Do it yourself fire ant control pest products

The red imported fire ant can be a very difficult and frustrating ant to control. If you are like
most people, you've already tried most every do it yourself pest control product on the market,
including a few home remedies that your neighbors and friends told you about. Well today, I am
going to teach you how to get rid of those nasty ants using do it yourself pest control
products that actually work. You are finally going to be able to enjoy your yard and not worry
about getting stung.

What is a red imported fire ant?

The red imported fire ant (S. invicta) is a native South American ant. Most people will identify
with the large earthen mounds they produce all over their yard. The ant is reddish brown in
color and has two different sized workers (major and minor). The colony may have up to
500,000 workers that forage for food up to 100 feet from the nest, stinging any animal or
person that gets in their way. Anyone who has been unfortunate enough to get stung by one
of these little pests will quickly realize why they're called, "fire ants". Imported red fire ants can
sting repeatedly and can be dangerous to anyone who develops an allergic reaction or for the
dog that can't get away, after being wrapped around a tree that it's been tied to.
Since this ant's introduction from the port of Mobile, it has quickly spread throughout most of
the South and consists of nearly 80% of all the ant populations in this area. In it's native Brazil,
the ant only comprises of about 20% of the ant population, much to do with it's natural
enemies like the phorid fly (pseudacteon tricuspis). We do have native phorid flies in North
America but they are very specific to the types of ants they will attack and they don't
recognize the red imported fire ant as prey. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has attempted
to introduce the South American phorid fly but the fly has had little success in establishing
itself here. For now it's going to be up to you and me to control these pests, at least on our
own property.

Do it yourself fire ant control

The reason why all your attempts to control these pests have been unsuccessful is because
the ant mound is not the entire colony. The ant mound is actually just a nursery that the ants
use to incubate their eggs, larvae and pupae. If you've ever brushed opened the top of the
mound, this is what all those little white things are. The adult ants transport all their young
into the mound then constantly shift them from one side to the other, following the location of
the sun. If the young ants get too hot, the adults will take them further into the mound in
order to maintain the optimum temperature for their development.
If you apply anything to the top of the ant mound; pest control products, ant baits, gasoline,
hot water or even grits, the only thing your accomplishing is disturbing the ants. You may kill a
lot of ants this way, but your really only putting a dent in the entire colony. When the ant
mound is disturbed, a distress pheromone is released, alerting the entire colony that it is under
attack. As fast as you observe the ants boil out of the mound, just as many are going in the
opposite direction planning where to put their new nursery or two, or three…
By the way, the old wives tale about killing ants with grits is NOT true. If you feed ants grits,
that's all your doing is feeding ants. Adult ants cannot eat solid foods. Adult ants lift or drag
solid food back to the mound, where they feed the larvae. The larvae then partially digest
these solids and regurgitate it back up as a liquid, feeding the adults. This is why I normally do
not recommend using baits for the control of this type of ant. The bait has to go through about
200,000 taste testers before it may ever reach the queen or queens in this case.

The recommended way to do it yourself

The best way to eliminate fire ants from your yard is of course, by treating your entire yard.
Start by using a product such as Suspend and treat every ant mound that you can find. This
product has the active ingredient, Deltamethrin, which will kill the ants in only a matter of
minutes. This will give you a quick numbers kill by eliminating a lot of the larvae the colony
relies on for food. After you've treated the individual ant mounds, you need to treat your entire
yard. You can use the same product that I have mentioned above, giving you control for about
2 to 3 months. I would recommend using a product called Top Choice. Top Choice is
manufactured by Bayer, and has the active chemical, fipronil. This product, when applied
correctly should keep the fire ants away for about 11 to 12 months. All the products that I've
mentioned above will also control a wide variety of other pest in your yard, keeping your lawn
bug free and more importantly fire ant free. Save for the occasional mound you might
experience once in a while. you can also find all of the products mentioned above here.

Fire ant Control

Do it Yourself Pest Control Products