--- title: Crazy Ant Raspberry Ant Invasion Houston description: Springtime means crazy ants will invade the Houston area. canonical: https://time.com/40651/crazy-ants-are-about-to-invade-houston/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-27T19:38:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:08:16.034Z og:title: Crazy Ants Are About to Invade Houston og:description: Because spring og:url: https://time.com/40651/crazy-ants-are-about-to-invade-houston/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5712d588d711e30/698687ae1eebf7db4637012c/ap080513043598.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: Crazy Rasberry Ants og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Crazy Ants Are About to Invade Houston twitter:description: Because spring twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5712d588d711e30/698687ae1eebf7db4637012c/ap080513043598.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Crazy Ants Are About to Invade Houston > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=96fc8e8c-dfc3-4814-957e-21c7f3ddf824&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Mar 27, 2014 7:38 PM UTC  Crazy rasberry ants are shown Tuesday, May 13, 2008, in Deer Park, Texas. Crazy rasberry ants are shown Tuesday, May 13, 2008, in Deer Park, Texas. David J. Phillip—AP  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Mar 27, 2014 7:38 PM UTC [Houston’s KPRC](http://www.click2houston.com/news/rasberry-crazy-ants-to-invade-houston/25146024) and [CBS Houston](http://houston.cbslocal.com/2014/03/27/billions-of-crazy-ants-set-to-invade-houston/) are warning residents that “crazy ants” are set to “invade” the area with renewed vigor this week. Tawny Crazy Ants, nicknamed Rasberry Crazy Ants after a local exterminator Tom Rasberry who discovered them in 2002, live under rocks, lawns, and trees, tend to crawl into electrical equipment, damaging machines. Rasberry told KPRC that they are [“much more powerful”](http://www.click2houston.com/news/rasberry-crazy-ants-to-invade-houston/25146024) than fire ants, one of the world’s worst invasive species. “There is no way to contain them,” [according to](http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/12/08/magazine/crazy-ants.html?from=us) a December _The New York Times_ magazine profile. “In the fall, when the temperature drops, the worker ants are subject to magnificent die-offs, but the queens survive, and a new, often larger crop of crazy ants pours back in the following spring.” Originally believed to come from central South America, the crazy ants have spread throughout Texas to southern Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia and Florida because “they can take up residence in everything from a house plant, to an empty container left outside, to an RV, so they’re easily transported by us,” [according to](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv0ikdisv0I) Ed LeBrun, an invasive species researcher at the Brackenridge Field Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin’s College of Natural Sciences. Pest specialists also [told Houston news outlets](http://www.click2houston.com/news/rasberry-crazy-ants-to-invade-houston/25146024) that residents can help stop the spread of the crazy ants by removing mulch and extra wood in their yards. **MORE:** [Millipedes Blamed for Australian Train Crash](http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/09/04/millipedes-yes-millipedes-may-be-responsible-for-australian-train-crash/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/40651/crazy-ants-are-about-to-invade-houston/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/40651/crazy-ants-are-about-to-invade-houston/"},"headline":"Crazy Ants Are About to Invade Houston","datePublished":"2014-03-27T19:38:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:08:16.034Z","description":"One downside of spring","url":"https://time.com/40651/crazy-ants-are-about-to-invade-houston/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Environment"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5712d588d711e30/698687ae1eebf7db4637012c/ap080513043598.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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