How to Identify Fire Ants

Anyone that has been bitten by a fire ant knows how horrible it is to have them in their yard or around their home. Fire ants are aggressive and protect their territory fiercely as worker ants climb up and bite any vertical structure that disturbs their colony. That’s why it’s important to identify fire ants and remove them from your yard.

How to Identify Fire Ants by their Mud Tubes and Mounds

Like termites, fire ants build caves, but unlike termites, the way they remove the dirt create mounds. Fire ants build their mounds by creating tunnels under the ground which in turn pushes the dirt to the surface. These mounds have no openings themselves, and ants enter and exit the colony through openings that surround the mound. These openings can be as far away from the mound as several feet. During the hottest part of the summer, fire ants will tunnel deeper into the ground.

In addition to mounds, fire ants do make above ground mud tubes. These can be mistaken for termite tubes. However, the fire ant tubes are created to provide the ants protection as they move above ground.

These fire ant tunnels are normally between six and eight inches high. They are not particularly elaborate. No material is used to cement the passageway, and once disturbed the entire structure will fall apart. Often times, these tunnels can be found in sheds or in the seams of concrete or brick around your home or under your home’s siding.

Next Steps Once You Discover You have Fire Ants

It’s important to deal with any fire ant breakouts immediately. While you may only find one fire ant mound, at this moment, fire ants can travel throughout your backyard underground, and it is only a matter of time before new mounds and colonies will pop up. This is one problem that can grow exponentially quite quickly.

It’s important to understand that unless you kill the colony’s queen, killing the visible fire ants won’t solve the problem. There are several options to kill fire ants, a solid bait or liquid are two of them. The liquid option must be poured directly into the mound and the bait needs to be spread around the mound but not on it. Either way, caution is necessary as once attacked fire ants will become aggressive.

Another option is to call a professional that is trained in fire ant removal. This is often the best way to go as they can ensure that not only the fire ants you see are killed but the thousands underground that you don’t see are eliminated as well.

Found fire ants? Call Preventive Pest Control today to confirm and exterminate ants in Phoenix.