What can you do about fire ants, as they are really hard to get rid of - but you can control them? One of the more prevalent and effective treatments is to use ant baits, made specifically for fire ants. By applying fire ant baits in late spring and early autumn it is possible to keep them at bay. Using ant baits can be an easy do-it-yourself approach that will not cost you an arm and a leg. What happens with ant baits is a process called trophallaxis (the mutual exchange of regurgitated liquids between adult social insects or between them and their larvae) the ants take the bait into the mound and feed them to the larvae and other ants. This process is slow but it will kill the entire nest including the most important element – the queen. Once the queen has established the colony, she never needs to leave as she becomes an egg producing machine that is feed and serviced by her offspring. To kill the ant nest it is a must to kill the queen. Many people try to control these ants with granular, dust or liquid insecticides but this approach usually only kills the surface ants and misses the queen. Their success depends on the proper use of the product, done properly these insecticides can work but patience is require with multiple applications required. Each of these products needs to be applied when ants are close to the mound surface. Some of the more successful products for killing off a fire ant colony include: Advion Ant Gel insecticide, Advion fire ant bait, Ortho Max fire ant killer, Amdro fire ant bait and Bayer Advanced fire ant killer dust.
