The municipality of La Croix-Valmer has decided to tackle the problem of electric ants head on. This Thursday again, the first deputy delegate for Security, René Carandante, surveyed the Hauts de Peynié housing estate where the stinging colonizing insect is rampant.
Here wind along an ascending path around a hundred houses, the majority second homes, where the ant has plenty of time to prosper in the absence of year-round occupants. Around fifteen have already been affected according to expert Olivier Blight (read elsewhere).
“It’s a race against time and we are going to use the means to first raise awareness among the population in order to identify possible new outbreaks and treat them accordingly”promises the elected official who announces the creation of a working commission bringing together specialists from DREAL, the Port-Cros park and the IMBE laboratory.
Stung on the private parts…
If the majority of residents present on site are not aware of this “new neighbor on legs”, others remember it painfully… Like this octogenarian who was swinging peacefully this summer in her hammock, when she was stung on her private parts. “I can tell you she was wondering what was going on!”testifies a neighbor.
The first link in the chain, technical service agents will be trained in detection and the measures to take to limit dispersion. “In particular, it will be necessary to set up a differentiated collection of green waste with incineration or composting at high temperature, because these ants love to live in dead leaves…”, underlines Olivier Blight who will be at La Croix-Valmer again in December for an information session.
Next step, set up an eradication campaign like in Toulon which obtained funding (Green Fund, subsidies, etc.) for action in 2025. That is to say a budget of 190,000 euros over three years made up of a “package” communication and processing.
Already 20 million spent in Australia
“In Australia where the ant is wreaking havoc, $20 million has already been spent since 2006!”points out Olivier Blight. These are the products used in the land of marsupials which will be in force in the Var.
“We were able to obtain an exemption for a year, because they are normally prohibited in France. The idea is to have the right bait. The one that the workers will collect on the surface and then bring back to the colony so that it can broadcast and kill the queens”he explains.
The bait in question will be placed in closed dispensers and fixed to the ground. No danger for other animals, cats or doggies roaming in the gardens, therefore.
Invaded owner: “Their venom produces a discharge then blisters appear”
Frédéric Grillard is the father who raised the alarm following two summer stays disrupted to say the least by the presence of the electric ant in his second home in La Croix-Valmer.
“Last year we suffered the first unexplained stings. We were looking for where they came from. We thought about horseflies or a flying insect of this type before eventually realizing that they were ants… At At first we imagined that they would go away or that putting on some product would be enough…”he begins this Thursday from the Paris region where he resides all year.
Ice for relief
Yes, but the following summer, the nuisances were still there. And even in much greater numbers! In July 2024, Frédéric then mandates a professional to treat his property. Without more success… “With my wife and my three children, we have all been bitten. It can happen any way: while gardening, blowing leaves or lying on a deckchair… It is very stinging. The venom produces a discharge , then it heats up, then it becomes intense. The discomfort lasts between three and eight hours. Then itchy blisters appear between ten and fifteen days. There is no real miracle product to relieve it. we found, it's to put ice”, he recommends.
Giant hives attack
As everyone is not equal to the venom, skin reactions diverge. Thus Frédéric's gardener triggered an attack of giant hives forcing him to be put on antihistamines.
Faced with these invaders, Frédéric does not intend to give up and certainly not leave his Croisian paradise. “The ministry must take stock of the problem and release funds to provide the necessary means, because we have to imagine the damage that this ant can do… In our garden we can see it clearly, they kill everything that passes!”he concludes.
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