- I don't love being bitten or stung
by our planet's misunderstood creatures.
But I do love teaching you
how to avoid these worst case scenarios.
(sighs)
I'm Coyote Peterson and I'm about to be scorched
by fire ants.
Here we go.
(Coyote groans and screams)
Oh my gosh it's so intense!
(Coyote groans and screams)
This episode is sponsored by Sting Kill.
Imagine it's your wedding day.
You picked the perfect venue,
you posed for a million pictures,
and you built up the courage
to walk down the aisle to say, "I do."
But what happens when an uninvited guest
shows up to crash your big day?
To the untrained eye,
the ground in front me looks like soft grass and sandy soil.
But just beneath the surface,
a world of terror is waiting to erupt.
Do you know what love really means?
Look out
volcanoes
everywhere.
The red imported fire ant
was accidentally introduced to the United States
from South America in the early 1930s,
and since this time,
has become a major agricultural and urban pest
throughout the southeastern US.
These insects have established a stronghold,
so eradication is virtually impossible.
And every year, thousands of people fall victim
to their agonizing venomous stings.
At a first glance,
their mounds look completely benign.
Yet beneath the surface
is a catacomb of elaborate tunnels,
bustling with workers, soldiers,
the queen, and her brood of precious eggs.
The moment an invader is detected,
like a volcano, it erupts
and the merciless flow of angry ants
will destroy anything in their path.
Now the purpose of today's episode,
aside from the sheer entertainment
of me being stung by gazillions of fire ants,
is to educate about these invasive little insects
and to show you what to do
if you ever find yourself in this worst case scenario.
Now it's no secret
that I've been stung by fire ants in the past.
In fact, I've been stung close to 300 times
as I plunged my hands down into one of their mounds.
Truth be told, it's one of the worst sting scenarios
of my entire life.
But realistically,
you're not likely to be stung on your hands.
You're much more likely to be stung on your feet.
So today, I'm going to sacrifice mine
in the name of science to show you what to do
if you ever find yourself in this worst case scenario.
So if you're ready to party,
let's dance with the fire ants.
I'm Coyote Peterson and I'm about to be scorched
by fire ants.
Here we go.
One.
(inhales)
Two.
Oh boy.
Three.
Now, before we enter the volcano
and provoke an eruption of swarming ants,
I want you to understand
what makes these little invaders so impactful.
Size doesn't always matter,
and what these ants lack in scale,
they make up for with sheer volume.
Even the slightest disruption will provoke fire ants
to attack a perceived intruder
with a full barrage of soldiers.
And if the mound is big enough,
we're literally talking about thousands of ants.
With their mandibles, they bite and lock on.
From there, the sting party begins
as they twist their abdomen into striking position
and inflict sting after sting after sting.
Fire ants inject a neurotoxic venom
that immediately makes their victim feel
as if they have stepped into a pool of boiling lava.
Sounds like fun.
Now let's see what that looks like in real life.
The mental preparation that it takes to
induce a sting, let alone an onslaught of stings
is not an easy thing to describe.
This isn't like taking a single bullet ant sting
or an executioner wasp,
which are both incredibly painful.
This is getting stung over and over again by fire ants,
one of the most formidable
little biological landmines that exist,
in my opinion, on the entire planet.
So if you guys are ready,
it's time to step into a mound of fire ants.
Here we go.
I'm Coyote Peterson and I'm about to be scorched
by fire ants.
Here they come.
Oh, boy!
Oh, I'm just gonna let myself get covered.
Oh, and the volcano is erupting!
(Coyote screaming and grunting)
Oh man, they are really swarming at this point!
Look at that, they're completely covering my ankles.
(Coyote screaming and grunting)
I do not miss the feeling of fire ants!
(Coyote screaming)
Okay, I gotta step out.
I gotta step out of the mound, out of the mound.
Ah, man, they got that one foot a lot worse than this foot.
(Coyote screaming)
(Coyote screaming and grunting)
Oh my gosh, that's so intense!
(Coyote screaming and grunting)
They might be small,
but fire ants are incredibly mighty
and they attack en masse,
so right now what they're doing
is biting on with the mandibles
and inflicting that sting
and that neurotoxic venom
is just destroying my feet and my ankles right now.
Oh, this is the absolute worst case scenario
you would want to find yourself in.
Imagine being in flip flops,
you brush through an entire mound of ants
and your feet are completely covered.
I can already see the stings beginning to welt up.
All right guys, I gotta dust them off.
I gotta dust off.
We good?
Okay, I'm gonna use this feather duster
to gently get the ants of me.
Yes, I don't wanna try to crush any ants in this process,
so I'm just gonna lightly, aw, dust them off.
Come on guys, get off of me.
Off, off, off, off, off.
Off we go.
Oh my goodness.
Sweet feather duster relief.
Oh my gosh!
Oh, there's a bunch of them in between my toes!
You wanna talk about sensitive skin areas?
In between the toes has gotta be the worst.
Ah, ah.
Okay, ants are off.
I'm out of the scene.
(Coyote heavily breathing)
Now I know
you are probably all wondering to yourselves,
"Coyote, just how bad are you feeling at this moment?"
Both of my feet are in absolute agony,
and the burning at this point has started to wear off
and the itching is beginning to set in.
I would guess that I took
somewhere around 450 to 500 stings.
That is more than I took last time
when I plunged my hands into the mound of fire ants.
My toes seemed to even have changed a slight color
given the onslaught of stings that I took
in between my toes,
which is an incredibly sensitive area.
The top of you feet are soft
and those ants just went to town.
The first thing you wanna do
if you find yourself in a mound
is obviously to get out of it.
Get the ants off of you
and move yourself into a controlled situation.
If you can, get yourself some water
and wash off the sting zone.
So what I'm gonna do,
just take my Brave Wilderness water bottle
and get all of the dirt and dust
and any other debris on my feet off
and this is just gonna be so incredibly soothing.
Oh yeah, ice cold water!
That feels wonderful!
Wow.
I never thought I would be so happy
to have cold water on my feet.
Getting the sting zone washed off is definitely important.
Just kind of bat it down if you can
with a little paper towel there
and get it dry before you go on to apply
the rest of your first aid.
Now you're very unlikely to have
an allergic reaction to fire ants.
However, they have been reported
to have caused anaphylactic shock in the past.
So stay in tune with how your body
is reacting to the venom.
If you feel your throat tightening up
or you're just really losing control of the situation,
seek medical help.
But for the most part, fire ant stings
are nothing more than just simply an uncomfortable scenario.
Now our friends at Sting Kill have a new product
and I always have Sting Kill in my first aid kit.
But today, we are going to look at Fire Out.
And what's really cool about this is,
I'm just gonna get it opened up here,
it's a very simple to use product.
Comes in a little bottle just like this.
All you need to do is screw off the top
and right underneath,
almost like a deodorant rolling ball,
you've got this up here.
Just want to break the seal.
And it's gonna get the actual serum itself working.
So here we go, I'm gonna start getting
Fire Out onto my foot
and let's see if the relief is instantaneous.
Ah.
Oh, that is wonderful.
Oh, my gosh, that is wonderful.
The cooling sensation that that is bringing
to the top of my foot right now
(mimics opera singing)
is the relief I have been waiting for.
See if I can get that worked down into my toes there.
Now keep in mind, I took an onslaught of stings.
It's not likely you're going to receive
as many as I did in this scenario,
but no matter how many stings you take,
Fire Out
at this point has definitely extinguished those flames.
Now when it comes to fire ant stings,
there are three stages.
The stings themselves, the immediate aftermath,
and then the 24 hour effect.
Just wait until you guys see what my feet look like
in the morning.
Of all the insect stings I have taken,
people always want to know which hurt the worst,
and my answer is always the same.
The most painful was definitely the executioner wasp
followed by the giant hornet,
and coming in third place is everyone's favorite,
the bullet ant.
But no one ever asks which sting just kept on giving.
If they did, the answer would definitely be fire ants.
Well, it's been 14 hours since my dance with the fire ants.
And as you can see,
the pustules have come out in full force.
Now it was inevitable my feet
were gonna end up looking like this.
It's just my body's natural reaction
to the fire ant venom.
But I have to know,
I only applied Fire Out a single time,
and thus far I've experienced no more stinging
or burning since the onslaught of stings.
That is impressive.
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave.
Ah, stay wild.
We'll see you on the next adventure.
In the days that followed filming my entry
into the volcano of fire ants,
I continued to apply Fire Out
every time the heat and itching began to flare up.
And much to my delight,
it eliminated the discomfort immediately.
However, nothing can stop your body's
natural reaction to fight the venom,
95% of which is composed of insoluble alkaloids
that your body forces to the skin's surface
in the form of unsightly pustules.
This series of pictures shows you
just how horrific the aftermath was
in the 36,
48,
and 72 hour window.
So I think you get the idea.
Dancing with fire ants is not
on the list of fun things to do this summer.
But fear not.
If you find yourself balancing on the rim
of an ant volcano,
Sting Kill has got you covered.
And the first aid is quick, simple,
and now proven to bring immediate relief.
Real medicine, real relief, real fast.
When it comes to killing the sting,
nothing beats Sting Kill.
For more information on Sting Kill's products
or where to get them,
make sure to visit their website
by clicking on the link
in the video description below.
(roaring, howling)