Understanding the Basics of Fire Ant Infestation Issues
If you live in an area where fire ants are prevalent, you know how challenging these pests can be. Fire ant bites transfer a venom that causes pain, irritation, and burning in the affected area. In some cases, fire ant bites can even cause infections and severe allergic reactions. There have been some cases of fatal allergic reactions to the bites of these aggressive little nuisances. When you want to go out in your yard without fear of attack from fire ants, there are a few things that you should know.
1. What Makes Fire Ant Control a Challenge?
Before you can really understand how to effectively manage fire ant infestations, you have to understand what makes fire ants so difficult to eradicate from your property. Like any other type of ant, fire ants form colonies. Their colonies typically include large numbers of ants. When you attempt to poison or otherwise eliminate them, there are enough ants that they often scatter widely and form multiple individual colonies from which they start to rebuild and you end up with several colonies instead of just the one that you started with.
Additionally, fire ants are resilient creatures. They can withstand a variety of different hazards and require a couple of weeks consistently at sub-freezing temperatures to fully eliminate a colony from cold weather.
2. Does Boiling Water Really Work?
You have probably seen the videos online about pouring boiling water over a fire ant mound to kill the ant colony. The truth is that boiling water will kill part of the colony and disperse much of the rest. Unfortunately, those that disperse will eventually return after forming and developing new colonies.
You can treat a fire ant mound with boiling water, but you'll need to do it quickly to minimize the ants that disperse. After the boiling water is applied, you should then dig up the entire nest. Ensure that you get all of the nest before you move on to any further colonies, mounds, or areas.
3. Will Chemicals Eliminate Fire Ants?
Some people think about using things such as bleach or other similar chemicals to remove fire ants. These chemicals can, in fact, kill fire ants, but they won't typically kill the entire colony before much of it disperses.
Additionally, using chemicals like these on a fire ant mound can be hazardous to your property, your groundwater, your pets, and other wildlife in the area. That's why it's best to avoid using treatments like these to control fire ant infestations.
4. What Can a Pest Control Professional Do to Help?
Now that you understand the truth behind fire ant issues and the methods that many homeowners use to control them, you can probably see why hiring pest control professionals is the best option. If you're ready for additional help, know that pest control companies will start with broad-spectrum treatments around your entire yard. Those treatments are designed to create a protective barrier across your entire yard, keeping ant colonies from moving in and nesting on the property.
The broad-spectrum treatment is a good start, but if you already have fire ants on your property, you'll need more aggressive treatment. Your pest control company will treat each fire ant mound directly with a commercial-grade pesticide product designed to kill all of the ants within the mound in minutes.
Talk with local companies like Good News Pest Solutions for more information about the fire ant infestation on your property. They can inspect your yard and determine the extent of the infestation, then help you formulate the best possible solution to treat them.
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