The Worst Advice You Can Hear About Fire Ant Control In Charlotte

Have you ever come foot-to-face with fire ants? If so, you already know how much of a problem these tiny ankle-biters can be. Having fire ants on your property can make it feel like your yard is off-limits. This doesn’t have to be the case. To combat fire ants on your property, we have some helpful tips and information you can use. We also have the worst advice you could hear about fire ant control. Curious to know what we mean? Let’s get right into it.

What Are Fire Ants?

Fire ants are little red ants that can be found in many yards across Charlotte. The biggest thing that sets fire ants apart from other ants is the amount of pain they can cause. Fire ants don’t just have mouth parts to bite you with, they also have stingers equipped with a rather potent venom. When crawling on skin, they will use both of these weapons to injure their foes.

One thing you should know about fire ants is that their colonies have multiple queens. This makes them, as a whole, much more difficult to fully eliminate. If even one queen survives an attack on the colony, it will only be a matter of time before the nest is back at full capacity.

Are Fire Ants Dangerous?

When fire ants attack, they seem a lot more dangerous than they actually are. Although painful, fire ant bites and stings are only as harmful as the discomfort they cause. The only way that fire ant attacks can be dangerous is if their victim is allergic, or if wounds caused by bites become infected, usually as a result of over itching.

Are Fire Ants Destructive?

The good news is that fire ants will not destroy your home like their close cousins, carpenter ants, can. The bad news is that they can do quite a bit of damage to your lawn and landscaping. Fire ants prefer to build their homes around dry and hot areas. When building their nests on lawns, their mounds will often encroach over patches of grass. This can result in unsightly patches of dirt throughout your yard.

How Not To Deal With Fire Ants

There is always a right and a wrong way to do things. When it comes to fire ants, here are some methods you should not try.

• Using a hose to flood their nests. Fire ant nests stretch far beneath the ground. No amount of water will fully eliminate a colony.
• Pouring gasoline on anthills. Not only is this damaging to your yard, but it is also about as effective as using a water hose. This shouldn’t need to be said, but lighting the gasoline poured on their mounds ablaze will not make this method any more effective, and will produce more danger and problems.
• Using a chemical-based product bought online or at the store. Many chemical-based fire ant control products can be harmful to both humans and pets if used improperly. 
• Stomping on their mounds with your bare feet. (This should be a given)

Keep in mind, that fire ants are extremely resilient pests. Even if you think a method you are using is working, it only takes one queen surviving your attacks for everything you are doing to be in vain.

The best way to eliminate fire ants on your property is by getting the professionals here at Aruza Pest Control involved. We know what methods work and which do not and would be happy to share our success dealing with fire ants with you.

Contact us today to find out more about our fire ant control in Charlotte or to schedule an emergency service visit for your home.