Posted May 17, 2008 at 06:13AM by Mabie A. Listed in: Animals and Wildlife Tags: NASA, Johnson Space Center, Texas, EPA
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Rasberry ants - Image 1The ants have arrived and they have invaded Texas. Known as the "crazy rasberry ants,"  the reddish-brown arthropods were reported to have arrived in the state aboard a cargo ship, and are now said to be invading homes and yards throughout Houston, chewing on electrical boxes.

As of the moment, scientists have no idea where they came from, but their crazy ants cousins (yes, that's really what they're called), are usually found in the Southeast and the Carribean.

The biggest concern right now is that they are eating off the electrical equipment, and the scientists have no idea why they would find this scrumptious at all. Apart from electrical wirings, they have also so far brought damnation to pumps at the sewage pumping stations, caused fire alarms to malfunction, and wreaked havoc upon computers.

The government agency, Texas Department of Agriculture, is now working with A&M researchers and the EPA to find a solution to this problem. Says Ron Harrison, director of training for the pest control company Orkin Inc., "This one seems to be like lava flowing and filling an entire area, getting bigger and bigger."

However, the upside to this (though teeny weeny) is that it's not all pestilence they bring with them. In fact, they do bring some relief, too, to the Houston natives, as the craze rasberry ants eat fire ants. Fire ants are known to be the stinger ants causing much discomfort to the locals every summer.

Oh, and they have been recently spotted at the NASA's Johnson Space Center, as well as near the Hobby Airport. Looks like these little fellas have some plan of flying off to space as well. Now wouldn't that be a solution to get rid of them?

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