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The Hills are Alive LbNA #12146

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Nov 13, 2004
Location:
City:Humble
County:Harris
State:Texas
Boxes:1
Planted by:Hawk
Found by: Yertle
Last found:Jul 7, 2014
Status:FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Last edited:Nov 13, 2004
[*** Member report that could not be delivered to your email: "we found the hills are alive at jesse jones park, cool stamp! but your journal is ruined, all wet and mushy, thought you'd want to know. also, could not find big bugs at all nor the hollow log it was supposed to be hidden in, so you may want to check it. thanks for the adventure, we had 1 girl and 5 boys with us and they had fun!!!" --Choi, one of the LbNA Webmasters]

live and well 28 MAY 2005.

RED IMPORTED FIRE ANT: Solenopsis Invicta

FIRE ANTS:
Are a pest in both urban and rural areas.
Are in potential conflict with about 40 million people.
Cost hundreds of millions of dollars annually for control efforts.
Are originally from South America.
Build mounds containing several hundred thousand ants.
Can have up to 1,000 mounds per acre.
Rapidly reinvade previously treated areas.
May have 1-20 queens per mound.
Reproduce quickly; producing many hundreds of new queens each summer.
May live in mounds with as many as 300 thousand workers.
Eat insects, spiders, myriopods, earthworms, and other small invertebrates.
Are attracted to sugar and honeydew and are known to feed on carrion.
Tunnel 15-25 m from the mound 6-12 mm underground.
Are very competitive and eliminate most other competing ants and invertebrate predators.
Have female worker ants that are wingless and sterile.
Males die soon after mating.
Grip the skin with their jaws and sting victims several times in a circular pattern.
Venom is bactericidal.
Venom is alkaloid-based. (Most stinging insects' venom is protein-based. )

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This microbox is part of my "Texans to Avoid" series and is located in Jesse H. Jones Park & Nature Center, 20634 Kenswick Drive, near Humble, Texas. The park is located north of FM 1960 between I-45 and US 59. Admission is free. Bicycles are allowed on most trails on Sundays only. Be sure to obtain a park map from the Nature Center before looking for this microbox. After finding the box, please replace it as found and make sure that it is not visible from the trails. I would appreciate an email letting me know the status of the box when you find it.

To find the box:

Go to the west side of the paved bridge over the drainage channel. This is located between River Birch Trail and Magnolia Trail. You will see a sing that indicates directions for Magnolia Trail and Spring Creek Trail on one side, and "Please do not pick wildflowers" on the other side. From this sign post, you will see a stump just to your left on the west side of Magnolia Trail (220 degrees magnetic). To the right of that stump is a tall pine tree (250 degrees magnetic). The box is behind this pine tree under some pine needles.