Both native and Red Imported Fire Ants can sting. Red Imported Fire Ants are very aggressive;
their sting can cause reactions anywhere
from an irritation and nausea to even more severe reactions in humans.
Red Fire Ants have been known to repeatedly
attack animals that may intrude on their nests.
The Red Imported Fire Ant
is particularly aggressive.
They are known to attack people, plants, and animals,
as well as cause damage to homes, buildings,
air-conditioning units, and telephone wires.
There are two kinds of Red Imported Fire Ants;
the single-queen and multiple-queen forms.
Workers in single-queen colonies are territorial, foraging only within
their territory.
Workers from multiple-queen colonies are not territorial; they freely
move from one mound to another, which has resulted in a dramatic increase
in the number of mounds per acre.
Areas infested with single-queen
colonies contain 40–150 mounds per acre (rarely more than 7 million
ants per acre).
In areas with multiple-queen colonies, there may be 200 or more mounds
and
40 million Red Imported Fire Ants per acre.
The Red Imported Fire Ant builds mounds in almost any type of soil,
but prefers open, sunny areas such as pastures, parks, lawns, meadows,
and cultivated fields. Colonies can also be located in or under buildings.
Mounds containing
colonies can reach 18 inches in height, depending on the type of soil.
Many times mounds are located in rotting logs and around stumps and
trees.
The mound has no opening in the center like most
Ant mounds. Red Imported Fire Ants enter and exit the mound through underground tunnels. When their mounds
are disturbed, the workers will come out of the ground and sting
the intruder
very aggressively.
The Red Imported Fire Ant can have huge colonies with 300–500,000 workers
foraging at distances
of 100 yards.
Their usual activity is from the spring time through the fall months. During the spring and summer months, the active mounds send out
winged swarmer Ants whose sole job is to start new colonies.
Sometimes the Red Imported Fire Ant will nest inside during
the winter months under bathtubs (when on a slab), or next to hot
water heaters. The Southern Fire Ant will usually nest in loose soil,
but at times they can be found in woodwork or masonry. Their nests may
be seen as large crevices in the ground that spread out from 2–4 feet.
Southern Fire Ant nests can also be found
under houses, under boards or stones, or in cracks in the concrete.
Colonies frequently migrate from one site to another.
The queen needs only a few workers to start a new colony.
They can develop a new mound several hundred feed away
from their previous location almost overnight.
Flooding causes colonies to leave their mounds and float until
they can reach
land to establish a new mound.
Colonies also can migrate to indoor locations.
For more information about Fire Ants, refer to Top 10 Things to Know About Fire Ants.
Total time from egg to adult averages 30 days. Workers live up to 180 days,
and queens live two to six years.
Red Imported Fire Ants will not only forage for food (such as small
insects, dead animals, and sweet materials such as plant secretions) but will
kill insects and small animals to feed .
The Southern Fire Ant is attracted to a variety
of foods including protein, greases, and sweet foods.
.
When using a liquid insecticide as a drenching insecticide, the goal is
to kill the queen. The most effective way would be to use a
rod to form vertical
tunnels to facilitate the liquid mixture reaching the queens.
We recommend Conquer Insecticide or Bifen IT drenching insecticides
for Fire Ants. The low vapor pressure forms a great quantity of fumes, quickly killing
the Red Fire Ants. Use at a low dilution since you don't need a high dilution rate, but use a fairly large quantity. You would use several gallons for large colonies or 1/2 gallon
to two gallons on smaller
colonies. Completely drenching the mound ensures Red Fire Ant colony extermination.
