Dealing with fire ants can be nerve-racking, especially if you're new to home ownership or fire ant territory. Their potential range is growing steadily,1 and these aggressive pests can't be ignored. But effective, long-lasting fire ant control doesn't have to be confusing or complex. You can protect your home and family with Over'n Out!® Advanced Fire Ant products.
Understanding Fire Ant Behavior
To make sense of treatment options, you must first know what you're up against. Native U.S. fire ants typically aren't problems; imported fire ants are the real pests behind homeowner woes. These South American natives were accidentally imported in the 1930s, and their natural South American predators don't exist in the U.S.2 Imported fire ants are aggressive, competitive insects, and traditional ant control products don't work against them.
Fire ant mounds are often your first sign of problems — the expression “tip of the iceberg" applies. Mounds seem like centers of activity, but bigger problems lie underground. Fire ants live and work in vast colonies housed in extensive underground tunnels. A single, unchecked colony can house up to 500,000 ants — which can mean hundreds of mounds in a single acre of land.2 By the time you see mounds above ground, the colony population has been increasing for months.
Another key trait of fire ants is that they tend to move often and react quickly to disruptions. When a person or animal disturbs a mound, fire ants can attack with burning stings. But their reaction to disturbance also extends below ground. Fire ants can relocate to new lawn areas or even into homes, and start new mounds for new colonies seemingly overnight.2
Effective fire ant control means killing ants you see and those you don't — before they can relocate — and preventing new invasions. Imported fire ant colonies can have a single queen or hundreds of queens, and killing queens is critical.3 While worker ants generally live about five weeks, queens live seven years or longer, laying hundreds of eggs per day. Kill the fire ant queens, and the entire colony dies quickly.2
Approaching Fire Ant Treatment
Treating your entire yard and targeting individual mounds will provide the most thorough, long-lasting fire ant control. Many different approaches exist, but you don't need multiple products for effective treatment. With Over'n Out!® Advanced Fire Ant products, you can feel comfortable and confident treating individual mounds and broadcast-treating your full yard using the same easy-to-use product.
The main differences between broadcast and mound treatments are your goals, the quantity of Over'n Out!® Advanced Fire Ant Killer needed, and the way you apply it. Broadcast treatment starts killing fire ants on contact and protects against new invasions for up to six months. Mound treatment kills mounds in 15 minutes, and kills queens within 24 hours, guaranteed.
This simplified two-step response provides the most complete fire ant protection for your home and family. Applied to fit your goal, Over'n Out!® Advanced Fire Ant Killer delivers fast, effective, long-lasting control.
