Fire Ant Control In Central Florida

Imagine that you and your loved one are having a lovely outdoor picnic, enjoying the warm weather, and taking in the sights. One of the worst things to occur during a picnic like this is to become overrun by ants who are only seeking to enjoy your food before you can. They crawl on top of everything laid out on your blanket, and you and the family are forced to evacuate before all of your food is ruined. When the invading ants are the tiny black ones or even the larger carpenter ants, you may be irritated by their presence, but they generally will not cause you any harm.

Unfortunately, central Florida and many regions of the southern United States are home to non-native species of ants that are not quite so harmless. Fire any colonies can be found all over Florida. They are certainly not the type of pests you want to see at your next outdoor family gathering because their bites are far worse than the annoying appearance of their counterparts.

What Are Fire Ants?

Two species of fire ants exist in Florida: red imported fire ants (Solenopsis Invicta) and native fire ants (Solenopsis geminata). The red imported fire ants are much more common than the native version.

Red imported fire ants were accidentally brought to the United States many decades ago from the central part of South America, most notably Brazil. They have become an increasing problem for homeowners ever since. Fire ant colonies in an urban setting often take root under patio slabs, in lawns, under the edges of sidewalks, foundations, concrete driveways, and electrical boxes. They may also find a way inside your home if the fire ant mound is compromised by heavy rain.

Fire ants pose a significant threat to agriculture due to feeding on the root systems of plants, mechanically disabling combine operations (unable to harvest crops), and feeding on young plant growth. Fire ant mounds and their residents also pose a threat to humans and other animals.

What Kind of Threat Do Fire Ant Stings Pose?

Fire ant colonies are home to a few different stages in the life cycle of a fire ant. These stages, dependent on the size of the ants, will dictate their lifespan and job duties. Minor worker ants may live 30-60 days after hatching, media workers range 60-90 days, major workers have a 90-180 day span, and queen ants (the only non-workers) may live anywhere from 2 to 6 years.

Red imported fire ants carry venom, which is injected into the victim with its stinger. The poison (95% alkaloid) has a potent neurotoxic activity, and the venom is responsible for the pain and any white pustules which form following the sting (approximately one day later). The other 5% of the venom produces an allergic reaction in some very sensitive individuals because of its composition of proteins, peptides, and other small molecules.

When worker fire ants attach themselves to your skin, they do so with their mandibles (jaws) and then lower the tips of their stingers into your skin which injects the venom. Essentially, you can be bitten and stung by the same worker ant.

It is important to note that the same worker ant can sting you multiple times (unlike some other insects which sting once and die). The sting of a fire ant may result in a painful reaction including itching, burning, red swelling, nausea, dizziness, severe headache, and scars at the sting sites. While the bite of only one pest may not be devastating for your health, repeated stings from a swarm of them can cause serious damage to your body.

For the health and safety of you, your family, and your pets, it is important that you stop fire ant activity before it gets out of control by hiring experts in the extermination of fire ant infestations which are knowledgeable of the most effective treatment methods available and can provide you the fire ant control service you need.

How to Get Rid of Fire Ants in Your Central Florida Home

When you need to get rid of fire ants in your home or lawn, you must entrust this job to the professionals rather than relying on less effective store-bought fire ant baits and other fire ant treatments unlikely to eliminate fire ant mounds or colonies.

When you call Skymark Pest, we will first ask you to describe the ants you are seeing and try to snap a photo of the pests to identify them. Once we have identified them, we can then begin treatment for the ants. Proper fire ant control from our team starts with inspecting your property for the mounds and colonies you have described to our technicians. After assessing the situation, we will place fire ant bait around the mound and throughout the yard to target. This broadcast bait application focuses on using the ants’ search for a food source against them.

We can also use granular or liquid insecticide treatments using the hand pump sprayer method throughout the yard to destroy any fire ant mound to provide your lawn full protection from the ant colony.

To prevent another ant queen from developing another colony mound in your yard, you should regularly schedule mound baiting and fire ant bait treatments. While many insects carry disease (mosquitoes are known to have the Zika virus and cockroaches after carrying pathogens for Dysentery and Typhoid Fever), fire ants inject their type of poison. The facts remain that, if not prevented from doing so through fire ant control services, fire ants will create more mounds and larger infestations that may overrun your lawn and even your home.

Contact Our Professional Fire Ant Exterminators

If you are a homeowner in central Florida dealing with fire ants in their yard or house, contact our expert fire ant, extermination team. We know and understand the threat that fire ants pose, and we are dedicated to helping you eliminate them with fire ant bait and birth control for any queen ant in the area. Our team also wants to help you keep fire ants from coming back. We will effectively treat your lawn for fire ant mounds, but we will also educate you on the best method to prevent the return of the mounds.

Our team takes fire ant infestation and their mounds seriously because we know the damage to the health of your loved ones, pets, and other animals as well as your property that they can cause. Call us today for a free estimate for our services and to schedule your lawn inspection.

Our pest control experts at our service center want to ensure that we treat your lawn for the right pest. That means we need to know what kind of insect you are dealing with. When you contact us about your bug issue, we will ask you to describe it as best as possible or try to get a photo of it. The faster we can identify the pest, the more quickly we can begin the proper treatment. Some exterminators use the trial and error approach, but this is not the most efficient or effective method.

In addition to working on identifying the pest, we are also dedicated to helping you understand the best ways to keep your yard pest-free. We will show you how to keep the pest out of your yard so that they no longer cause any damage to the grass, your family, or your pets. With Skymark Pest, lawn insects will no longer be your problem. Contact us today to learn more and to get a free home evaluation.

Fire Ant Control

What Are Fire Ants?

What Kind of Threat Do Fire Ant Stings Pose?

How to Get Rid of Fire Ants in Your Central Florida Home

Contact Our Professional Fire Ant Exterminators

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