If you have fire ants in your home or garden you will certainly want to find a quick and easy solution to getting rid of them. Unfortunately, fire ants are very resilient blighters and won’t go without a fight. For some crazy reason fire ants were first introduced to Alabama and have been steadily moving north, south, east and west.
There are now many states in America affected by fire ants including South Carolina, North Carolina, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Florida and Georgia. They are called fire ants because when they sting you, your skin feels as if it’s on fire. In some rare cases, people have even died because of the amount of stinging they have received.
How do you kill ants that are outside?
#1. Broadcast Baiting
Although getting rid of fire-ants 100% is pretty much impossible, you can do a lot to greatly reduce their numbers. The first measure you should begin is what’s known as broadcast baiting.
A bait containing Hydramethylnon should be used and you simply place a scoop of the bait in specific areas where you are getting the fire ants. Identify the areas where there are mounds created by the ants.
Make sure that you simply don’t apply the bait at just any time of the day. You should place it down either in the afternoon or in the early evening. You can also do this once or twice during the season, and by doing this in the Fall you will find that population numbers decrease in the spring time.
Also make sure that you don’t place any bait down if you think it’s going to rain. Maxforce, Amdro, Extinguish, Advion, Logic, Ascend plus Over ‘n Out are all popular brands of fire ant bait.
#2. Drenching
After you have completed the broadcast baiting method you can move onto the drenching method anywhere between 3 and 6 weeks later. Basically you just pour boiling water down into the individual mounds.
Alternatively, instead of using boiling water you buy special drenching products created specifically for killing fire ants.. There’s also a dust which contains Acephate that you can use as another alternative, brands that sell this include Orthene and Hi-Yield.
How do you kill ants inside the home?
If you are unlucky enough to have fire ants inside your home then you need to find a product specifically for this purpose. However there are broadcast baits on the market that give instructions on how to use it in the home too.
If you have pets or children then make sure you keep them well away from any bait before it could make them very ill if they were to eat any of it. There are also bait gels that are very effective for indoor use as well. Have a look at MaxForce and Optigard.
It’s very important that when killing fire ants that you look for products that specifically say they kill fire ants. Otherwise it might not have the desired effect.
How do you prevent them getting into the house?
Of course, trying to stop the ants from getting into the house in the first place is a good idea. Make sure that you don’t leave food lying about and give your home a good clean with bleach. If there are any crumbs that have fallen on the floor, make sure you wipe them up ASAP. Another good idea is to fill up any cracks that might be allowing the ants entry. Also, have your doors and windows properly sealed.