, wear gloves!! Also think about wearing shoes with socks...if you wear sandles they may crawl over your feet. Their "bites" are like blisters and are pretty nasty from what I've been told.

Some of them are probably burrowing owls.
http://greenbroward.net/network/inde...d=70&Itemid=45

The ant mounds usually have a lot of little holes in them.

I have been seeing many mole holes around the Villages this past month. A dog pulled one out of the ground at Doggie Doo Run Run a few days ago. Had to chase the dog down to get it away from the dog. Not sure what killed that mole or if was alive when the dog got it.

My dog pulled a dead mole out of the ground at the Lynnhaven Postal Center last year. That one was probably poisoned.

You see a lot more mole mounds where they do not use poison to control them.

And don't try to see what happens if you poke or kick it.
 

As soon as disturbed the colony comes boiling up and out extremely fast and they aren't coming out to see what happened...they are coming out to fight and bite. Their sting can be as painful as a wasp sting....except it is a bite. And just one can bite repeatedly....now multiply by thousands....potentially deadly.

btk

I saw two set mole traps at Polo a few weeks ago. They were of the mechanical type that trips a spike when the mole surfaces. Not too safe for unleashed dogs that frequent the area.

I was told they were gophers.

No sparky, they aren't BIG ants. They look like our plain ole' iddy biddy Northern PITH ANTH.

If you see mounds of dirt/sand in a field or near the base of bushes and they are about 3-5 inches high, and there are several in the same vicinity . . . those are fire ants.

There are different kinds of fire ants, but the fire ants around here are smaller than most ants and have a pointy rear end where their stinger is. They bite down and then move their back end in a circular motion so they can sting in several places. You don't feel the bite at all, but the stings feel like a sharp prick and soon afterward, it burns. Except on the tough part of your feet -- no sting or burn, only the itchiest bump you ever had. Then a puss-filled blister forms. Don't pop it, as it takes longer to go away and leaves a bigger scar. (I know this from an experiment I tried on myself).

Little children, elderly who cannot move quickly, dogs, etc. can be quickly covered by these ants. The ants attack silently, cover as much of the body as possible without being detected, then one ant gives the signal and they all sting at once with the aim to kill the victim with multiple stings.

Or, you could just be walking through grass no where near a mound and one or two will get on you as you pass through and you'll get a couple of stings.

TV does a pretty good job spraying for bugs so it's pretty rare to seem them here, except in large grass areas where there is not much foot traffic and around the base of planting beds and bushes.

So don't go near those mounds. Very dangerous critters. They have killed people in their sleep. Please spray your home and yard to keep them away from your property.http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Health/sto...2143091&page=1

http://i1018.photobucket.com/albums/...reantmound.jpghttp://i1018.photobucket.com/albums/...eantbiting.jpghttp://i1018.photobucket.com/albums/...reantsting.jpg

I am here to tell you that what you are seeing are NOT ants. They are gophers, pocket gophers to be exact. I have become an expert on them in recent months. My pocket book is a few hundred dollars worse off too - and as of the past few days I have them back again. They create havoc to a yard. One place, Bray Pest Control, advertises in the Sun and so far they have failed to live up to their advertisement. I called them Monday when I returned after weeks absence, only to find 4 more mounds, no return call yet. If you have them you will know exactly what you are dealing with. I just returned from a quick trip to Indiana for a funeral and observed them along the highway all the way to Gainesville, none beyond that. Look up pocket gophers on Google and you'll learn why they are called "pocket" gophers. They have left several piles in my mulch and that gives me great distress. One huge one in recent days. Several months ago my neighbor had a couple mounds and I treated them for fire ants - not the problem. Now they are back with a vengeance. I hope you never have to observe them close up and personal but if curiosity has the best of you and out along the fence lines and pastures of Sumter County isn't close enough PM me and I'll give you instructions and you can come over and check out my back yard. The front and side yards are pretty much gone.

My saga continues. :crap2:

Well, kb8tpw, you may have pocket gophers in your area. But there are definitely fire ants here, too. I've been bitten by a fire ant recently right here in TV near the polo grounds. And I know what fire ants are from personal experience before arriving in TV.

Could it be possible that there are ground pocket gophers AND fire ants in TV?

Yes.

We have an acre lot here and my husband's been fighting gophers and moles for 25 years. I thought he'd be done with them when we moved to Florida:mad::cold:

Honey Bunny, The sand mounds are ANTH.

I've seen these mounds along the side of the road, and based on my Fire Ant experience of living in S. Fl. for 58 years, these are not ants. I even got out of my golf cart and walked up to them and there were no ant holes. If you kick a Fire Ant hill they will immediately swarm. These seem to only be mounds of dirt or sand and am glad you answered my curiosity.

This thread has me wondering . . . why has this topic become a debate?

There are lots of different critters, creatures, bugs and insects that live underground. They all dig a hole or tunnel, which creates a mound of dirt.

Just because you saw a mound which didn't have ants, doesn't mean that there are no ant mounds. Just because some sort of pocket gopher made some mounds doesn't mean that there are no mounds created by ants.

I've seen mounds, too, and walked up to them and seen the ants. Some were fire ants, and some were other species of ants I can't identify.

Fire ants live in our part of Florida and they are alive and well in The Villages. Be aware.

Here is a map showing where the red inported fire art (RIFA) lives in the US.

http://i1018.photobucket.com/albums/...reantmap-1.png

One of my dogs got bitten by fire ants. Had to rush her to hospital. Her throat swelled shut and the pads of her paws turned so red we thought they were bleeding. Now we are proactive and spray all ant hills on our property as we find them.

I'd guess the difference is the size of the mounds. Check out the mounds along the fence rows and pastures in the vicinity and you'll see that the gophers do a larger mound. I didn't intend to sell the fire ants short, I have some of them too on the other side of the yard and Massey takes care of them regularly, but they dwarf the gopher mounds. My latest one is very big, probably 7-8 gal equivalent of dirt piled up in the middle of my mulch. From the initial discussion I was convinced they were gophers rather that ants, didn't intend to get everyone riled up and out of sorts. I guess PETA will be knocking on my door tomorrow.

We surely don't want PETA after us -- :eek: I'm scared of those folks.

Ants, gophers OR Gopher Tortoises.
When we went horseback riding in the Ocala National Forest we saw many of those mounds. Our guide said they were Gopher Tortoise mounds, where the tortoises go to lay eggs, sleep at night or play poker. She cautioned us to keep the horses from stepping on the mounds so we wouldn't squash the tortoises. The mounds are connected by tunnels, and the tortoises are considered to be a 'keystone species' because so many other critters depend on their tunnels. If you see the mounds in a line (like a connect-the-dots picture), odds are they're tortoise mounds. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopherus_polyphemus
(I'm just guessing, but would that be where 'turtle mound' comes from?)

I have learned a lot. I went and squinted at those little mounds starting along the driveway and said if you are a tortoise or a gopher you are not staying here in my yard.

But I really still think they are those fire ants that LOOK like pith anth And they aren't welcome...at all.

:popcorn:

Gracie, if they're in your yard they're most likely fire ants, especially if you see little ants coming out of them. lol
The Florida fire ants are tiny by Louisiana standards. When we first moved into our villa I felt things biting my toes in the dining room, and realized they were tiny ants. I set out ant traps everywhere, to no avail. They Massey guy said they were fire ants. One treatment outside and they were gone.

Those bigger dirt piles along the roads and in the fields are tortoise mounds.

"Gophers and Ants and Moles, Oh My! Gophers and Ants and Moles, Oh My!"

Dorothy, from the Village of Oz.:pepper2:

:1rotfl:

I don't think the original post was talking about little mounds as you would have in your yard. The mounds that I have noticed are everywhere you see an open field and especially it you take a drive west on 44 to wards Inverness and look in the fields and areas along the road. There are thousands of these, some only 6' apart. I inspected a couple where I could get access and there was no tell tell sign of ants, such as entrance hole on top. I kicked it and if there were ants they would swarm ready to bite. They all looked like a shovel of dirt. I know its no big deal, but am only curious as to what they are.

Fire ants
 

When on a golf course here, be careful when picking up the rake in a bunker. Check to be sure fire ants aren't crawling on it.

I didnt mean to make a mountain out of a mole hill!:ho:

Let me throw this in....I was bitten by a "bull" ant over 20 years ago, and I still have a scar on my shin. Had it shot up with cortizone twice by the dermatologist but it never goes away. Oh no, scarred for life.:cryin2:

Put some drops of honey by the mound. Ants will think it is bees and will move to neighbors.
:a040:

Now that is something new -- never heard that remedy before, but sounds like it would work!! Meanwhile, how do we get rid of the wasps that will be attracted to the honey :shocked:

Raise Mounds.
 

If the mounds are Red Ants/Fire Ants, Question: How do you rid your yard of these pests? Is there something specific that will kill them off permanently?

Fire Ants
 

It is my understand fire ants live underground about 8 feet down. However in order to hatch eggs need to have them close to surface to get the warm of the sun for incubation. I assumed when I saw a mound of sand that it was an ant hill now find they may be moles.

They sell insecticide for fire ants at Lowe's and Home Depot. Look in the garden dept.

Pocket Gophers
 

I have been told that most of these raised mounds are from Pocket Gophers, which are difficult to get rid of; however, some may be Fire Ant mounds too. - Sam

Mounds of Dirt
 

Now that it seems we are back on the subject of mounds of dirt....I was riding my bike and stopped where there are mounds near the fencing where the Turtle/owl sanctuary near Savanna ctr are and when I moved the dirt around there was no ants, no holes anywhere...just mounds of dirt. On my property the ants I see "according to MASEY bug people" they are pyramid ants.

:doggie:

If the mounds are in a line, like beads on a necklace, chances are they are turtle mounds. We have gopher tortoises here, hence the turtle sanctuary & Turtle Mound golf course.