Fire Ant Control - Bait, spray, granule treatments

Fire Ant
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See aphis.usda.gov/oa/invasive/4fireant.html

Fire ants can both bite and sting. They grab with their mandibles (jaws) and then sting. Both of these activities will produce a painful stinging sensation. A proven home remedy to deal with these bites is to dab a Q-Tip in household vinegar, then apply this to the bite area. Through a natural process the vinegar neutralizes the venom to take the sting out and reduce the swelling. A typical reaction to the bite or sting is for a welt and itching to occur at that area and remain present for a few hours. Some people are highly allergic to ant bites or stings and may even carry medication syringes in the event of an ant bite or sting to counteract the venom of the ant.

These insects are such a nuisance because there is such a high number of colonies and members on any given acre of ground. Remember an acre is 43,560 sq. ft. The colonies could have a single or multiple queens. There could be 30-700 mounds per acre, with each mound having 80,000-250,000 members. With this many ants, it is easy to see why these insects are such a problem. The mounds you see on top of the ground have tunnels under them that could run as deep as 6-8 ft.

A queen is capable of producing as many as 1500 eggs per day, which is about her own body weight. She may live as long as 2-6 years. It takes about 3-5 weeks for an egg to reach the adult stage. Minor workers live 30-60 days, intermediate workers 60-90 days, and major workers 90-180 days or longer. Mating flights usually occur mid morning, a day or two after a rain when the temperature is above 75 degrees, sunny, and not very windy. A mature colony can produce as many as 4500 swarmers with 6-8 swarms per year. The males die after mating. Those of you with swimming pools or other standing water items may have noticed ants with wings in there during the summer at some point.

They usually build mounds on the ground and against some sort of item if possible such as a foundation, sidewalk or landscape edging, or around landscape plants. I have also observed mounds in the wall. This is detected by knocking on the wall and loose dirt falls down. Bath tub bath traps are another commonplace for activity. The ants are also attracted to electrical equipment such as Air Conditioning Breaker Boxes, Traffic Signal Boxes, or similar objects. They will also nest in and around water meter boxes and sometimes follow these and other utility lines in to the structure. Sometimes after treatment people will see the mound and still think it is active. Take a long handle screwdriver or similar object and disrupt the top, if it is still active the ants will stream out to defend the colony. The mound will still be present until the soil settles back to ground level.

Fire ants prefer high protein foods such as meats and other insects they attack or find through scavenging but will feed on other items such as seeds, grease, nectar, honeydew. Fabrics that have been exposed to food aromas or spills and some types of soaps, deodorants, or perfumes could also be damaged by them feeding on these items.

Control is a multi step process. Try to remove as much excess leaf and wood debris to minimize harborage sites. Trim back any landscape plant branches or limbs so they do not use this as a bridge to the structure. Repair any gaps, cracks, or holes on the exterior of the structure to minimize entryways and harborage sites.

There are several residual products in the form of aerosols, liquids, and granules that are labeled to control ants. This is not the best type of products to use unless you have to gain immediate control in a particular area. This type of treatment kills the ones you see but has no effect on controlling the problem from where it starts, the colony, which is behind the wall, under the slab, or under some other object. With ants the workers take the bait to the larvae where they process the particle bait to a liquid then transfer it to the other colony members and control is achieved in this manner. Baits in general are the best method for ant control.

There are different methods of control. These include bait application, residual spray, and granule application. The residual may be in the form of an aerosol, liquid, or granule. The baits may be in the form of a gel, liquid, or particle. I prefer the bait method because the ants you see take it to the ants you don’t see and the Niban products in particular because the particles are water resistant through up to 4 inches of water. They contain both protein and carbohydrate food attractants on the particles. Sometimes ants have a protein or meat preference and sometimes they have a carbohydrate or sweet preference. It could be applied in the structure in areas such as warehouse or storage areas, behind large items, sink pipe void areas, inside light and electrical switch plate covers, inside bath tub over flow cover areas if accessible, under base boards, garages, out buildings, and sheds. These include Niban FG Insect Bait 1 lb. btl. The snuffer applicators work great for the interior void areas because it has an extended tip to reach inside these areas.

Other particle bait products include Maxforce Fine Granular Insect Bait 10 oz. btl, Maxforce Fine Granular Insect Bait 6 lb. btl, Maxforce Granular Insect Bait 10 oz. btl, Maxforce Granular Insect Bait 6 lb. btl, Maxforce Granular Insect Bait 25 lb. btl, Advance Granular Ant Bait 12 oz. btl, and Advance Granular Ant Bait 6 lb. btl. The best way to apply particle baits is with a 14 oz.Centrobulb Duster

For ant activity on the inside there are good gel products such as Maxforce FC Ant Gel Bait 60 gram Tube each, Maxforce FC Ant Gel Bait 60 gram tube 3/box, Maxforce FC Ant Gel Bait 30 gram Tube each, Maxforce FC Ant Gel Bait 30 gram Tube 4/box, Uncle Albert’s Super Smart Ant Bait 43 gram Tube, Terro Ant Killer Gel Bait 16 oz. btl. Ant Cafe Bait Stations 8/pk are small empty stations you can fill with liquid, gel, or particle baits. This provides a good container to place where needed. Some people like to use their own “recipe” of ingredients for ants and other small insects.

Termidor and Phantom are liquid ant bait concentrates. Phantom Termiticide-Insecticide 21 oz. btl is for interior use only at specified areas. Termidor SC Termiticide-Insecticide 20 oz. btl is for exterior use only at specified areas and intervals. The Termidor is available to Pest Control Operators with proof of a Termite License.

Bait Stations are another control option these include Advance Dual Choice Ant Bait Stations 6/pk, Dual Choice Ant Bait Stations 36 ct Bag, Terro PCO Ant Killer Bait Stations 7/bag, Terro PCO Ant Killer Bait Stations 28 ct Box. Sometimes these don’t work as fast as placing gels, liquids, or particle baits right at the activity area. People tend to leave these out too long and they pick up particles of cleaning supplies or other contaminates which makes them not as attractive as a food item. These also need to be placed out for a problem then taken back up within a week or so to keep them as fresh as possible. When not in use they need to be stored in a re-sealable plastic bag to keep the freshness.

Aerosol control products include both residual and contact materials. Residual products leave behind material to remain active for a further length of time. Residual products include items such as Cy-Kick 17.5 oz. can, Invader HPX 14 oz. can, and D-Force HPX 14 oz. can. Contact products include items such as PI 18 oz. can, PT 565 Plus 20 oz. can, CB 80 Extra 17 oz. can.

Most all ants forage around the foundation grass line area in search of food or better harborage areas and travel back and forth to the inside. Foundation perimeter treatment is a part of the overall treatment also. Use these Niban products for the foundation grass line, landscape areas, and/or yard areas because they come in sizes more suited to outside applications. These include Niban Insect Bait 5 lb. Shaker Bag, or Niban Insect Bait 40 lb. Bag. The particles are water resistant through up to 4 inches of water. This bait works well through sprinkler cycles, rain, or heavy dew. The particle size is about the same size as a lot of the organic matter they can feed on. It also controls other pests such as roaches, crickets, and earwigs, which are found in the same general area as ants.

Liquid residual concentrates are mixed with water at label rates as needed. This method gets the treated area to a “neutral” condition where no insects are present. The drawback is that after 2 or 3 sprinkler cycles, a rain, or heavy dew the material is diluted to the point of ineffectiveness and nothing is there to provide continued control. If you use this method to control ants and spiders at the same time. Afterwards you may want to treat with the Niban to provide that continued control for non-spider pests. These residual concentrate products include Demand CS 8 oz. or Demand CS 1 qt., Suspend SC 1 pt., Tempo SC 240 ml, Tempo Ultra WP 420 gram btl, Talstar Pro 1 pt. or Talstar Pro ľ gal, Viper 4 oz., Demon WP 4-9.5 gram bags per pk, Demon WP 1 lb. jar, Demon EC 1 pt., Cy-Kick CS 1 pt. or Cy-Kick CS 120 oz.. Viper RTU is a ready to use pre mixed product in a 1 gal. container with a handy sprayer attached to a 1-foot hose. These materials can be applied with a 1 gal. Poly Sprayer or a 2 gal. Poly Sprayer. For foundation perimeter application or yard application use a Gilmour Hose End Sprayer Model 486 or a Gilmour Hose End Sprayer Model 362. The mound drench method works by slowly applying the material so it runs down the tunnels from the top to the bottom. Sometimes this does not completely reach all the tunnels and the ants could escape and shift over to build new tunnels to the top.

Another control method is insecticide granules. These materials include Talstar PL 25 lb bag and Delta Gard 20 lb. bag. These products are applied with a hand spreader such as a Scotts Handy Green 2 Hand Spreader. These materials work well when applied and even better when watered in. They are applied at the foundation perimeter and yard areas.

After the immediate problem is controlled applying insecticide dust in the weepholes and other void areas such as gaps, cracks, holes or other areas along the outside is a good control measure for pests entering through this area. These products include Delta Dust 1 lb. btl, Delta Dust 5 lb. btl, Borid 1 lb. btl, or Borid 5lb. btl. The insecticide dust is best applied with a Crusader Hand Duster. The dust works by applying a light amount in the target area. The pest then walks across it, picks it up on their body then ingests the dust as they and other nest mates groom themselves. The dust is a stomach poison and control is completed in this manner. If too big of a placement is applied they will avoid the area. A lot of social insects will detect sickness or exposure to poisons in members and will kill them before they can affect the whole colony.

Copper mesh is a good product to fill the weep holes with. Since it is made of copper it won’t leave streaks down the foundation and the mesh is wide enough to allow adequate ventilation behind the bricks. This includes products such as Stuff-fit Copper Mesh 20 ft. roll, Stuf-fit Copper Mesh 20 ft. Precut, and Stuf-fit Copper Mesh 100 ft. Roll.

Glueboards are a good tool to use because they serve to control the insect, monitor for activity and if any is found observe which way the insect is captured. This will allow you to backtrack to find possible harborage areas or entryways. We carry Catchmaster CM MB 72 72 ct box, Catchmaster CM MB 72 8 ct pk, or Trapper LTD 72 ct box.

Always read and follow label directions. For additional information call Do It Yourself Pest Control Supply at 972-562-9999, 903-891-8818, or

866-562-8999 for all your do it yourself pest control supplies.