Summer means time outside for all, including fire ants. Fire ants are aggressive pests that start actively foraging for food in the early morning through the late evening hours around surrounding vegetation and an entire yard from May through mid October.
The red imported fire ant hails from South America and found its way to Texas and other areas of United States territories. A fire ant’s bite is painful. Invasive pests are aggressive and tend to sting repeatedly if they feel threatened. The dangerous, medium reddish black and reddish brown fire ants like gardens, weeds, crevices, compost piles, and homes. They can hide in the soil and mulch, and thrive, so you have to watch your feet when you walk. You don’t always know when you’re about to encounter a circle of siege during the season.
You have to watch where you sit outdoors. You must avoid the ants. If bitten, there are methods to treat the itching and help the pain subside. If the effect is too strong, apply a cold compress and head to an urgent care clinic.
To get rid of fire ants, you can try raid fire ant killer, granular fire ant bait, or granular insecticide. Read the product label for the recommended amount before you apply. Your goal is to prevent fire ant infestations. In severe cases, you’ll need to call in pest control professionals who will use a menu of solutions and products each visit such as fire ant treatments and birth control against the queens in individual mounds. The goal is to render her infertile to get rid of fire ants. Queen ants determine ant activity in individual mounds.
Using insecticide, granules, or bait in your garden, lawn, and indoors for at least a quarter acre encourage fire ants to relocate their ant hill and mounds. Bites are dangerous and the stinging harmful. Lawn care with lawn mowers prevents a swarm in your garden and colony on the lawns surface.
Below are a few home remedies and other types of fire ant eliminators that are safe for family, small children, pets, and the environment.
Orange Guard Fire Ant Control
First, Orange Guard® Fire Ant Control treatment uses the active ingredient d-Limonene in the products. This is the same active ingredient plants use to naturally defend against their pests. The d-Limonene dissolves the ant’s waxy coating body so that their exoskeleton bodies become clogged and they cannot breathe even with force. Pour the bait directly on the ant mound or ant colony. Read the product label before you spray and apply the insecticide to kill the ants in their colony.
After a mound drench, holes are punched into the fire ant mound 6 inches to 12 inches deep allowing the liquid to saturate the ant’s trails. A ratio of 1 part Orange Guard® Fire Ant Control to 3 parts water is strong enough to eliminate the ants but safe for the grass, so watch usage rates. This is an all-natural alternative and great option to permanently eliminate fire ants from your yard.
Diatomaceous Earth to Kill Fire Ants
Next, Diatomaceous Earth is a powder product solution made up of tiny fossilized diatoms. Because the diatoms are sharp and abrasive bait, they cut the ant’s exoskeleton body allowing the ants to dry out and die, killing them and the ant colony off. The powder can be spread over the ant mound and surrounding area. Diatomaceous Earth can also be worked into the mound to kill the ants.
It must be reapplied after it rains simply because it is only effective on dry ground, so keep an eye on rain expected, and pour as necessary. Store an unopened container of Diatomaceous Earth fire ant killer and fire ant bait carefully.
Cinnamon to Remove Fire Ants
Cinnamon is another option among home remedies. When an ant inhales the cinnamon, it suffocates and dies. Cinnamon can be sprinkled on and around the mound. Cinnamon can also be used as a barrier for your home; cinnamon is strong enough that is disrupts the ant pheromone trail so they will no longer cross that line and enter your home.
Boiling Water to Control Fire Ants
Boiling hot water poured onto the fire ant mound will only be effective if the queen is killed. Like all treatments, if the queen is not killed, she will just produce more worker ants and rebuild the nest. Pouring boiling water directly down the hole will only work if the boing hot water reaches the queen and kills her. Making sure you have enough boiling water is crucial with this method, so boil gallons to get rid of fire ants from mounds.
Pour boiling water in a strategic manner to get rid of fire ants and pest nests. It won’t kill them, but some will die from the moisture. Don’t pour gasoline as a solution, though, stick with water brought to a boil.
The drenching, watering and dousing logic has its limits, but the runoff helps locate tunnels you can’t reach otherwise as the fire ants leave the colony location. Then apply baits as the next step.
Borax to Kill Fire Ants
Borax product is another fire ant eliminator solution. When the Borax is ingested by the fire ants, it disturb their digestive system and kills the ants. Mix ½ cup white or powered sugar as bait, 1 ½ tablespoons Borax, and 1 ½ cup warm water until the mixture is dissolved. Soak cotton balls in the solution. Place the soaked cotton balls on or near the fire ant’s mound or colonies. Spray works, too. The fire ants will take the Borax back to the nest and soon the entire pest nest will be eliminated.
For more directed information, read the product label.
As an added protection for your home, these remedies do not kill the fire ant colony but they do protect your home from an ant invasion.
Dish Soap to Get Rid of Fire Ants
Mix Dawn Dish Soap in water and spray the countertops and ant trails. The dish soap solution is popular among home remedies and will kill ants immediately. Dish soap coats ants exoskeleton body. They suffocate on contact. It eliminates the ants from continuing to come in.
You can spray the dish soap on the fire ants with a hand pump sprayer.
Cayenne for Fire Ant Baits
Cayenne pepper also works to eliminate the pheromone trail left behind by ants. Cover it by sprinkling the cayenne pepper across the line, ants will not cross the line. The cayenne pepper gets ants to turn back to their nest, colony, ant mounds, or fire ant colonies instead of your garden.
Spread cayenne pepper over a few feet to get rid of fire ants.
Vinegar to Prevent Fire Ants
Vinegar (white or apple cider) mixed with water at a concentration of 50/50, will deter ants ranks at the top of home remedies. Clean or spray the surfaces with this vinegar mixture and the pheromone trail will be wiped away. Ants do not like the strong smell of the vinegar so they will turn back. If you choose this vinegar method, remember that vinegar is very acidic and can damage your surfaces so use with caution.
You can also try a baking soda, soybean oil or citrus oil spray method to get rid of fire ants from an infested area. Ammonia works, too, in a pinch. Mix baking soda with sugar and leave or spray in challenging areas to reach. Spray the others on surfaces and it will create disturbed fire ants that are less likely to sting, bite, or destroy your home.
With these effective fire ant colony eliminating options, you can safely enjoy your time outdoors all summer long. If the ants try to move indoors, try our suggestions to keep your home free of ants.
Beyond Home Remedies
Sometimes you need to schedule pest control service. They’ll apply fire ant baits to quickly eliminate individual colonies. A fresh bait treat may require a two step method for best results. Mound baiting helps broadcast bait application in a large infestation. Bait products can be slow acting to thoroughly destroy an ant hill and give the worker food foragers adequate opportunity to broadcast treatment to a neighborhood colony.
Some hesitate to spray pro products and treat with insecticides methods especially indoors and near children because they contain pesticides and harmful solutions. Dust insecticide treatment has improved and there’s less pesticide toxins that are now illegal. They have access to insect growth regulator. You can always discuss insecticides with professionals.
Get Rid of Fire Ants Conclusion
Fire ant mounds, colony and an ant hill are red flags. It won’t be a few living there; there will be thousands of fire ants and possibly other insects. Don’t try to get rid of individual fire ants with a bare hand or to poke them. Use a broom handle instead. Keep livestock, animals, and pets away from contact with foraging workers, nests, and swarms because they’re harmful and dangerous. Watch where they sit in the yard, too.
The above natural home remedies help get rid of fire ants over several days. If small children or pets are stung during an attack, an antihistamine helps with an allergic reaction, reduce swelling, and prevent anaphylactic shock symptoms. If there’s pain or severe visible swelling after several hours, people are encouraged to head to the ER for treatment.
When the cooler weather months and heavy rain season arrive, the problem subsides for a few weeks. It’s a good time to begin your plan for next year. Pest control can get ride of fire ants through several methods, including insecticide treatment. If you opt for home remedies instead, they might require weeks of sprays to be effective because they’re milder than insecticide.
Ants are actively doing their jobs and head back to the colony with resources within 48 hours before they start again. Pest control, insecticides, and baiting help get rid of fire ants. Eliminate fire ants for your peace of mind.