Fred, I do remember those fire ant mounds when I lived north of Plano. Until two years before we moved into that place the land had been cotton fields so nothing would grow except Bermuda grass (sorta) and Mequite trees. The ants would come into the house and once invaded my baby's crib! We were high enough (or God understood my unreasonable fears) so we never had snakes but we had turantullas and scorpions. The last time I was in Brownsville we did swerve to avoid a 10 ft. diamond back which was sunning himself on the road. Everything seemed hostile in Texas! We would load up with all sorts of weapons to defend ourselves when we went to Home Depot. The chemical that we used around the house is no longer sold and then we always had to have tire patches for the damage from the huge thorns. Still, I would not mind moving back!

Ruth

FRED,

I DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT FIRE ANTS, BUT SNAKES I DO KNOW. A REALLY EFFECTIVE TREATMENT FOR THEM IS" SERPENT GUARD" ( THEY CAN'T STAND THE SMELL OF IT) I HOPE THIS HELPS.

-WILL

Thanks Will, I'll see if I can find that brand here in Texas, if not I was thinking of Lime like we used in the old outhouses years ago! You may not have had that experience as I did for all my growing up years in Houston! Ruth, you are so right when they build homes in the areas that were fields are pastures for cattle long time ago. I wish I had land like that here in Texas it would be like a gold mind!

Fred!

being the animal lover i am, i know we need to protect ourselves from harm against critters, but i ask please, when using pesticides, please be careful as they can and do kill other wildlife like birds that eat the insects. pesticides get into the soil and can kill for years to come. children like to play in the dirt too. i lived in az for over 30years, there was not very many critters i didn't dealt with over the years. if i left them alone, the left me alone and went on their way. snakes can be dealt with by the fire dept. we had pets, so i was very cautious of what lerked in my back yard. i had bark scorpions everywhere because of the pine trees. black widows in my garage. a fried of mine found a gila monster in his garage once. i found desert tortoises all over the yard, garter snakes everywhere. rattlesnakes were never a problem where i lived, coyotes ran the streets at night in alot of areas., jumping over 6ft fences looking for pets. we had horse farms not far from us, they attract snakes for the mice and rats that ate the horse feed. ok i've said enough. please just be careful with pesticides