Red ants ate my tent?!

Rosie · 10-01-2011, 09:46 AM

I was camping in Texas this past summer and the bottom of my tent now looks like swiss cheese. Red ants ate through the bottom of the tent and bit us in the night. Is there a material they can't eat through?

calanta · 10-01-2011, 11:04 AM

Never had that issue myself but we do need to re-spray the yard here. Seems that random ant hills are popping up all over and we had this issue last end of summer too. Never before though and we have lived here for a decade so its really weird.

Refrigerator · 10-01-2011, 07:34 PM

very interesting .....I have never come across anything like what you are saying here. They may have been attracted to your body heat.....salt sweat or you were parked on top of a nest and they were at war trying to preserve and protect there kingdom......My next gear I show I attend I am going to ask this question..... Thanks for sharing.

Judy Ann · 10-01-2011, 08:17 PM

Were you eating or drinking in the tent?

isabelle · 10-02-2011, 07:27 AM

Are you sure it was red ants and you didn't have something spilled on it while it was in storage? I've never heard of them eating their way through that kind of material.

Rosie · 10-02-2011, 11:47 AM

We don't eat or drink in the tent, but with kids who knows if something got snuck in.

Isabelle, yes I'm sure it was the ants. After the first night we noticed a few holes and I put some duck tape over the holes. After the second night there were more holes. We did move the tent but every morning there were more holes. By the end of the trip the tent was full of holes. I don't know what kind of ants they were, just that they were red and they were EVERYWHERE! This was East Texas.

oldsarge · 10-02-2011, 06:11 PM

Maybe it was these guy!

Hairy, crazy ants invade from Texas to Miss. - Yahoo! News

Refrigerator · 10-02-2011, 06:25 PM

oldsarge/ I was just looking at some news on this subject. Thanks for that link.

MountainMan22 · 10-02-2011, 07:07 PM

I can't stand red ants. I was on a trip before and went golfing. I ended up hitting from a sand trap and after I got out and was walking, I started feeling pinches. It was ants. I swell up a lot and itch so bad when I get bit by them. I can't imagine sleeping and getting woken up by something like that.

oldsarge · 10-03-2011, 02:14 AM

Ants are really amazing creatures. In Panama they were my focal point when in the filed. Some as big as an inch long, others were so tiny and packed the worst bite. And so abundant too, it's amazing they haven'y taken over everything yet.