Do ants bite horses? what other bitey bugs are about this year?

B

BBP

Well-Known Member
Joined
17 July 2008
Messages
6,587
Visit site
Do ants bite horses? I've noticed an awful lot of giant ant nests in my fields this year (giant nests not giant ants). My horse has come up with really nasty bites all through from end of July to now. They start just as small hard bumps, then an oozing lump, then blow up into big swellings (can be the size of my hand in diameter and several mm thick so noticeably raised areas) which then ooze. You can still feel the initial bite site for weeks afterwards til the last scab comes off. He has had them all over his face, behind his ears, on his neck, shoulders and belly. This week he has three new bites on his pasterns. I have no real idea what might be biting him, I've never seen anything bite him, initially I thought it was horse flies but having had the bites all over his face and now on his pasterns in October I'm thinking that's not right, but wondered if it could be linked to these big ants nests? Any ideas on what it could be?
 
I was going to ask some thing similar, one of my horses has what looks like bites on his body as in there are raised areas in his coat but I can't feel any bumps. I am also being bitten, I don't feel it at the time but find itchy bites after my bath that have a visible drill hole in them. Seems to happen at this time of year but I'm not near any where crop growing.
 
Definitely not harvest mites (she's says confidently!), but good idea. We have had them on another horse here previously. This is something that can take a big old bite out of the middle of his neck and under his saddle area too. I haven't had any and the other horses are okay but mine is in the field with the big ants nests in. Not that I've seen the place teeming with ants either.
 
Ants will bite anything.
They also use formic acid as defence which burns, but kills mites. Crows annoy ants to make them spray acid & bathe in it to kill the pests in their feathers.
 
My poor horse is covered in massive bites, that he's had a reaction too - there is definitely something around at the moment.
 
Sounds like they could be a possibility then. He is being strip grazed along a section that has uncovered some big ant hills. The others are on a different section and seem to be bite free. That said when they were all in the same field he was still coming up in big welts and the others were fine. I think maybe he paws at things more than the others do so perhaps is annoying something.
 
Just thought I'd update this one, today when clipping the ponys tummy I clipped off a flying ant that was attached to him, so at least I have officially identified the culprits!
 
KatPT said:
Just thought I'd update this one, today when clipping the ponys tummy I clipped off a flying ant that was attached to him, so at least I have officially identified the culprits!
Click to expand...

ooh nasty biters we have had swarms of ladybirds here for the last week opened my horsebox to start it up and they were all around the door seals hundreds of them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top