Weird Swarms of Millions of Ants on SURFACE.

reply to post by MrNorCal
this is quite strange; i live in nw georgia. i encountered the same strange swarming. we have fire ants out the wazoo, never swarming on the surface unless distrubed. a section near my home is swarming of fire ants and then seeing this thread.

do you think something is happening underground that would cause this disturbance?

They could be doing that for a number of reasons, including new queens leaving the nest to find a mate , some sort of ant war, anything.

If you post the pics and ask around in this forum Ant Forum , then youll probably get an answer.

I’ll vote ant mating swarm, its about that time of year. I cannot find much about this on the net, but I’ll post what I could find:

ant queens and males form large mating swarms in spring/early summer. That's the only time you can see winged ants. The males are usually clearly smaller and they don't shed their wing (they just die after mating).
After they have mated, the females shed their wings and crawl around looking for a good space to start a nest. This is the time when you want to get them for your ant farm.

I don't blame you for wondering and watching. Here (Caribbean) when we see swarms of millions of teensy migrating land crabs, we pay attention. I think they drift on the same steering currents that contribute to the guidance of hurricanes.

Coupla questions for the OP: Are they slow-moving biting ants? If so, is there an electrical source nearby? Did you notice if any of the ants were carrying eggs with them? Have you had unseasonable rainfall lately?

I have a coupla possible theories if you're interested. I'll check back

I believe central California has had a few earthquakes in the past seven days. Here are a couple. What are your ants doing now?

June 15, 3.2

June 15, 2.2

June 12, 2.4

I live in Coarsegold with Fresno to the south and Modesto to the north and I have had all the ants here acting strangely. Two big groups of ants about a hundred feet apart were all just standing outside their anthills. Just hanging out. And the ants here haven't been traveling in lines anymore they move more like an army of ants. Even the ones that come in the house are doing the same odd thing. And my friends in Fresno have noticed it too. I have never noticed this behaviour before. And it makes me think of the Bible passage that says something to the effect of "Look to the ants and be wise."

Anybody have any theories on why the ants are acting this way. Even in Texas they are calling the ants that moved around this way, Raspberry ants.

Tammy