Tackling The Biggest Myths Homeowners Tend To Have About Fire Ants And Infestations

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After experiencing a wretched spider infestation, my pest control professional told me something that I would never forget. In the nicest possible way, she told me that my house was too messy to keep bugs out in the first place. She explained that when people leave food around, it attracts small pests like ants and cockroaches, which then attract larger predators like spiders and mice. I decided to clean up my place so that I wouldn't have to worry about creepy crawlies calling my place home. On my blog, you will learn more about pest control and the importance of house cleaning, so that you don't make the same mistake I did.

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Tackling The Biggest Myths Homeowners Tend To Have About Fire Ants And Infestations

1 June 2016
 Categories: , Blog


They may be small and seemingly harmless, but fire ants pack a powerful punch in the form of painful stings and they can quickly take over territory--even if it is your home. Fire ants build colonies once the queen has found a desirable nesting spot, and these colonies of marching insects will travel far and wide to gather food. If you have a fire ant infestation in your home, you are definitely facing a challenge. However, you can easily make matters worse by not being educated about the problem. There are some pretty big misconceptions that you should eliminate right away by getting to know the facts. 

Misconception: You can just use store-bought sprays to get rid of the fire ants inside your house. 

Fact: While store-bought sprays seem to be effective at the moment because they will kill the ants you manage to spray, these products alone are not enough to get rid of the problem. The ants that you catch trailing through your kitchen or marching in a line across your bedroom floor are merely worker ants on a mission for the queen. Whatever ants you manage to kill off with spray will just be quickly replaced by new members of the team as the queen lays more eggs. If you are seeing signs of a fire ant infestation inside the house, you can be willing to bet there are thousands more hiding out at the main nest. 

Misconception: Using fire ant bait once or twice should take care of the problem.

Fact: Fire ant bait is indeed one of the more effective ways to tackle an infestation on your own. These baits are designed to entice the ants because it looks like food, so because of this the poisonous bait gets packed back to the nest where the true problem lies. However, fire ant bait alone may not always do the trick. The ants may never locate the bait or may be more attracted to a different food source in the area. Plus, not all fire ant varieties will be attracted to the same type of bait. 

Misconception: You can simply use a barrier toxin to keep ants out of the house. 

Fact: There are a handful of products that are designed to provide barrier protection against fire ants because they will be warded off by the toxins they contain. While barrier products can help keep ants from making their way inside via the usual routes, they are not completely reliable. Fire ants are known to dwell naturally in trees and vegetation, so they could easily traverse their way onto the roof by way of tree limbs and branches. You can increase the effectiveness of barrier products by also keeping vegetation and trees trimmed away from your home.