You expect bugs and creepy crawlies in hot places and Florida is no different and they can be a real pest. But you just have to admire nature. Mankind continues to dig, burrow, bury and cover large parts of the land, but nature always manages to find a way of fighting back. Small ants and snakes can be easily dealt with - it's the red ants and termites that can do the damage. Stand in a red ant's nest and the first thing you feel is a sort of "water running down your leg" sensation. This is quickly replaced with numbing itching and the realisation that several hundred red 
ants have attached themselves to your leg and are intent on doing some serious burrowing and laying of poison. Water to brush them off, vinegar to stem the pain and a quick trip to the local doctor or hospital for some medical treatment are called for.Mankind fights back with innovative poisons, potions and other bizarre treatments. Pest control is a growth business - allow the ants and termites a foot, and they'll take a yard. Give them your yard (back graden) and they'll take your home...!
There are some 40 licenced pest control firms in this area alone - one group is called Truly Nolan and they appear all over Florida in their natty VW Beetles dressed up in Mouse details. A seriously clever way of advertising your business. And when the VW Beetles and SEATs fail to deliver, they bring on the Izusu heavy lorries with serious looking tanks of poison.
One firm we had doing our lawn control employed the services of a native red indian who would hunker down outside the house at night to find out where the blighters lived. Often talking to them would move them on, failing that a scorched earth policy of poison and fire would suffice. I kid you not about the talking bit.... and he even showed us once how termites "watch" what building is going on and then move in on the exposed wooden frames.
So, Mankind 0 - Bugs 1....
