Fire Ants can be identified by their reddish color and small size (1/8 to 1/4“ long). Most people identify them by their fiery sting that will result in a small bump or pustule on the skin. They will rapidly swarm the mound if it is disturbed in an effort to protect their queen.
Fire Ants infest many different areas. They can be found in home lawns and yards, school playgrounds, parks, or anywhere they can find an abundance of food. They feed on other insects, oil from seeds, meats, grease, or similar food sources. They liquefy the food and return it to the colony to feed their young and the queen. They forage when temperatures are 70 to 90 degrees and will travel up to 100 feet from their nest.
Besides their fiery sting, Fire Ants will cause other problems. They will construct a mound that can be up to 3 feet tall or larger. These mounds can disrupt mowing or other types of lawn maintenance practices. If they locate their nests near a house, they will invade it in their search for food. They will disrupt picnics, fishing trips, and many other outdoor activities. They have been known to disrupt the electrical service or air conditioning to a house if they build their nest close by or next to those items.
Controlling Fire Ants is often a larger task than most homeowners can handle. This is especially true when the infestation is extensive. The worker ants build an extensive complex of underground foraging tunnels. If the mound is disturbed, they will quickly move the queen to another location. They build their lives around the care and protection of the queen and the large number of eggs she lays. A single queen can lay from several hundred to over a thousand eggs per day!
There are numerous products lawn care available to control Fire Ants. The approach to their control is two-fold. First, a bait insect control must be applied over the entire area. There are low toxicity and non-chemical products available for this purpose, but they are usually not very effective or take a long time to work, requiring multiple applications. It is best to contact your local cooperative extension service for the products that are labeled for your area. The second step to the control process is to treat the individual mounds. This needs to be done with an approved material in a drench, granule, aerosol, or dust formula. The key is to apply the material without disturbing the mound. Again, contact your local cooperative extension lawn service for the recommended products for your area.
Fire Ants are a pest problem that has become a part of life in many southern states. Complete eradication is impossible. For most professional lawn care services, the goal is to manage their activity and reduce the problems and annoyances associated with their foraging and nest-building.
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