Fire Ant Control

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

• How does your Fire Ant Control program work?

  To eliminate a fire ant colony, the queen must be killed. Our Fire Ant Control program is a granular bait application that appears to scavenging worker ants as food, but it is actually poisonous to them.

  The worker fire ants carry the bait back to the nest to distribute the "food" to the larvae, queen, and other types of ants within the colony, who will die after eating the bait.

  The process usually takes about 6-8 weeks to wipe out all of the fire ant mounds in your lawn. Once these colonies are wiped out, you are good for an entire year on fire ant protection. Each year, we'll come spread a new bait application to make sure we keep new colonies out, year after year.

• When is the best time of year to get rid of fire ants?

  There really is no best time of year to treat your property for fire ants. Any time of year works! The product remains in your soil, and it will kill off ants as they forage and attempt to find new areas to set up. Don't let your property fall victim!

• How quickly does your service eliminate the fire ants in my lawn?

  Our application should begin to take effect within a few days, but you may not see noticeable results begin for about a week. Once the bait is being distributed among the mounds in your lawn, it should only be about 6-8 weeks before all the colonies in your lawn disappear.

• How often do you treat for fire ants?

  Our fire ant treatment is highly effective and will only need to be applied one time per year.

  If you do happen to see any active fire ant mounds pop up within one year of your treatment, we will gladly come back and treat those mounds for free. Other than that, we'll just be out once a year for this treatment.

• How do fire ants attack?

  Fire ants coordinate attacks using a chemical signal, allowing hundreds of ants to sting simultaneously. This is why disturbing a mound can result in dozens of stings within seconds, making them especially dangerous for children, pets, and anyone with an allergy.
  

• Can fire ants be drowned?

  Not easily. When flooded, fire ant colonies cling together to form a living raft, using their water-repellent bodies to stay buoyant until they reach dry land, making them remarkably flood-resistant.

  

   

• How long do fire ant queens live?

  The lifespan of a fire ant queen averages between 2-6 years, while worker ants typically only survive 4–6 weeks. This is why eliminating the queen is so critical; as long as she's alive, the colony keeps regenerating.
  

• How many ants are in a fire ant colony?

  The average fire ant colony contains 100,000 to 500,000 worker ants, plus up to several hundred reproductive ants including winged males and future queens. In multi-queen colonies, populations can be even higher.
  

• How deep do fire ant tunnels go?

  Fire ant tunnels can reach depths of 5 feet or more, but most activity occurs just beneath the soil surface. This underground network is part of why surface treatments alone are often ineffective. Our granular bait targets the colony from within.
  

• What and how do fire ants eat?

  Fire ants prefer eating plants, microscopic organisms, reptiles, birds, spiders, and even mammals. In the mornings and evenings, worker fire ants scavenge for food and carry the food back to the nest to distribute to the entire colony, including the queen, larvae, and other workers.

• How do fire ant colonies spread?

  When new queens emerge, they leave the nest on mating flights, find a new location, and start their own colony from scratch. This is how fire ant populations spread into new areas of your lawn– and why treating proactively matters.

• Additional questions?

  Please don't hesitate to ask! We are happy to answer any questions you have about our Fire Ant Control program or any other service we offer. Please visit our locations page for more information on how to get in touch with your local branch!