Fire ants helped me to walk today

[BUZZ1397]

I know, I've written aboout this before and many of yoou believe I must be a nutty Texans. Some non-Texans believe we grow bat shit crazy down here. But I have been unable (until this afternoon) to find any eager to sting fire ants around where I live. Some one has judiciously treated their moounds with an effective insecticide. This afternoon I was making it around like a slow turtle with a cog-wheeling gait problem trying to get in my exercise for the day and I spotted a surviving colony and let a few sting me on the right hand and fingers. Within 2 minutes, big reduction of the cog-wheeling in my legs. "Five alkaloids, three trans-2-methyl-6-alkylpiperidines, and two unsaturated analogues, have been identified in the venom of the red form of the fire ant, Solenopsis saevissima. The compounds are represented by the structural formulae I–V. Each has been prepared synthetically. These compounds, which appear to be the sole constituents of the venom, are believed unique among animal venoms." (Wikepedia?) Piperidine is good natural medicine, IF YOU AREN'T ALLERGIC!

What to do if allergic - stlukes-stl.com/health-cont...

FA venom is 99% piperidine and the chemical formula for budipine is 1-alkyl-4,4-diphenyl piperidine. (Silvestrov)

[laglag]

You're a wild & crazy guy, but if it works, do it! I'm not sure if I've ever seen a fire ant in Indiana.

[BUZZ1397 in reply to laglag]

Am not. I am an intelligent introvert. just did a silly Facebook quiz and that is the result, guaranteed.

[Alenaf]

Awesome! Need to find fire ants in Maryland asap. Do they have to be fire ants? Will other ant species do?

[BUZZ1397 in reply to Alenaf]

I've read their venom is unique

[Islandhappy]

Not so far fetched. Bee keepers report reduction in arthritis symptoms after being stung

[KemptonD]

I sat in a pile of ants in Austin Texas as a preschooler. I haven't felt so alive until a few years later when drinking from a picnic open can of Coke containing a bee, or the time I provoked a wasp's nest near a pomegranate bush. Can't say I want to try it again. I'd rather chase an armadillo.