How to Identify Fire Ant Mounds
Protect your feet with a few key tips on how to identify fire ant mounds. Avoiding painful stings and costly infestations begins by knowing whether you have a problem. If you do, call Fire Ant Control, LLC, for a low-cost, aggravation-free solution to this pernicious problem.
Notable Fire Ant Mound Features
Fire ant mounds are piles of soil, loosely compacted, shaped into a small hill without any visible entrance. The hill may be as high as 1 ½’ or very small. When conditions are dry and hot, fire ants may retreat deep underneath the surface, leaving mounds non-existent. Directly following a hard rain, though, the mounds may grow incredibly large.
If you can’t identify the fire ant mound by sight, you certainly can do so by fire ant behavior. Disturbing a fire ant mound will lead to hundreds of angry and aggressive reddish-brown ants pouring out of the mound, ready to attack. When this response happens, be ready. Fire ants attack as a group, latching on and stinging over and over, until forced to stop.
Fire ant mounds are often found close together, which may indicate a single, significantly large colony underground. They’re found in open spaces with plenty of sunlight, like lawns, golf courses, and athletic fields. Following a rain, you’ll see mounds next to landscaping features that are higher than the ground, like sidewalks, posts, etc. Additional spots popular for fire ant nesting include electrical boxes, HVAC units, hay bales, and areas underneath yard debris.
The appearance of fire ants can also help you identify whether the mound belongs to the species. Are the ants about ¼” long and reddish-brown with a darker abdomen? You could have a problem if you responded yes.
Be cautious when checking for fire ants. You don’t want to accidentally disrupt a mound and become an object of their attack. Fire ant stings hurt and burn, hence the name. The blisters that result from the sting develop into welts with hard, white centers that last for about a week. When allergies are involved, anaphylaxis can also occur. If you experience trouble breathing, nausea, vomiting, chest pain, dizziness, or other worrisome symptoms, seek medical intervention immediately.
If you have spotted a fire ant mound, avoid disturbing it and make a plan to have your property treated by contacting Fire Ant Control as soon as possible.
Your Fire Ant Control Solution
Fire Ant Control, LLC, in collaboration with our sister companies, serves the entire quarantined region. With stellar techniques and a proven granular bait, we stop fire ants at their source: reproduction. Once the queens ingest the bait that we fool workers into carrying into the colony, they become sterile, and within a single life cycle, the colony is wiped out.
We offer a money-back guarantee, but to qualify, customers must adhere to our recommended service schedule every four months. Fire ants are a mobile species, so without follow-up treatment, the area will become reinfested.
If you have identified fire ant mounds and need to protect your property, Fire Ant Control, LLC, has the expertise to address any size fire ant problem. Contact us today to receive a free quote or to schedule a spot on our calendar.