- I'm Coyote Peterson.

This is a mountain of fire ants.

I think we all know where this is headed.

Oh boy, here we go.

Holy Cow, that's a lot of stings already.

(groans)

(fast percussive music)

(sighs)

All right, guys.

So when I was in Arizona

you saw me put my hands into a mound

of harvester ants, a species that both bites

and stings.

I lasted 60 seconds and took a lot of venom.

(squeals in pain)

Yeah, got stung already.

(squeals in pain)

They're all over my hands now, look at that.

Today I'm in South Florida and right in front of me

is a giant mound of fire ants.

I'm sure you're looking

at this pile of dirt thinking to yourselves

is that really an ant hill?

Looks like no one's home.

I promise you, there are thousands of these

fiery little ants beneath the surface.

And the second that my hands disturb this dirt

I'm going to be swarmed by these ornery little insects.

Am I excited about this?

Not really.

Am I curious about what's going to happen?

Of course, and I know you guys are too.

I think at this point I am ready to enter

the strike zone with the fire ant.

The red imported fire ant is native to South America.

Yet they have established populations in several places

across the United States, including Florida.

What makes these insects so dangerous is that their mounds

camouflage into the environment,

resembling nothing more than a pile of dirt.

Stumble into one, and before you even realize

what you have done, you are caught in the swarm.

Now just like the harvester ant, the fire ant

can bite and it can also sting.

And they say that the sting of a fire ant

feels like putting your hands into a ring of fire.

Now before I actually go through with this,

here's a little something we all should know.

The sting of this ant species possesses an alkaloid venom

known as Solenopsin, which exhibits

a potent necro-toxic reaction in any one who's stung.

This not only causes searing pain but also causes

the sting zones to swell and form unsightly white pustulates

in as little as 12 hours.

In short, this is one nasty sting,

and boy am I about to get my fair share of them.

You build yourself up for these moments,

and then you second guess yourself.

We've done a couple of practice dry runs at it

just as rehearsal as to where I'm going to put my hands.

When they go in there, I'm going to be able to do this

one time.

I'm going to try to keep my hands in there for 60 seconds.

My heart is racing right now.

Hopefully my body reacts okay to the venom.

I don't want to go into anaphylactic shock or anything.

I did okay wit the harvester ants, so I think

I'm going to be okay.

All right, here we go, ready.

Okay, go get in position, I'll be there in a second.

- [Voiceover] All right, man.

(Ominous music)

- Never, under any circumstances, try to replicate

what you are about to witness in this video.

I'm Coyote Peterson and I'm about to enter the strike zone

with a fire ant.

You guys ready?

Your shot good? - [Cameraman] Yup.

- One, two, three.

(light, percussive rattle)

Holy cow.

Ow, ow, ow, ooh!

(pained in and out breaths)

Holy cow, that's a lot of stings already.

(suppressed groan)

Okay, I'm going to have take my hands out

pretty quickly, guys.

(pained grunts)

So much worse than the harvester ants.

(pained groans)

- [Voiceover] 30 seconds

(heavy, fast breaths)

- I cant, I can't, I gotta stop.

I gotta stop, I gotta stop.

(Timer buzzes)

- [Voiceover] You all right?

How are you, tell me what you're feeling?

- A lot of pain.

They're still on me.

(pained groan)

My hands are on fire right now.

It is worse than the harvester ants.

There's no question about it.

(groans, breathes quickly)

- [Voiceover] What's going through your mind right now?

- My hands feel like they're swelling right now.

I feel like I'm still getting stung.

(light groan)

Be one with the pain.

Be one with the pain.

Look at my veins are all swelling up.

When a mound of fire ants is disturbed,

thousands of them instantly swarm the invader.

(groans)

The attack comes from all sides.

And as the ants bite and hold down with their mandibles

they use a stinger in their abdomen to inject the venom.

(deep groan)

I was hoping to last 60 seconds.

However, my pain tolerance finally gave out,

as my brain was screaming, "Get your hands

out of that ant mound."

All right, so, it's been about five minutes

since I had my hands in the ant mound.

As you can see, they're starting to swell up.

There's a bunch of little white lumps all over them.

It's actually not too bad at this point.

It hurts less than it does itch.

I really want to itch my hands right now,

and I know that i shouldn't, because

if I do it's only going to make it worse.

Now, if you want to know the answer

of which is worse, the harvester ant

or the fire ant, I think the pain was worse

with the harvester ant, but obviously the swarm

was more impressive with the fire ant.

This is much worse than the harvester ants.

(groans)

The moment those ants were covering my hands,

I was immediately getting stung

over and over and over again, and it did feel

like putting my hands into a ring of fire.

Here we come. (groans)

I think no matter what, at the end of the day

the lesson we're all taking away from this

is that if you're out in nature, and you're exploring,

always do your best to avoid any and all ant mounds.

I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave, stay wild.

We'll see you on the next adventure.

In total I sustained over 300 stings

and for over a week I suffered through

incredible discomfort, which included

flashes of pain, and continuous itching.

It took over 30 days for the pustulates

to completely diminish, and they

left behind a trail of scars, that today serve

as a constant reminder of why you never

want to tangle with fire ants.

Nearly all the ant attacks on humans happen by accident.

Pay attention to where you step or sit,

and you hopefully will not end up looking like me.

Do you know the simplest remedy for neutralizing

ant stings in the field?

If not, make sure to click Watch Next

for when totally gross Behind the Adventure.

And don't forget, subscribe to join me and the crew

on this season of Breaking Trail.

(light, playful music)

Well, I think it's safe to say that I'm done

with ants for a while.

(wild animal sounds)