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> There is at least one possible upside: Fire ants love to eat ticks So what we need is a bio-engineered species of fire ant that requires some harmless enviro

> There is at least one possible upside: Fire ants love to eat ticks So what we need is a bio-engineered species of fire ant that requires some harmless environmental additive to survive. Then we breed them, release them over a tick-infested area, and let them breed long enough to kill off the ticks. Then quit spraying or watever the additive they need and let them die off. What Could Go Wrong. But seriously, screw ticks and fire ants.

sverige 9y ago
>But seriously, screw ticks and fire ants. Yes. Burn them with fire.
- marcosdumay 9y ago
  Hey, this one we are good at. How wide is the area you want to burn?
blisterpeanuts 9y ago
Do ants require venom to kill ticks? A species of fire ant that is engineered to be non-venomous might be a win-win: tough survivors that eat ticks.
kqr2 9y ago
Reminds me of a Simpson's episode where X eats Y keeps escalating... Since the town considered the pigeons to be a nuisance, they are delighted that the lizards have eaten all the pigeons. So, Bart is thanked and honored by Mayor Quimby with a loganberry scented candle. Lisa worries the town will now become infested by lizards rather than the pigeons, but Skinner assures her they will send in "wave after wave of" Chinese needle snakes to eat the lizards, followed by snake-eating gorillas, and then "when wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_the_Mother https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_the_Mother
shawnee_ 9y ago
screw ticks and fire ants Diatomaceous earth will do the job. It can be purchased at any farm supply store for pretty cheap. Works on fleas, bedbugs, millipedes, roaches, centipedes ... pretty much any little bug with an exoskeleton. Farm supply store because it's traditionally been used to mix into agricultural feed (food grade DE) as an anti-caking agent. But works to kill bugs, too. Diatoms in this form are fossilized like microscopic weapons of destruction that get under the exoskeletons of ants and other creepy crawlies and dehydrate them. Best of all: no chemicals involved so they cannot develop resistance. Medieval torture devices on bugs; will desiccate them.
- appleflaxen 9y ago
  does the fact that it's mechanical really mean that they can't develop resistance? why couldn't they just develop a thicker exoskeleton (for example)?
  - chongli 9y ago
    The thicker exoskeleton would require more energy and protein to produce, increasing the nutritional requirements for survival. Anything that requires substantially more energy better come with a big payoff. I'm not sure that the ability to wander around a house includes such a payoff.

sverige 9y ago

>But seriously, screw ticks and fire ants. Yes. Burn them with fire.

marcosdumay 9y ago
Hey, this one we are good at. How wide is the area you want to burn?

blisterpeanuts 9y ago

Do ants require venom to kill ticks? A species of fire ant that is engineered to be non-venomous might be a win-win: tough survivors that eat ticks.

kqr2 9y ago

Reminds me of a Simpson's episode where X eats Y keeps escalating... Since the town considered the pigeons to be a nuisance, they are delighted that the lizards have eaten all the pigeons. So, Bart is thanked and honored by Mayor Quimby with a loganberry scented candle. Lisa worries the town will now become infested by lizards rather than the pigeons, but Skinner assures her they will send in "wave after wave of" Chinese needle snakes to eat the lizards, followed by snake-eating gorillas, and then "when wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_the_Mother https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_the_Mother

shawnee_ 9y ago

screw ticks and fire ants Diatomaceous earth will do the job. It can be purchased at any farm supply store for pretty cheap. Works on fleas, bedbugs, millipedes, roaches, centipedes ... pretty much any little bug with an exoskeleton. Farm supply store because it's traditionally been used to mix into agricultural feed (food grade DE) as an anti-caking agent. But works to kill bugs, too. Diatoms in this form are fossilized like microscopic weapons of destruction that get under the exoskeletons of ants and other creepy crawlies and dehydrate them. Best of all: no chemicals involved so they cannot develop resistance. Medieval torture devices on bugs; will desiccate them.

appleflaxen 9y ago
does the fact that it's mechanical really mean that they can't develop resistance? why couldn't they just develop a thicker exoskeleton (for example)?
- chongli 9y ago
  The thicker exoskeleton would require more energy and protein to produce, increasing the nutritional requirements for survival. Anything that requires substantially more energy better come with a big payoff. I'm not sure that the ability to wander around a house includes such a payoff.